Fashion, Identity, and Culture of Living in Belgrade in the 19th and Early 20th Century: Religious Holidays and Balls
During the 19th century, social life in Belgrade developed intensively. A popular form of social gathering was women’s posela, which had been held since the late 1830s. The first posela were organized by Marija Milutinović, known as Maca Punktatorka, the wife of the poet Sima Milutinović – Sarajlija, and later by Anka Konstantinović, the daughter of Jevrem Obrenović, brother of Prince Miloš. At these gatherings, various women’s topics were discussed, with fashion occupying an important place. Additionally, the gathered women were introduced to European culture, advised on child-rearing and home decoration, and discussed various daily events. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such gatherings became known as žurevi. This term originated from the French term jour fixe, which denoted a fixed day of the week when the hostess would receive her friends. An indispensable part of life in Belgrade also became various sports activities. On the city’s streets, especially on the Promenade in Knez Miloš Street, men and women could be seen riding horses recreationally. Among the first women to engage in this sport were the daughters of Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević. They rode on side-saddles, wearing half-cylinders on their heads and boots. The first horse races in Belgrade were organized in 1863 by Prince Mihailo Obrenović, who was himself an excellent rider and a great lover of equestrian sports. In Belgrade, fencing and shooting, as well as gymnastics and martial arts, also developed. The fencing society “Serbian Sword” was founded in 1897, and in 1906, the football club of the same name was founded. The football club “Soko” was established in 1903, and BSK (Belgrade Sports Club) in 1911, while the First Serbian Society for Gymnastics and Wrestling was founded as early as 1857 by painter Steva Todorović. In the last decades of the 19th century, recreational sports such as cycling, ice skating, tennis, and swimming emerged. The first Serbian cycling society was founded in 1884. This society also had its own ice rink, located where the Army House stands today. A reporter from the newspaper Politika noted in January 1905 at the ice rink of the First Serbian Cycling Society that male and female skaters were not dressed as they should be, recommending cycling attire for men and the shortest possible skirts for women, noting that this was not shameful since in America and England, women already wore such skirts on the streets, and no one laughed at them. During the summer months, excursions were an important part of city life. Wealthier citizens temporarily moved to their summer houses in Topčider, and traveled to some resort or spa, while excursions to the city’s surroundings were a pleasant summer pastime available to the broader population. Popular excursion spots around Belgrade were Topčider and Košutnjak. The Austro-Hungarian travel writer Felix Kanitz recorded that especially on Sundays and holidays, /…/ the shady paths leading from the railway station to the restaurants were covered with crowds of cheerful people and that people preferred to stop in the wooded corner around Hajdučka Česma. Excursions were an opportunity not only to rest from daily obligations but also for more casual attire, suited to outdoor activities. In a group photograph of excursionists in the vicinity of Belgrade, from the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, taken around 1900 by the famous photographer Milan Jovanović, a rich assortment of various men’s and women’s hats is documented. While women, in accordance with the fashion of that time, wore striking and decorated hats, on the heads of men we can see almost all types of men’s headgear characteristic of the 19th and early 20th century: fez, top hat, bowler hat, homburg, fedora, boater, and caps worn as part of a uniform. Although the lawyer and politician Dimitrije Marinković noted in his memoirs that in the mid-19th century, the fez was not considered unusual, while men’s hats at that time, and later, were very rare, by the beginning of the 20th century, the hat had become an indispensable detail in men’s attire. Dictionary of less known terms: Epitaphios – a religious textile with embroidered or painted images showing the body of Christ immediately after being taken down from the cross Tepeluk (tr. tepelik) – a shallow women’s cap made of red cloth and decorated with pearl embroidery, worn as a part of Serbian national costume Bajader – a long and wide patterned silk sash with fringes, worn as a part of Serbian national costume Slava-celebrating family, Belgrade, 1859; source: Kanic, F. (1989), Srbija : zemlja i stanovništvo od rimskog doba do kraja XIX veka, prva knjiga, Beograd, Srpska književna zadruga. Walking and visiting dress; Nedelja, Belgrade, 21 February 1910 Spring children’s dress; Nedelja, Belgrade, 7 February 1910 Walking dress for grown-up girls; Nedelja, Belgrade, 14 February 1910 Modern ball dress and newest spring dress, style “Directoire”; Nedelja, Belgrade, 21 February 1910
