Tricana poveira is a traditional style of women’s clothing from the city of Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. This look of colorful costumes was fashionable and mainstream from the 1920s to the 1960s. Women dressed in the style of Tricana poveira were known as tricana girls.
In the brightest period of Tricana, a tricana girl typically wore a shawl, apron, skirt, handkerchief and high-heeled slippers.
They were thought of as povoan beauty icons. Author José de Azevedo, referring to his strange walking and dressing styles, tricanas are called royal attitudes to common people.
Although fashion was based on traditional fishing clothes, Tricanas often came from a blue-collar background, while most of them were girls of shoemakers, carpenters or similar masters, while many worked as tailors. They applied the information they obtained from their background in the industries related to fashion to their own dressing styles. Bairro da Matriz neighborhood is famous for its charming and attractive tricanas.
Mean while, women working in the fishing industry would actually wear their traditional costumes. Although they were dressed similarly to Tricana girls, they were noticeably poorer and were wearing longer skirts from lower quality materials and darker colors.
History of Tricana Poveira
The brightest period of the Tricana style, from the 1920s to the 1960s, had a strong influence both on Póvoa de Varzim and on foreigners visiting the city.Tricana costumes were the main fashion among middle-class youth until apparel apparel appeared in the 1970s. As young people adopt more modern international fashions, tricana poveira now only appears in urban folklore groups and parades.
Today, tricana costumes can be quite expensive, depending on the preferences of the tricana girl and the materials used. As still a strong tradition, tricana girls play a big role in the city’s festivities on June 28 and 29, during Rusgas de São Pedro (Saint Peter Parades).
Tricanas Cidral do (from Bairro da Matriz quarter), the first folklore group based on the tricana style, came out as early as 1920 in Tricanas da Lapa (from the quarter of Bairro Sul) in 1952, Rancho Estrela do Norte in 1954 and the regional Tricanas in 1993 Poveiras. Leões da Lapa FC, the southern quarter association of the city, has a Miss Tricana competition.