Faralaes are usually ankle-length, though shorter ones can be seen and are often worn by children. They often have elbow or bracelet-length sleeves, finished with ruffles or frills and the neckline is usually V-shaped. They are fitted to below the hips and then explode into a froth of ‘volantes’ – frills.
Feria dresses
exist in an endless variety of colours and patterns, though the emphasis is
generally on creating a bright and celebratory effect. It is usual to find two
different patterns in the same dress, hopefully of a harmonious nature. Dresses
in one colour are also popular, and these are very elegant.
Along with the dress goes a particular style. The hair is pulled back into a bun and fastened with coloured slides while extravagant earrings balance the exuberance of the dress. An artificial rose stands upright on the wearer’s head, a feat which only Andalucían women can perform and which is not attempted at any other time of year. You will rarely see a feria dress teamed with flat shoes.
Along with the dress goes a particular style. The hair is pulled back into a bun and fastened with coloured slides while extravagant earrings balance the exuberance of the dress. An artificial rose stands upright on the wearer’s head, a feat which only Andalucían women can perform and which is not attempted at any other time of year. You will rarely see a feria dress teamed with flat shoes.
Feria dresses are expensive and some women save all year to buy something beautiful for themselves and their daughters. No female is ever too young or too old to wear a 'traje de feria'. The cost of a feria dress depends on the number of frills, as they represent the most time-consuming aspect of making the dress.
Vejer’s main faralaes outlet is ‘La Boutique de Antonio’
on the corner of San Ambrosio and Torrero Juan Conde. Here you will find
dresses in all sizes, ranging in price from a little over 100 Euros for a
bargain-basement dress to around 400 Euros for the most expensive examples. At
the moment, the shop does not have a signboard, but it is very easy to find should you wish to make a purchase.
It is usually
cheaper to have a dress made using your own choice of fabric. I was lucky
enough to persuade a local dressmaker to share some of her secrets with me.
This year, she has made about 12 dresses, some for a dance school. While a
full-sized dress takes at least 20 hours to make, she told me, the children’s’
versions are a bit quicker, though not much.
An adult's dress might cost 120 Euros, depending on the number of frills, but members of
her large family usually expect a 50% discount, which reduces her income. Children’s’ dresses cost about 40 Euros. Feria
and Carnival are her busy times, and nobody gives her much advance notice, so she
often works around the clock. For a fully qualified craftswoman (she studied
for four years at college to acquire her skills), the rewards are not very
large.
Despite their
distinctive appearance, she tells me, feria dresses are made in the same way as
other dresses and there are no special techniques. After measuring the client,
she adapts her pattern to their size and generally achieves a pleasing result
with only one more fitting.
There is no
restriction on the kind of fabric used for a feria outfit, though nowadays, a lot
of people like stretch fabric because it holds its shape and gives a little
room to move. Cotton and glazed cotton are popular, and silk is sometimes used though it is
expensive, but mixed and synthetic fabrics are now predominant.
Not every dress you encounter at feria will be the typical faralaes. My dressmaker friend also showed me a dress she was making especially for the Garrotín. This flamenco palo is based in Asturian folklore and is one of the very few palos to have developed outside Andalucía. Its rhythm is similar to the flamenco tango and it is usually danced in a wide-skirted dress with fewer frills than the traditional flamenco dress.
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| A special design is required for the Garrotín |