Women’s Urban Dress and National Costume in Serbia in the 19th Century
During the first decades of the 19th century, the appearance of urban dress in Serbia was fully harmonized with the Ottoman-Balkan cultural model and the shared visual culture of the inhabitants of Ottoman cities. In the book Putešestvije po Serbiji (Travels in Serbia), Joakim Vujić described in detail the dress of the urban population, that he saw during his visit to Belgrade in 1826. In the illustration of Grigorije H. J. Vujić in the same book, you can see men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, significantly different from what we recognize today as the Serbian urban dress and national costume of the 19th century. The dominant element of this dress pattern is the anterija (Turkish: entari), a distinctive long dress open in the front, which was worn both by men and women throughout the Ottoman Empire over wide, baggy trousers – dimije (Turkish: şalvar). After the end of the uprising period, and especially after gaining autonomy in 1830, the pluralism of cultural models came to the fore in the Principality of Serbia. At that time, the national costume was created by selecting characteristic garments from the dress inventory of the urban population, living in formerly Ottoman cities. The process unfolded parallelly with the establishment of the European fashion system and the new bourgeois elite perceived the constructed national costume as authentically national dress, which is why it was often used in family portraits as a visual marker of identity. Family portraits were gradually introduced into Serbian bourgeois culture from the end of the 18th century in the Habsburg Monarchy while the citizens of the Principality of Serbia adopted the practice of owning family portraits at the beginning of the 19th century, adapting their iconography to the needs and ideas of their own milieu. In public and private collections, numerous portraits have been preserved to this day, which were an indispensable part of the urban interior, and emphasized the social status of the persons depicted. The basic variant of the women’s national costume consisted of a fistan – a long dress, cut at the waist, with a characteristic heart-shaped neckline, then a shirt, a scarf to cover the chest, a bayader – a wide, patterned silk belt, libade – a short jacket with wide sleeves, as well as a headdress – fez and tepeluk. As a newly formed dress of the elite social class and a costume type imprinted with a national character, it appears in the official portraits of Princesses Ljubica Obrenović and Persida Karađorđević. Speaking about Princess Ljubica’s dress, the German travel writer Otto Dubislav Pirch stated in 1829 that it can be even plainer than that of other urban women, the only difference being beautiful sable fur and a brilliant in her hair. British admiral Adolphus Slade says that during the meeting, in 1838, the princess was dressed in the Greek style, in a fur jacket, cloak, and with a turban on her head. The brilliant in her hair particularly stood out as part of the headdress of Princess Persida’s rich urban dress. The large and expensive brooch of flower bouquet – grana, which decorated her headband – bareš, resembled a diadem. The richness of the princess’s costume is also shown by her portrait from the collection of the National Museum of Serbia, the work of Katarina Ivanović from 1846–1847. In the visual representation of members of Serbian ruling and bourgeois families, we often find elements of the national costume combined with modern clothing. In the official portrait, painted around 1865, Princess Julija Obrenović is shown, in accordance with current European fashion trends, in a dress with crinoline, with which she wears libade and tepeluk. Also, in 1881, Carl Goebel painted Princess Natalija Obrenović, dressed in a luxurious dress with a bustle, combined with parts of the national costume. The first portrait is kept today in the National Museum of Serbia, and the second in the Museum of the City of Belgrade. It is common for family photos from the last decades of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century to show married couples dressed in such a way that the woman wears a variation of the national costume while the man wears a modern men’s suit. From the traditional elements of the national costume, which were worn in combination with modern dresses of European cut, the libade and tepeluk persisted the longest in the women’s clothing inventory. The French Slavic scholar Louis Léger recorded in 1873 that the embroidery on the libade and the pearl on the fez [tepeluk] were left […] until now as a legacy to the female members of the family and they passed from the mother’s wardrobe to the daughter’s outfit. Léger also states that he saw people wearing pearls worth one hundred ducats on their fez. Pavle Vasić, Men’s and women’s dress in Belgrade, after Grigorije H. J. Vujić; photo: private owner/author’s archives Jacket – libade, National Museum Kruševac; photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED / National Museum Kruševac / user: Ioannes2909 Cap – tepeluk and headband – bareš, the second half of the 19th century, Museum of Applied Art, Belgrade; photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED / Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade Uroš Knežević, Princess Ljubica Obrenović, before 1855, National Museum of Serbia; photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain Katarina Ivanović, Princess Persida Karađorđević, 1846–1847, National Museum of Serbia; photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain
