The History of Greek traditional costumes - just like the History of music, dance, dialects, and so many other expressions of traditional culture - could be much richer than that of other European countries.

This is not said out of superficial national self-satisfaction, but after comparing with other countries that had similar wealth, but simply lost it before Greece. The governance by foreigners, the absence of a bourgeois class, reduced communications, and poverty had at least one good aspect: our villages and islands maintained their autonomy until recently.

[Excerpt from the text of the prologue]