3

Play of colours

By introducing a particular Herrnhut costume, Zinzendorf visually emphasized equality among his protegés. He may well have done this to curb any rising vanities among them. The costume, therefore, did not continue traditions from their lost Bohemian home but is rather based on costumes worn in Upper Lusatia. Part of the female costume is, besides the tucker, a bonnet that is not sewn but traditionally pinned together patiently using tiny needles.
Like in other traditional dresses the status of a woman is indicated by certain attributes. In the Herrnhut costume this is the so-called choir ribbon: girls wear it red, young unmarried women display a dyed pink ribbon. Blue is the colour for married women and widows wear white. By this means marriageable women are easily detected.