Clothing and Rulers’ Representation: Prince Miloš Obrenović
In different areas and different cultures, clothes have been used for centuries as a means of expressing social status. In the 19th century, during the dynamic period of building a modern state, according to social and political circumstances, as well as the models of Ottoman and European rulers’ representation, clothes were successfully and prudently used by the Serbian uprising leader and prince Miloš Obrenović. After the end of the Second Serbian Uprising in 1817, Prince Miloš, in a Turkish dress with a çalma on his head and yemeni on his feet, looked more like a wealthy saraf or merchant than a political representative of the Serbian people, writes historian Mihailo Gavrilović. We see this way of dressing in one of the prince’s canonical portraits, which is known as Prince Miloš with a turban. This portrait, today in the National Museum of Serbia, was painted in 1824 in Kragujevac by Pavel Đurković. At that time, a Kashmir shawl with a distinctive striped and floral pattern, wrapped around the head like a turban, together with a red upper dress whose edges are trimmed with fur and embroidered with metal thread, was a typical element of the luxurious clothing of wealthy Christians in the Ottoman Balkans that expressed their desire to equate their status with the ruling classes through visual code. In the same year, Đurković painted two more portraits of the prince, in which he is shown in a simpler, folk dress, with a fez on his head. In a Turkish dress, Prince Miloš attended the great public ceremony of reading Hatt-i sharif and berat, which was held in Belgrade, on Tašmajdan, in 1830. Since Sultan Mahmud II with these documents granted autonomy to the Principality of Serbia and declared Miloš the hereditary prince, the prince adapted his clothes to the new situation. In the period after 1830, the most common representational dress of Prince Miloš was a dolman made of red cloth, decorated with embroidery with metal thread and cords, with which he wore a kalpak made of fur with an aigrette. Photographer and lithographer Anastas Jovanović noted that the prince said that the Serbs were dressed like that during the old times. During the first reign of Prince Miloš, Novine srpske in their reports also marked this dress as an old Serbian dress. The complete look of the dress can be seen on several preserved portraits of Prince Miloš, among which is the one from the collection of the National Museum of Serbia, the work of Moritz Daffinger from around 1848. Also, Prince Miloš’s sumptuous red dolman is preserved in the collection of the Historical Museum of Serbia, along with about sixty other clothing items that belonged to members of the Obrenović dynasty. The fact that it is sewn by the high standards of men’s tailoring certainly contributes to the representational quality of Miloš’s dolman. Historian Radoš Ljušić states that at the wedding of Prince Mihailo in Vienna in 1853, the old prince attracted significantly more attention than the younger prince and that he made his way through the huge mass of the curious Viennese world, dressed in a luxurious and rich Serbian dress, like some old Serbian knight. Old Serbian dress – dolman was worn by the prince on various solemn occasions. One of them was the ceremony of awarding the Great Order of Sultan Mahmud II (Nişan-ı Zişan), which was held in Bregovo on Timok in 1834. Novine srpske reported that the prince was dressed in a Russian uniform during the bestowing of the order, which showed his respect and devotion to the Russian emperor as the patron of Serbia, but also to the Russian court and its institutions. The next day, when he visited Vizier Hussein Pasha, who had previously ceremoniously presented him with the order, he was dressed in an old cherry-colored Serbian dress, with a sable kalpak on his head. The Russian uniform, which is mentioned in the report from Bregovo, represents another important model of Prince Miloš’s clothing in the period after the acquisition of autonomy in 1830. By wearing a black military jacket with general epaulette and rank on the collar and cuffs according to the Russian model, the prince emphasized his position and autonomy of Serbia in relation to the supreme Ottoman authority. In the Russian uniform, also worn by his brothers Jovan and Jevrem, he is shown in the portrait of Uroš Knežević from 1835, preserved in the collection of the Historical Museum of Serbia. Dictionary of less known terms: Pavel Djurković, Prince