Female traje tipico
The female traditional attire is more versatile than the male one it can be all white and black or have colours. The following section will present the common elements of the female traje tipico, divided in three subsections as followed: black and white attire; Black and white with colour ornaments; and fully coloured attires. All three trajes tipicos have the following common elements: 1) the woman usually wears a black ribbon around her neck with a charm that usually has a religious figure or symbol (as shown in photo number 4); 2) a black shawl with a fringed outline called pañolón (see photo 5); and 3) a skirt that can be all black, black with colourful decorations, or and fully coloured.
Women wearing attire almost entirely in black and white is most common and is recognized for its elegance. This outfit consists of a white blouse with black ornamental embroidery in the neck area, that is tucked inside a long black pleated cloth skirt. The front of the skirt is decorated with embroidery in black thread (canutillos y lentejuelas) and black or dark coloured ribbons. Generally speaking, the motives used for the decoration of the female traje tipico have a floral character, but representative elements of Vélez folklore (e.g., tiple, the Vélez church, a treble clef) have also been introduced. Bustos affirms that in the past, the most common element for the blouse was the “ojito” (the black decorative embroidery on the front of the blouse on picture 7). Under the main black skirt is a white skirt called naguas or enaguas that gives volume to the main skirt. In some cases the enaguas are replaced by a white lace strip attached to the bottom of the black skirt. This can be observed at the bottom of the black skirt in photo 7.
The black and white with colors traje tipico follows the same specifications of the original black and white attire, however the addition of colour on the decoration provides a more striking and colourful character. Busto affirms that after the 1950’s there is an increased use of colors and greater variations in embroidery (1988, 31). The following photo represents the coloured traje tipico used in Vélez in 2021. This photo also shows the traditional white naguas / enaguas under the black skirt and the prints on the alpargatas (shoes).
One of the most recent modifications is the fully coloured traje tipico, in which the skirt and blouse are made of vivid colours as is the fold at the end of the blouse that goes on top of the skirt. Although there is no written documentation of the date when the fully coloured traje tipico was implemented, local people estimate that people started to observe this attire around the beginnings of the 21st century. This traje tipico is less common, but detailed embroidery and the inclusion of lace decoration remain an important feature of the fully coloured traje tipico that has gained popularity in the region.
Doris Rivera, a member of the musical ensemble Corazón Santandereano who lives in Vélez, comments that the price of a fully coloured traje tipico can cost between $2,500 to $3,000 Colombian pesos, the equivalent to $800 to $1000 Canadian dollars in 2021. She also adds that the price for the white and black traje tipico might be slightly lower but that contrary to what is believed, the black and white traje tipico is considered the most elegant one. The Rivera family agrees that the use of colours in the traje tipico represents a higher status in society, as the only people able to afford the colours and better details in the traje tipico are those with a better economic resources.