What Are Traditional Belgian Clothes?
The national Belgian costume for men features a smock and beret. It is brightly colored, and it features a large white collar and wooden shoes. The national costume for women is a special gown with Celtic trimming and colorful beads, which is worn over a white chemise. Both are significantly influenced by French traditional dress.
Traditional Belgian clothing is now only worn on special occasions at festivals, such as the Shrove Tuesday Carnival in Binche. This event is the closest demonstration of traditional ethnic clothing and imitates the Wallonia region’s traditional costume. Flanders and Brussels have their own variations.
French culture dominates Belgian traditional dress, as Belgium has been heavily inhabited by the French, Dutch and Flemish. The diverse ethnic groups in modern Belgium each have their own versions of a national costume. In rural areas of Belgium, visitors can still see some of the older women wearing traditional dark dresses with white aprons.
Huntress style dresses were popular among Belgian women and are still used as wedding dresses. The Eponin was also popular. It was a slimming dress with a narrow waist and stitched with fully lined cotton twill. It had a square neck and a matching trim. Also, knee pants were popular among boys and school children would regularly wear smocks.