Miloš with a turban, 1824, National Museum of Serbia; photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain / National Museum of Serbia Pavel Djurković, Prince Miloš with a fez, 1824, National Museum of Serbia; photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain / National Museum of Serbia Moritz Daffinger, Prince Miloš, around 1848, National Museum of Serbia; photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain / National Museum of Serbia Anastas Jovanović, Prince Miloš Obrenović, 1852, National Library of Serbia; photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain / National Library of Serbia Uroš Knežević, Prince Miloš, 1835–1840, Historical Museum of Serbia; photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain / Historical Museum of Serbia / user: Sadko
Fashion in modern Serbia
In the history of European fashion, the mid-19th century marks the beginning of the era of modern fashion. Paris becomes the world’s fashion center where high fashion houses are established: Worth (1857), Doucet (1880), Redfern (1881), Rouff (1884), Paquin (1891), Calot Soeurs (1896), Lanvin (1909), and others. Parisian high fashion sets the trends that the ready-to-wear industry reproduces, making fashionable products available to broader social classes. In this way, fashion gains an international character and becomes democratized. Additionally, fashion finally gains the status of a fine art, leading to the establishment of renowned fashion designers – visual artists of international renown. During this period, as an important element in shaping the visual identity of individuals, members of ruling families, and the bourgeoisie, fashion occupies a prominent place in the culture of modern Serbia. The uprisings against the centuries-long Ottoman rule, raised in 1804 and 1815, led to the issuance of two sultan’s hatt-i-sherifs in 1830 and 1833, and the creation of the autonomous Principality of Serbia. After gaining full independence at the Berlin Congress in 1878, the Principality of Serbia was proclaimed a Kingdom in 1882. The significant changes that occurred in the political, social, cultural, and economic spheres were also reflected in fashion. By the late 19th century, around Knez Mihailova Street and Terazije in Belgrade, a large number of fashionable-galanterie and clothing shops were in operation, including Kosta Nikolić and Drug, Marko Vuletić and Gavrilović, Petar Petrović and Belović, Lazarević and Stojankić, Bradić and Karaulić, Savčić and Nikolić, Braća M. Isković, Kod pariskog šika Adanje and Demaja, Talvi and Mandilović, Natalija Mesaroš, and others. Travel writer Felix Kanitz noted that the best-stocked shops were located on Dubrovačka and Knez Mihailova streets, which were paved with large cobblestones, along with adjacent streets. Women’s and men’s clothing stores, accessories, jewelry, delicatessen shops, etc., attracted curious audiences with their rich displays. Alongside prominently displayed signs, mostly in Serbian and German, and sometimes in French, English, and Russian, popular names were often used, such as ‘Kod Bečlije’ (At the Viennese) or ‘Kičoš’ and others, all above ornate portals. Advertisements in newspapers provide insights into the rich and diverse offerings of Belgrade’s fashion shops. An important content of the advertisements of that time was the information that the offered goods were imported. Furthermore, contemporary transport and communication means such as printing and railways, as well as the phenomenon of globalization, played a crucial role in the development of modern fashion and strengthening its influence. Belgraders often purchased clothing during their travels abroad, with popular shopping destinations being Paris, Vienna, and Budapest. To successfully meet the demands of consumers who wanted to align their clothing style as closely as possible with European trends, tailors of women’s and men’s clothing, as well as other artisans in Serbia whose activities were related to the fashion industry, continuously improved their craft. Skilled artisans often traveled abroad, bringing back new ideas, methods, models, and magazines. The British magazine The Pall Mall Magazine reported the presence of Serbian masters who came to Paris in 1902 to see new models and find inspiration. The Orient Express, which arrived in Paris in the first week of March, was named the ‘train of high-fashion tailors’ because its passengers were exclusively the head tailors of prominent houses from Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia, and other cities along the route. Talented masters, owners of well-equipped salons, employed a large number of workers, and catered exclusively to wealthier clients. For visually representing the economic status of the bourgeoisie, it was essential that certain individuals could afford exclusive clothing, custom-made for them by top-notch masters. Among the esteemed masters in Belgrade were shoemaker Miloš Savić, men’s tailors Marko Petronijević, Života Lazarević, and Trifun Jovanović, as well as women’s tailors Berta Alkalaj and Sofija Švarc.
