Amager Island
In the period 1515-1523, Denmark's King Christian II invited (for reasons not entirely known) several Dutch families to settle on the southeast corner of Amager Island in what would become the village of Store Magleby. Some say the Dutch were invited to do so because Denmark needed the canal-building expertise for which Dutch engineers were renowned. For quite some time, the Dutch Amagers did not intermarry with the Danish Amagers and did not integrate into the local community.
What we call the "Amager" folk costume was historically the clothing worn by the Dutch Amagers who lived in the village of Store Magleby. The Danish Amagers lived primarily in Tårnby and Dragør. As the Dutch Amagers farmed the fertile Amager soil and brought high quality produce (e.g., carrots, cabbage) to market in nearby Copenhagen, the Amager costume became associated with vendors of high quality goods. In order to cash in on this good reputation, the Danish villages of Dragør and Tårnby adopted the Amager costume. Ultimately, the farming community of Store Magleby was merged with the shipping town of Dragør in 1974.​
Amager is a special region for folk costumes because its wealth and Dutch influence resulted in several unique and elaborate elements. Further, Amager women wore different costumes for different occasions, much like the women of Røsnæs. As an example, it was said that an Amager woman needed to own no fewer than 11 aprons if she sought to have a correct outfit for every occasion. A man could make do with three different suits, but that is a lot compared with other Danish regions.
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Amager costumes varied in color, but not according to the seasons (as in the Hedebo Region). Instead, the costume color signified the event for which it was worn (e.g., church, mourning).
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As late as the 1930s, Amager women could be seen wearing their traditional folk costumes at the produce market in Højbro Square, Copenhagen. Fastelavn traditions have remained strong in Dragør Municipality, of which Store Magleby is a part. It is believed that those traditions served to keep the Amager costume alive through the decades. Today, these beautiful Amager folk costumes can most easily be seen during the Store Magleby Church Harvest Service.​
Click the links below to jump to each costume:
1. City suit (Stadsdragt) (black apron)
2. Kysedragt (white or blue apron with two apron ribbons)
3. Church suit (Kirkedragt) (red apron)
4. Bridal suit (black or blue apron)
5. Chef's suit (Kokkedragt) (white apron with four apron ribbons)
6. Funeral/Mourning suit (black jøb with blue/white apron and two blue apron ribbons)
City Suit (Stadsdragt)
Amager Stadsdragt (City Suit)
from "Danske Folke Dragter" by Nanna Gandil, 1972
​​The Amager city suit (stadsdragt), above, used black cloth (often damask silk) of the finest quality. Around 1800, a black dress was not viewed as being gloomy. On the chest are 4 pairs of discs covered thinly (i.e., gilded) with silver. The eyelets on the discs are laced together with a flat, wide needle attached to a long silver chain.
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The apron is made of black silk. Around the waist was a black duchesse ribbon with colorful embroidery. Amager sailors brought the shoulder scarf, the very large "Barcelona scarf," home to their wives and girlfriends, who then set about embroidering it. Women had multiple scarves, as one was needed for celebrations, while others were required for mourning.
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The so-called "duckbeak" headgear protruded with the help of a cardboard insert, and consisted of one piece of black velvet. It was embroidered in white which was then dyed indigo.
Image Credit: Amager Museum
Image Credit: Amager Folkedansere
Kysedragt
Kysedragt from Dragør, Amager Island
from "Danske Folke Dragter" by Nanna Gandil, 1972
On Amager Island, Dragør is the non-Dutch town right next to the Dutch village of Store Magleby. The Dragør Kissing Suit has the following elements:
a. large white apron with numerous folds.
b. only 2 small ribbon loops that stick out to each side.
c. shoulder scarf is made of alpaca and richly embroidered with flowers in woolen yarn and with a fringe at the edges.
d. a white scarf was worn between the embroidered scarf and the neck to protect the embroidery.
e. a "kissing hat" made of either velvet or silk over a cardboard form. It is open at the back so you can see the small silk hat underneath.
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This costume pictured, above, has been 100% genuine, lovingly preserved from the 1800s.
A lovely example of a Kysedragt circa 1870
Worn by none other than the President of the Danish Folk Costume Society!
Image credit: Dávid Botond and GeoFolk
Church Suit (Kirkedragt)
Amager Church Suit (Kirkedragt), 1860-1870
from "Folkedragter i Danmark" by Ellen Andersen, 1952
The beautiful Amager Church Suit contains the following elements:
a. canvas or black velvet one-piece headgear. It had white embroidery dyed indigo, which made its embroidery barely visible.​
b. black silk (often damask) blouse with velvet panels
c. On her chest, she wears a large gilded buckle/medallion to fasten the blouse, featuring images of the Virgin Mary.
