Magyar Posta is continuing its stamp series History of Clothing by presenting two 19th-century outfits. Twenty thousand copies of the new issue were produced based on the design of the graphic artist István Weisenburger by the Pénzjegynyomda printing company. It will be available at first day post offices and Filaposta in Hungary from 9 May 2023, but may also be ordered from Magyar Posta’s online store.
The Valero dress, kept at the Museum of Applied Arts, follows the fashion of Western Europe, mainly Paris. The dress has a wide, full-length skirt stiffened with fishbone stays and a bodice with a broad low neckline exposing the shoulders. Around the shoulders is a V-shaped bertha, described in Hungarian fashion reports of the Reform Era as a collar of pleated decorative bands at the bosom or a rich lace trimming that hung down to cover the neckline. It has been suggested that the fabric for the dress may have been made in the Valero factory, but this is not supported by any actual source, manufacturing technique or family tradition. The atlas silk dress patterned with stripes in the national colours is considered to be an example of Hungarian-style costume of the Reform Era.
The man’s outfit shown in the stamp comes from the collection of the Hungarian National Museum. The trousers and dolman are adorned with braid in the Hungarian tradition. The front of the red dolman has matching red silk button fastenings while the folds on the back and the sleeves are trimmed with warrior’s knots in the shape of pike heads. This motif also adorns the front of the blue trousers which have lighter blue piping running up the sides. The black silk cravat, which is part of the set, has gold decoration crocheted with metallic thread at the edge. The black leather boots with curved-edged shafts and embellished with gold- coloured metallic braid complete the outfit, the like of which may once have been worn by the original owner of the costume, a member of the Bánó family, who had an estate in Varjúfalva.
The background of the stamp depicting the men’s costume shows part of a map of Sáros county, where the Bánó family owned estates, while the stamp featuring the women’s attire has a detail of a contemporary lithograph of the Valero Silk Factory building in the background. In the frame of the miniature sheet, on the first day cover and in the postmark, stylised graphic designs inspired by the costumes can be seen.
