It is practically impossible to define typical Provençal dress,
whether it be masculine or feminine. To do so would be to create
an erroneous stereotype about this particularly flexible element
of daily life.
As a matter of fact, the dress not only varies according to social
classes and "fashions" but within the same region at a given period
as well. Each city and town has its specificity ; the wings
on women's bonnets, the pockets, the way a "fichu" is draped.
What's more, the dress corresponds to living conditions and each
social class has its summer and winter clothing. Each season has
its workwear, often dark and functional, and dresswear, or at least,
elements designed to enliven workwear during holiday periods.
Finally, dress varies according to age and represents a veritable
code : a young women wears a much plainer bonnet than a married
one, and a widow couldn't continue wearing her bonnet without first
replacing the white ribbons with black ones.
