Trousers worn with belodreshnik
The style of trousers worn with the older style belodreshnik
depends on the season. The oldest style of winter trousers were two separate
leggings made of pieces of cloth tied on round the waist called nogavitsi
or novoushta. These developed into long, narrow tight fitting woollen
trousers called benevretsi which were made of fulled white homespun
woollen cloth (aba). These were ankle length and in some areas of the
north west were decorated with black braiding.
Shorter winter trousers called dimii were found in central north
Bulgaria. Dimii reached just below the knee and had wide legs, which
were decorated at the lower edge with binding, appliqué work, and
embroidery. The lower leg was covered with leg wraps (known in this area as
dizove or kaltsi).
Summer trousers worn with belodreshnik were made of hemp, linen or
later cotton, and were wider than winter trousers. These were also known as
benevretsi, or dimii, or cheshiri, or bechvi. In
the north west, these had short wide legs cut above boot level.
Trousers worn with chernodrešnik
The dark woollen trousers (potouri) worn with chernodreshnik were baggy at the hips and tight from the knee. These trousers were very wide at the waist, with many folds gathered in at the waist using a cord, the more pleats and fuller the potouri, the richer the man. The cut of these trousers narrowed towards the knees, then was tight below the knees. They were made from thick woollen fabric produced in craft workshops in urban centres, In the north east this style of trousers were originally made of white woollen cloth, although elsewhere the natural beige-brown colour of wool was preserved, or the fabric was dyed back dark blue or brown.
Potouri can be richly decorated with braid along the seams and around the pockets. Local differences occur in the techniques of decoration. Similar shaped trousers were found both further east in the Ottoman Empire and across the Danube in south east Romania.
Very wide baggy trousers worn by richer men were
called shalvari. These were made of
woollen material and were braided around the seams, edges and pocket
openings. Moslem women also wore shalvari.
made from thinner material. (In certain villages in the north east women
women wear ankle length trousers of different cut to shalvari which
are considered to have Proto- Bulgar origins.)
In some areas trousers styles represented a transitional phase between the
white and dark trousers. White trousers were still found in some western
parts of Bulgaria and in the far south east (Sakar mountains) in 1910 or
even later. Trousers called dimii in Svishtov region, or burdentsi in
Pavlikeni, were made of natural colour, dark blue or black woollen cloth,
and were decorated with braid along legs, and around pockets.
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