At the crossroads. Traditional costume, identity and social transformations in Asturias

At the end of the 19th century, the Asturian bourgeoisie set the standards of what then was called the Asturian garment, regional or national costume. From those initial canons, the self-defined Asturian costume underwent some aesthetical transformations that did not modify the essence of the pieces which made it up, though they changed it greatly. In the eighties of the last century, the movement of cultural vindication arisen from the disappearance of Francoism contributed to a greater knowledge of the popular fashions that gave rise to the regional costume, leading to a specific evaluation of it as a historicist reconstruction. Nowadays, the diversification of traditional or folk music shows, the development of pipe bands, the evolution of traditional dance groups and the interpretation of other popular fashion cycles as “Asturian costume”, which many are carrying out, have fostered a transformation process in which the main standards of the Asturian costume are being affected and subjected to a process of change.