Why We Non-Roma Women Dress as “Gitana”: Cultural Appropriation and the Construction of Flamenco Fashion in the Historical Press (1850–1950)

Abstract

Is it the same to dress as a “gitana” as to dress as a “flamenca”? Through a content analysis of a corpus of 67 texts mentioning the terms “traje de gitana” and “traje de flamenca”, this study explores the contexts and meanings associated with these expressions to understand how they were represented in Spanish historical press between 1850 and 1950. A qualitative approach supported by quantitative data allows the identification of usage patterns that reveal underlying social, political, and cultural realities and strategies. This requires, on the one hand, an understanding of the language functions present in different journalistic genres and, on the other, of the profiles of the figures wearing the garments described. The findings show recurrent depictions of aristocratic payas (non-Romani women) dressed as gitanas at masquerade balls, serialized novels in which the character wearing the costume is a working-class Romani woman, and texts where the attire appears in artistic contexts, typically worn by paya actresses portraying fictional Romani or popular characters. A shared logic runs through these representations: the bourgeois paya woman acts as a cultural consumer, while the Romani woman becomes an object of consumption and entertainment. The analyzed texts thus reveal dynamics of cultural appropriation, commodification, and decontextualization of Romani heritage by the payo and bourgeois world, culminating in a popular reappropriation of the costume—now resignified. In Francoist press, young women from Sevillian towns begin to dress “de flamenca.” Today, this has evolved into what is known as the flamenco fashion industry.