A woman’s costume consists of a long skirt, rich in colour combinations, a long woven sash, a woven bodice or vest or a long-sleeved jacket, over a white linen embroidered blouse.

Originally the skirt which was simply a piece of fabric wrapped around the body and secured with a belt, but developed into a sewn skirt with pleats or gathers. In most districts, long, patterned, woven sashes were worn around the waist and tied with a knot at the front so the two ends fell loosely down the skirt. In some places this was replaced by an apron. Some skirts are held together by a belt of the same material as the skirt, and skirts can be ankle or calf length.

Like the shirts for men, blouses were made from bleached linen, long-sleeved with a minimum of seams. A slit was cut in the centre of a rectangular piece for the head and the rest of the pieces joined together with intricate needlework and cross-stitch embroidery. Even the buttons on the cuffs were hand sewn.

In most regions the women had elaborate wraps or smaller white stoles, woven from wool, or linen for summer. In all cases these shawls (villaines) were rectangular or square pieces draped around the shoulders and fastened with a large metal broach. originally they were predominantly dark blue with bronze ornamentation, but later festive shawls were chiefly white or sometimes blue.

For many years, the head covering served to signify the wearer’s marital status. The symbolic covering for a maiden was a wreath or coronet (vainags) but married women used to wear a bonnet, head-cloth or scarf. The earliest known coronets were made of metal in the sixth century. Cloth coronets with glass bead adornments have been worn by girls since the 12th century, although some districts just have ribbons tied around the head. A girl’s coronet played a part after the wedding ceremony when the groom had to lift it off the bride’s head, using the point of a sword, and fling it to the bride’s younger sister. This is like the tradition of throwing the bouquet in other countries. A richly ornamented wife’s bonnet was placed on the bride’s head by the matron of honour.

Both married women and girls wore their hair parted down the middle and in one long plait down the back. A long red ribbon with decorated or embroidered ends, was often plaited into the hair and allowed to hang down the back. In the 1870’s hair was done in two plaits which young girls wound around heir head as a coronet.