The Traditional Dress of Kastelorizo

 

1. Kastelorizo

Kastelorizo, also known as Megisti, is the eastern most island of the Dodecanese and Greece as a whole. Due to its isolated location, it followed Rhodes, the nearest island, for most of its historical course.

2. An analysis of the women's costume 

The bridal costume of Kastelorizo is also worn as the everyday form of dress. The “kondovratsi” is a silk “vraka” (braies) gathered at the waist by the “vrakozoni” and tied round the leg below the knee. 

The chemise (locally called the “pekamiso”) is of white cotton and silk fabric and reaches only to the knees. The neck opening is done up with six round gold clasps, the “voukles”. 

Over the chemise is the “kavadi” or “chrysos sakos”, a luxury dress open at the front below the neck. The kavadi is called by various names according to the material it is made of: “louloudato”, “stroudato”, “fidato” and so on. 

A sash (“zosma” or “tarapoulouz”) is wound several times round the waist: it is made up of three strips of material joined together lengthwise and comes from Tripoli in Lebanon. 

The last garment to be put on is the “gouna”, a sort of outer garment made of gold-embroidered velvet and trimmed with fur all round. 

A small, round, soft red cap, the “raxini”, is worn on the head, with the “tsaki” or “kaski” round it like a crown: this is a band of stiff material swathed by a multicoloured silk kerchief, which often came from Tchilani (Kilani) in Cyprus. Pinned on to the kaski is a brooch with one, two or three imitation gold coins, which anchors the “krepi”, a large silk shawl of Chinese (“keneziko”) or Spanish (“spanioliko”) origin. The women of Kastelorizo wore a lot of jewellery, mainly rings on all their fingers, and used to walk with their arms crossed on their chests to display it. 

- Periellados

Sources

• Papantoniou Ioanna (2000), Greek Clothing: "From Antiquity to the early 20th century", Athens, Commercial Bank of Greece
• Papantoniou Ioanna (2014), "Patterns of Magnificence. Tradition and Reinvention in Greek Women's Costume", London, The Hellenic centre