Fashion Print and Fashion Trends
During the last decades of the 19th century, various family and fashion magazines were accessible to the citizens of Serbia, sometimes in individual households, and to a greater extent at social gatherings – events and tailor shops. Starting from the beginning of the 20th century, the offerings of foreign fashion magazines could also be tracked through advertisements in print media. In 1909, the Gece Kona bookstore in Belgrade, through advertisements in the Politika newspaper, offered its readers 18 different French, German, and Viennese fashion magazines, including Die Modenwelt, Grosse Modenwelt, Der Bazar, Wiener Mode, Elegante Mode, Ilustrierte Frauenzeitung, La Mode Parisien, and others. Additionally, in 1912, L. M. Levenzon advertised as the representative for Serbia for as many as 74 imported fashion magazines. Among the magazines that stood out during that time in Serbia with fashion themes was “Mali žurnal” (The Small Journal). It even had a special edition dedicated exclusively to fashion, which was titled “Pariska moda” (Parisian Fashion) and was published in 1902. Unfortunately, already in 1903, “Mali žurnal” announced that “Pariska moda” had ceased publication due to immense expenses. However, there was a strong desire to relaunch this fashion magazine, as many ladies and young women pledged to become consistent subscribers, unlike in the past when one subscribed and fifty relied on one issue. The emergence of fashion magazines in Europe can be traced back to the 17th century. The French ruler Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, viewed fashion as a means to dominate European culture and actively encouraged the French fashion industry. His finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, famously stated that fashion was to France what Peruvian gold mines were to Spain. In France, from 1672 to 1832, one of the oldest fashion magazines, “Le Mercure galant,” was published. It was founded and edited by writer and historian Jean Donneau de Visé. During the time of the French Revolution, which temporarily disrupted the flow of French fashion, Germany also emerged as a publishing center for fashion magazines. The oldest German fashion magazine, “Journal des Luxus und der Moden,” was published in Weimar from 1786 to 1826, with its first publisher being Friedrich Justin Bertuch. Naturally, fashion in France soon reestablished its dominance, and the publication of fashion magazines continued. The fashion magazine “Journal des Dames et des Modes,” with its first editor being Professor Pierre de La Mesangère, was published in Paris from 1797 to 1839. One of the publications that continued the German tradition of producing high-quality fashion magazines in the 19th century was “Die Modenwelt: die Illustrierte Zeitung für Toilette und Handarbeiten” (The Fashion World: Illustrated Newspaper for Dress and Handicrafts). Founded by Franz von Lipperheide in Berlin in 1865, this magazine quickly achieved great success, being published in various countries in as many as 14 languages. It boasted the highest circulation among fashion magazines of that time and was even sold in Brazil. In the pages of “Die Modenwelt,” a magazine well-read in Serbia, fashion illustrations accompanied by pattern sheets were published. This facilitated ordering clothing in the latest fashion from skilled local craftsmen. Examples of fashion illustrations and pattern sheets from “Die Modenwelt” are preserved today in the Museum of Applied Arts in Belgrade and the Subotica City Museum. A significant leap in the history of fashion print was made by publisher Lucien Vogel when, in 1912, he began publishing “Gazette du bon ton” in Paris. This highly influential fashion magazine continued to be published even after World War I. Viewing fashion as a representative form of visual art, Vogel engaged a group of young artists, many of whom were educated at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, including Paul Iribe and George Barbier, to create illustrations for the new magazine. In modern Europe and Serbia, fashion print played a crucial role in conveying information about contemporary fashion trends. Holding a prominent place among various books, magazines, and newspapers, whose expanded production marked the development of European society from the 18th century onward, fashion print contributed to the formation of civil society and public opinion. It emphasized the significance of fashion in shaping the visual identity of citizens.
