Hello everyone! Today my article will be about the folk costume of the Caribbean as suggested by Aaliyah.
The Caribbean is a group of islands between North and South America. These islands were colonized by several European kingdoms including England, France, Spain, and Holland. Because of the history of these islands, the people there are very diverse. The main ethnic groups are Afro-Caribbean which are the people descended from the African slave trade, and Indo-Caribbean which were the workers from India that the British brought over to work at the plantations. There is also populations of Chinese and European in the Caribbean. Most of the Caribbean people are mixed race.
Quadrille is a dress style worn by many of the Caribbean countries especially Jamaica, Dominica, Haiti, and St. Lucia. It is known by different names in each country, "kwadril" in St. Lucia, "bandana dress" in Jamaica, "karabela" in Haiti, etc.. This dress has influences from colonial fashion and Indian fashion. Quadrille dress consists of a peasant blouse and a long skirt made of Madras cloth or plain colours depending on the country, usually worn with a matching hair wrap. Madras cloth is from Chennai India, which used to be known as 'Madras'. This kind of cloth is a plaid cotton and it comes in a variety of colours.
Jamaican Quadrille dress is usually red or maroon plaid with a white. Dominica and St. Lucia Kwadril dress both have an extra over skirt that is made of Madras cloth. Haitian Karabela dresses are very colourful.
Today the Quadrille dress is only worn by dancers, entertainers and tour guides.
Here is a picture of a group of Jamaican performers that are all wearing Quadrille dress:
Here is a picture of a St. Lucian woman in Kwadril:
Here is my recreation on SD:
I used: 'Princess Di Top' from Perfect Day, 'Checkered Full Skirt' from Decades, 'Bianca Headscarf' from Rio, 'Scarf Wrap headpiece' from Riviera, and 'Greek Flat Sandals' from Riviera
I hope you all enjoyed my article! This one was kinda hard to do, but I hope I got everything right and that my recreation is accurate
-Amy Katrina, csi12asa
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