The blue dirndl apron completes the South Tyrolean traditional costume for women and girls and is a colourful counterpoint to the black skirt, the red or green bodice depending on the origin and the white blouse. Very few people know that blue aprons are made using a dyeing process that is rarely found today. The so-called blue print originates from India and was added to the list of intangible world cultural heritage in 2018.
A cultural asset that is unjustly neglected
Much has already been written about the blue men's apron in South Tyrol. Far more artistic, however, is the blue apron of the South Tyrolean women's traditional costume; the latter, however, only receives the attention it deserves in specialist literature. Woven from cotton or linen, the apron is characterised by filigree white or light-coloured patterns and, with a few exceptions, is widespread throughout South Tyrol. In contrast to the traditional costume with its shawl and apron made of fine silk, the blue cotton apron is worn in the South Tyrolean costume with bodice. Only on high festive days is it replaced by a fine silk apron.
How does blue printing work?
The art of blue printing is a reserve printing process for finishing natural fibres. Strictly speaking, the process is not a printing process but a dyeing process. The cotton or linen fabrics are pre-treated with a special colour-repelling mass called “Papp” with the help of a printing model. This compound ensures that the characteristic blue colour in which the fabric is dipped does not adhere to precisely these areas. After the fabric has dried and the mass has been removed with a sulphuric acid bath, a white negative imprint of the model with which the Papp was applied appears on the blue fabric.
A closely guarded secret
Each blueprint workshop has its own individual recipe for making this reserve. The knowledge about the composition of the “Papp” is only passed on within the workshop and is a closely guarded secret.
Knowhow imported from India
The blue printing process was brought to Europe in the 17th century by travellers of the Dutch East India Company, likewise the indigo dyeing plant was unknown in Europe until then. Before that - more precisely since the Iron Age - the colour blue was produced in Europe by processing the woad plant (also called woad dyer or German indigo). The newly imported technique of blue dyeing spread very widely in Tyrol and the entire Alpine region in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Blue printing as a world cultural heritage
The (art) craft of blue printing has been on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since November 2018. Today, according to UNESCO, there are still twelve businesses in Germany and 15 in other European countries that cultivate this art.
Tradition meets modernity
Prof. Dr. Maria Böhmer, President of the German UNESCO Commission, emphasises the importance of the workshops that have preserved this technique over centuries, as well as the young creatives who are rediscovering it. The designation of blueprinting as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is intended to help ensure that this craft is preserved and experiences a new heyday.
Fun fact: Single or married?
While the colour and type of costume reveal the origin of the wearer, the postion of the tie of the apron can give an indication of relationship status: If the apron is tied on the left, it means that the wearer is single. If, on the other hand, it is tied on the right, the wearer is engaged or married.