Orange City, Iowa — We now know what the tulip court will be wearing during the Orange City Tulip Festival this May.
The annual Orange City Tulip Festival Extravaganza was held Wednesday, March 11, at Prairie Winds Event Center. The event featured a luncheon and program during which the costumes for the 2020 Tulip Queen and Court were revealed.
Officials tell us the 2020 Tulip Court will be wearing the costume of Volendam.
Information from the Tulip Festival Committee indicates Volendam is one of the most well-known costumes of the Netherlands. The court is wearing the everyday attire. This would have been worn through life’s day to day activities. It is characterized by a unique “Yak” or jacket, which has many rows of hand shirring, creating hundreds of tiny pleats, which are meant to flatter the waistline. The fabric to create the Jacket, as well as the traditional striped apron, was shipped in from the Netherlands. The apron also features rows of decorative stitching. The committee tells us that women of this time didn’t have a lot of variety in their wardrobes, so they would often embellish every piece of clothing they wore. This included their wooden shoes, which feature two rows of delicately carved leaves.
The queen is wearing the formal attire of Volendam. This would have been worn to church, festivals, and funerals. It is characterized by the black “kletje” or half-sleeved jacket. The krap-lap, or undershirt, has two pieces of brightly colored embroidery. The top of the “boezel” or apron also features a similar embroidery design, done five times over. The queen is also wearing a striped skirt, as opposed to the black one of the court.
The accessories of the court and queen are much the same. The pointed white hats are very characteristic of the Netherlands. They also are wearing a small black under cap, which helps keep their hair in place, and hat standing tall. The red coral necklaces feature a “boat clasp”, which was unique to Volendam, and contains a tiny painting of a ship within it. The blue and white scarves were a way for women to show their creativity. Each scarf features 3 different designs which can each be displayed by folding it in different ways.