​d. The owner's metal initials hung below this medallion
e. silk "Barcelona scarf"
f. red pleated wool apron (only used for church services) over a black skirt
g. In her hand, the woman would carry a handkerchief, so stiffened with starch as to be unusable and dyed dark blue, attached to a large tassel decorated with multicolored beads.
Amager wool church bodice with silk ribbon trim and sewn-on black nattrøje sleeves knitted in a traditional star-pattern
Image Credit: Museum Kolding
Amager wool church apron with black velvet trim. Decorative brass plates.
Image Credit: Museum Kolding
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Amager Kirkedragt
Amager Kirkedragt
Bridal Suit
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A woman from West Sundby ("Sundbyvester"), Amager, in wedding dress
Amager Bride from Dutch town of Store Magleby, wearing bridal headgear
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Probable Wedding Dress from Magleby
Possible Wedding Dress from Magleby
Probable Wedding Dress
Image Credit: Amager Museet
Chef's Suit (Kokkedragt)
Amager Kokkedragt (Chef's Suit)
The chef's suit costume was worn at a wedding by relatives of the bride or groom. Note that it has four apron ribbons, not the usual two, as well as a "Barcelona scarf" and round pins/ornaments that are thinly-coated (gilded) in silver.
Funeral/Mourning Suit
Amager Funeral/Mourning Costume 1870-1880
from "Folkedragter i Danmark" by Ellen Andersen, 1952
At funerals until the 1880s, women in Store Magleby and Dragør wore black skirts, called a jøb, which could be pulled over their heads in order to hide their grief. In earlier times, the skirt was worn over the head even in church, and priests complained bitterly that the women were seizing the opportunity to nap. The Amager jøb has a cardboard "peacock tail" at the back, which is covered with wine-red and blue silk cloth. The mourning apron is white with a blue band at the top.
Funeral/Mourning Suit
Amager was associated with the growing of carrots (and other vegetables). That reputation was enhanced by a H.C. Andersen poem and a children's nursery rhyme, both of which speak of Amager women and carrots.
Amager Costumes in Dutch Town of Store Magleby
Amager Dutch Floss Hat ("floshat"), also called a "thrum hat," is incorrectly said to be made of camel wool. However it is actually made from the hair of an angora goat. The misunderstanding comes from the fact that the arabic name for the angora goat is "seil el kemel," prompting people to incorrectly assume a camel was involved.
Image Credit: Amager Museum
Amager Dutch Groom from Hollaenderbyen, 1892
Amager Market Dress
1908: Amagerkoner (Amager wives) on Højbro Plads in Copenhagen selling vegetables and flowers while wearing elements of their traditional folk costume. In this respect, they are not unlike the women from Skovshoved who sat at the Gammel Strand fish market in their traditional woodland costume and sold plaice caught by their husbands in the Øresund.
Amager women at Israels Plads, Copenhagen, 1930
Amager woman in market dress on display at National Museum
Barcelona Scarf
Amager Man Costume 1830-1840
from "Folkedragter i Danmark" by Ellen Andersen, 1952
The unusual men's "Dutch floss hat" was made of camel hair and weighed 10lbs. The man wore two shirts, a white undershirt and a red cotton shirt above. He wore a black cloth waistcoat. Around the neck was a folding collar of finely wrinkled and blued canvas, which was a remnant of the elegant ruff collars worn by wealthy men during the Renaissance and still worn by Danish priests to the present day. Over the collar was a silk scarf. Distinctively, Amager men wore baggy black trousers, which were also a fashion holdover from the Renaissance.
Amager mens costume
from "Danske Nationaldragter," 3rd Ed. (1915)
by F.C. Lund with illustrations by Luplau Janssen
Amager mens costume
Image credit: Amager Folkedansere
Amager mens costume
Note the unusual white knit cap. Interestingly, regarding the color of men's knitted caps, Joachim Junge, writing in his 1915 book "Den Nordsjaellandske Landalmues Karakter" states that men in Frederiksborg County (basically Sjælland near Hillerød and Helsingor) wore white caps, while residents of nearby "Hirschholms County" (a small county near Hørsholm) wore red caps. The use of white caps seems to have been relatively uncommon in Denmark.
Image credit: Amager Folkedansere
Left: Amager Wedding Dress
Right: Amager Church Suit (Kirkedragt)
Amager and Røsnaes were two places in Denmark where for a long time it was held that women wore different suits for different occasions.
Image Source: Mikael Bjerregaard
