In honour of their patron saint, let's take a quick look at the national costume of Wales!
Welsh National Costume - Tesco (2024) Model: Gwen Fae Saunders-Odeke
The attire worn by working women in rural Wales in the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century served as the inspiration for what is now known as the national dress of Wales.  There are no records of a unified Welsh costume prior to the early eighteenth century, and because the garments in question were primarily worn by working women until reduced to rags, little material culture from prior to the 1830’s remains extant (Esvelt, 2021). Therefore, most of the earliest references to a uniquely Welsh mode of dress are drawn from journals, artwork and letters provided by English tourists from the 1770’s onwards. As these materials tend to focus on the differences between the English and Welsh working-class outfits rather than the similarities, information can be drawn from them but relying solely on them as references would be unwise. However, Stevens (2002, p.63) has been able to identify within these sources key components of a rural utilitarian dress particular to Wales that have since combined to form the national dress.
Academy of Armory - 47 - Countrey Welsh Woman Holme, 1688
Much of the credit for developing the Welsh national dress is attributed to Augusta Hall, also known as Lady Llanover. She was a key player in the 19th-century resurgence of Welsh culture, actively promoting Welsh language, literature, and music as well as advocating a national dress sourced from locally manufactured woollen flannel. Her prize-winning essay to the Eisteddfod On the Advantages Resulting from the Preservation of the Welsh Language and National Costumes of Wales (Gwent, 1836) was published under her bardic name, 'Gwenyen Gwent', and is inextricably linked to a series of watercolour fashion plates depicting a glamourous, idealised version of the working-class reality that Lady Llanover circulated (Freeman, 2007). She also used cloth woven at a mill on her estate to provide costume uniforms for her servants, estate workers, and donated clothing for the poor, in addition to dressing in Welsh costume herself (Gurden-Williams, 2008).
"Gwenyen Gwent" self-portrait (Hall, 1837)
However, industrialisation, mass tourism and the rapid expansion of the railroad network in the 1800’s did just as much to cement this formulaic vision of the Welsh national dress as Lady Llanover (Stevens, 2002). Postcards, costumed dolls and other representations of the Welsh costume were created en masse to be sold to and distributed by travellers to the country, thus fortifying the stereotypical image of the outfit. This has been further reinforced in the modern digital age due to the ease of access to research materials online.
Karnival Costumes (2023)
Nowadays the Welsh national dress is mostly worn by schoolgirls on St David’s day (Esvelt, 2021), and at national events such as the Eisteddfod. It has become so integrated into the national identity that it’s now possible to purchase a cheap, generic version of the costume from Amazon, Etsy, or your local Welsh supermarket. A generic Victorian-era costume is also now available for boys who want to express pride in their national identity.
References:
Esvelt, G. (2021) Stovepipe Hats and Bedgowns: An Exploration of the Welsh National Costume  Available at: https://costumesociety.org.uk/blog/post/stovepipe-hats-and-bedgowns-an-exploration-of-the-welsh-national-costume
Freeman, M (2007) ‘Lady Llanover and the Welsh Costume Prints’ The National Library of Wales Journal, vol. XXXIV, no. 2, pp. 235-252. Available at: https://www.library.wales/fileadmin/docs_gwefan/amdanom_ni/cylchgrawn_llgc/cgr_XXXIV_rhif2_2007.pdf
Gurden-Williams, C. (2008) Lady Llanover and the Creation of a Welsh Cultural Utopia. Unpublished Dr. Phil. thesis. Cardiff University. Available at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/40001942.pdf
Gwent, G. (1836) The Prize Essay on the Advantages Resulting from the Preservation of the Welsh Language and National Costumes of Wales. Google Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books
Hall, A. (1837) Gwenynen Gwent [1 painting: hand-colored, watercolor]. National Library of Wales. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10107/4672544
Holme, R (1688) The academy of armory. Chester
Karnival Costumes (2022) Traditional Welsh Costume. Available via the Wayback Machine.
Stevens, C. (2002) Welsh Peasant Dress — Workwear or National Costume? Textile History, 33(1), pp.63-78.
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