What is the origin of the flamenco dress?
Flamenco is the music and dance of the Gitanos… Spanish Gypsies. They are directly related to and originally come from the Rroma peoples of EU. I am not certain when the people who became the Gitanos split off from the main group but, if you look at traditional EU Rroma female attire and female Flamenco (and general Gitano) attire, you can see a great deal of similarity. I cannot see the same similarities between male Flamenco artists and traditional Rroma dress other than, when dancing, both tend to be flashy. I can see a great deal of similarity between casual Gitano male clothes and Rroma male clothes. Most certainly Flamenco attire is a mix of ethnic Spanish and Rroma attire. I can definitely see the influence of formal Spanish attire in male Flamenco.
1) “The roots of the flamenco dress can be traced to Andalusian women who accompanied livestock traders to livestock fairs in Seville. Andalusia is a region in southern Spain where gypsies (flamencos) lived. Flamenco is their traditional song and dance, and the costume reflects that culture. Since the dance became part of the mainstream in the early 19th century, the dress has evolved, but the Andalusian influence remained. – Early Years: Andalusian women accompanied their husbands, who were cattle traders, to the livestock fair in Seville. They were simple peasants and dressed in calico robeswith a few frills, but the colors were lively and they accentuated the women’s bodies. It wasn’t until the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition that Spain’s upper classes accepted this type of dress for attending the fair. This was also soon after flamenco, the dance, became part of mainstream culture as café entertainment and then as an art form. – Dress Shape: The dress was designed to enhance a woman
