Bridal “sayas” costume

The bridal dress is made of olive-green material with appliqué panels of red cloth decorated with multicoloured embroideries and tassels. The shoulders, chest and sleeves are trimmed with gold braid.
The “sayas” characteristic of most of the costumes of the Macedonian lowlands is nearly always made of a cotton fabric in balanced plain weave or in twill. It may be left white or dyed dark green, blue or black, and it often has a glossy finish (by being heavily starched and then ironed) by a professional dyer. It is embroidered on the inside of the front flaps of the skirt (“podies” or “skoutes”) and the turn-ups of the sleeves, so that the embroidery will be visible when it is turned back, except in the costume of Pylaia (Kapoudzida), where it is never turned back. A specialist tailor and embroiderer, the “terzis”, cuts, sews and embroiders the sayas. Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation Collection