Macedonian dolls

Pictured here are two 8" cloth over wire dolls with felt hands and embroidered facial features wearing costumes from Macedonia. Like all the male dolls made by Narodna Radinost  these two sport moustaches and have small ears made of  tiny pieces of sheer fabric. The male doll in the coloured waistcoat wears a summer costume from the Skopska Blatija region. In the actual folk costume the long shirt he wears would be pleated, like the Greek foustanella, and would be seen to its full advantage when dancing as can be seen in the first postcard of the costume drawn by Croatian artist Vladimir Kirin shown below.

The male in blue is probably wearing a winter version of the costume from Skopska Crna Gora. He has on a blue vest and a long sleeveless blue jacket which may also be white and is commonly worn by men and women in Macedonia.

Both dolls have black hats, wide sashes around the waist and bright strips of material on their legs to represent the colourful socks of the original version. The shoes are a soft leather with cotton binding.

Postcard by Vladimir Kirin

Postcard by Vladimir Kirin