The Middle Ages as Inspiration in Serbian Fashion
In today’s context, fashion stands as one of the most pervasive forms of visual expression within culture. This notion was underscored as far back as 1886 by the Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölfflin, who postulated that the design of a shoe could be as significant an indicator of the value of medieval art as the grand Gothic cathedrals of Western Europe. Although Wölfflin primarily aimed to emphasize the role of everyday objects in shaping a holistic cultural image of a society and era, the connection between fashion and medieval art has persisted through diverse manifestations. During the 19th century, a prevailing nationalistic sentiment swept across Europe, prompting advocates of this idea to seek inspiration from the past, particularly the medieval period, to create authentic national cultural models. Modern Parisian fashion often bore the brunt of their critique. Nevertheless, this inclination towards medieval influence also impacted contemporary fashion trends. By the late 19th century, purses made of metal mesh emerged in fashion, their appearance evoking, among other things, the armor of medieval knights. These mesh purses, which have been preserved in significant numbers within the legacies of Serbian bourgeois families, frequently featured frames shaped as recognizable elements of Gothic architecture—arches or quatrefoils. These accessories remained stylish even between the two World Wars, crafted from silver, as well as various silver-plated metals and alloys. Inspired by European proponents of nationalistic ideals, the youth association “Družina Mladeži Srpske” founded in 1847 in Belgrade sought to break away from German attire and adopt a Serbian national costume that would be (re)constructed by studying medieval models. The result of these clothing reform endeavors was the “dušanka,” a male jacket named after Emperor Dušan, intended to emphasize national identity and a connection to a glorious past. In reality, the dušanka was a hussar-style jacket, borrowed from European wardrobe, akin to what could be seen in portrayals of scenes and personalities from Serbian history in 18th-century Vojvodina paintings. Queen Draga Obrenović, in her effort to promote the image of being the first Serbian queen after Princess Milica, commissioned the creation of a special court costume inspired by medieval aristocratic attire. Designed by architect Vladislav Titelbah, the costume was crafted at the Women’s Radenička School and adorned with embroidery from the workshop of Svetislav J. Kostić. The official photographs of the queen from 1902 bear witness to its appearance. The notion of constructing a national costume based on medieval models also resonated in Serbian painting. The pursuit of an authentic national costume that would lend Serbian saints, national heroes, and historical figures an appropriate national character played a significant role in the development of national art. It is well-known that for this purpose, the painter Dimitrije Avramović traveled and visited old Serbian monasteries, exploring evidence of medieval clothing in historical heritage. The timeless splendor of regal and aristocratic mosaic ensembles from monastery frescoes did not fade even during the socialist Yugoslavia era. As such, the inspiration drawn from medieval art held a significant place in the work of Aleksandar Joksimović, a prominent Serbian and Yugoslav fashion designer. In March 1967, Joksimović presented the high fashion collection “Simonida” at a fashion show in the Gallery of Frescoes in Belgrade. This collection drew inspiration from the name and era of the medieval Serbian queen Simonida. This event held great importance for Yugoslav fashion, as the collection garnered acceptance and emulation by younger generations and garment manufacturers—something unprecedented in a socialist country. That same year, at the International Festival of Fashion in Moscow, where representatives from both the Eastern and Western political blocs performed together for the first time, “Simonida” was acclaimed as the most successful collection. At the Yugoslav Industry and Art Exhibition in Paris in 1969, Joksimović unveiled the high fashion collection “Prokleta Jerina,” also inspired by the local history of the medieval era, named after Despotess Jerina Branković. The models showcased were acclaimed during this event in the fashion capital as marvelously contemporary and international. Renowned fashion houses Pierre Cardin and Dior expressed particular respect for this collection. During that era, high fashion, which had been instrumental in shaping fashion trends since the mid-19th century, evolved into an elite institution tailored to individuals with the most discerning aesthetic demands and members of the wealthiest social strata.
