10. THE DUTCH REDISCOVERY OF CHINTZ TODAY

The later part of the 18th century showed a decline in trend of Chintz sold in Europe. Over a period of 200 years, the people had appreciated the beloved colourful Indian textile and eventually altered their interest in the importance of Chintz. Many of the print shops closed because of this reason but some like ‘Overtooms Welvaren’ remained, to be sold and went of business later. During the 19th century production was seized by more modern mechanised printers (fig.68).

Designs from these ‘Overtoomse Drukkerijen’ have recently been uncovered within the archived collections of the University of Amsterdam.

In the beginning of the ’90s the foremost patchers made tentative approaches. Over the years, attempts have been made to provide an interesting perspective on the historical 18th and 19th century traditional costumes. Using authentic documents from museums, primarily in the Netherlands and France, the Den Haan & Wagenmakers collection has been created and preserved as a great example.

Chintz was brought into attention by the women of Spakenburg Bunschoten, Marken and also the various historical associations who bought these fabrics for their traditional costumes. They wanted their heritage to be valued in today’s contemporary times and their attempt brought light onto forgotten tales related with Chintz.

Small Dutch Fishing Village Of Spakenburg

Spakenburg is a small fishing village that lies south of the IJsselmeer within the municipality Bunschoten, Utrecht. This place is among the few left in the Netherlands where womenfolk still wear local traditional clothes. These traditional costumes can be seen in the Museum Spakenburg. It was founded by residents of the town who wanted to preserve the area’s culture and history. A series of rooms showcase Spakenburg through artifacts of clothing and household objects used in the previous centuries. The female staff all still wear traditional Dutch clothing (fig.69).

Many of the women work tirelessly on the exhibits, and sometimes even paint replicas of ancient Dutch floral patterns on plates and fabric. The traditional Dutch costume consisted of various complicated parts as described in the chapter, ‘The Dutch Connection And Its Many Different Fashions’. When these costumes were rediscovered by the local people, many parts were lost and hence omitted. Only the memorable and iconic parts like the ‘kraplap’ is usually worn today (fig.70).

A kraplap is a starched rectangle of fabric with a hole in the centre, which is put over the head. It is worn along with two pieces of chequered fabric, white stripes on red (fig.71).

In the months of July and August, the last two Wednesdays are reserved for an event in Spakenburg called the Spakenburgse Dagen (Spakenburg days). Women wear the traditional costumes and take out their colourfully hand painted crockery on the porch of the houses to celebrate with visiting guests (fig. 72).

Island Of Marken

Another such place where traditional costumes are still worn is the Island of Marken within the Netherlands. On special occasions children are made to wear the Dutch costumes. Skirts fabricated from Chintz along with an apron, “Druivenboezel/ Grapeberry”, are often seen as the major parts of these dresses (fig.73).

The girls wear a jacket including a chest piece called “baaf” or “bauw” made out of Chintz fabrics with a checked apron (fig. 74).