Portraits Of Elderly German Women Who Continue To Dress In Traditional Costumes

Anna Katharina Suessmann in mourning garb, Hesse, 2011

Melissa Faithful for Art-Sheep

All images © Eric Schuett

Village Queens, is a project by German photographer Eric Schuett, that explores the lives of country women in Germany and Alsace and captures them and their traditional costuming, that once dressed the majority of the village population.

The photographer was first inspired for this project, when he met Maria Anna Griessbaum, a ninety-something woman living in Black Forest. Her traditional attire and captivating stories made Shuett interested in his country’s culture and history. He then reached out to more elderly women he found by visiting various museums and consulting historical texts. The ones he met were of an age that most of the times wouldn’t allow them to make even the most basic things on their own. Getting dressed was an issue for the most of them, especially since their attire heavily.

These women are the last living example of an era that has long passed. As times changed, fashion changed, but some women stayed true to what they knew. The reasons why they did that vary. Some couldn’t afford new clothes, while some others did it because their husbands preferred it. Unfortunately as they grow old, Shuett notes, these women may have to give up the complex outfits, as they are challenging to assemble.

Some of the women he met and photographed, have passed away. That’s why it is important for the photographer to record and pass on the stories of these women, who had nothing uncommon about the way they lived.

via featureshoot