In modern Netherlands, one local keeps traditional Dutch dress alive

(Refile to update byline)

By ‌Hilde Verweij and ​Charlotte ​Van Campenhout

VOLENDAM, Netherlands, March 13 (Reuters) - The Volendam women's costume, with its high pointed bonnet (hul), is one of the most recognisable forms ‌of traditional Dutch dress, appearing often on postcards from the Netherlands.

But ⁠outside the tourist industry, no one publicly wears it in daily life anymore - except ‌Annie In de Betouw-Kwakman, 85.

In ‌the Netherlands, clothing used to be linked to a person's place of origin.

"Almost every Dutch village used to have their own look," said fashion ​historian Birthe Weijkamp. "You could recognise where someone was coming from, what village they belonged to. So it was very much about identity, about ⁠belonging somewhere."

In Volendam, a village 22 kilometres north of Amsterdam, nearly everyone dressed like Annie until the ​mid-twentieth century, said Simone Kwakman-Brinkkemper, a specialist in Volendam's traditional dress.

The daily outfit includes a black jacket (jak), a short scarf (dasje), ​an apron (bontje), a long skirt, a tight ‌red coral beaded necklace and black slip‑on shoes (muilen).

But as people began working outside the village, the clothes, which are handmade ⁠and require great skill to create, became impractical. Annie quickly watched her friends and sisters switch to modern dress.

In Volendam, the only other person who wears the ⁠daily attire is another older woman who no longer goes outdoors.

When Annie had school-aged children, ​she briefly tried to modernise for them, as they said classmates were making fun of her attire. She bought a dress, but quickly abandoned it.

"The neighbour said, 'What are ‌you wearing? You look like a candy cane,'" she said. "I'm colour‑blind ... I looked like a fool."

Annie said she is ‌proud of her traditional clothes and it pains her that the tradition will ⁠disappear when she does.

"Everyone is different, ‌and everyone finds something ​else beautiful or comfortable. For me, this is freedom," she said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Hilde Verweij; Editing by ‌Makini Brice)

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