Hardanger ShopCostume
The Hardanger bunad is not blue
You do not tell a Hardanger bunad by a blue bodice. Odda is not its own costume, and a green bodice is not how a married woman is marked.
Send on hardanger.shop/guide/en/hardangerbunad-er-ikkje-bla
You do not tell a Hardanger bunad by a blue bodice.
- BodiceBright red
- MarriedThe skaut
- BlueA man's vest
The bodice
We have not worn a Hardanger bunad, and we have not stood next to one for this page. Rhuan, 28 September 2026, calls the Hardanger bunads the most beautiful in Norway, the women's and the men's. He gave no year, no colour, no skaut, no area and no photograph.
You do not tell a Hardanger bunad by a blue bodice.
Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen writes in Store norske leksikon, last updated 2 January 2025, that in Sørfjord most people use a bright red cloth for the bodice. Some make it green, or another colour. The same article does not say red is for an unmarried woman, or green for a married one. Norwegian Wikipedia does. This page prints the encyclopedia.
The skaut is the mark. It is the traditional headcloth of a married woman, and the sign of Hardanger as a costume area. In Eidfjord, Ulvik and Granvin, unmarried women today often wear no headcloth. A bare head is not a verdict that she is unmarried.
Black smøyg on the shirt, in that part of the area, is reserved for married women. Everyone uses whitework. A fangreim is only hers, and only with the stølebelte. The stølebelte is a married woman's belt.
Blue in the women's article is a colour of old outer jackets in wadmal, along with black and red. Not a colour of the bodice. Kleopatra Bunadssaum, read 28 September 2026, says blue, purple, orange and green have been reconstructed from old garments found on farms, and that red is the one they use most. Blue is still a colour. It is a man's vest, further down, and an old jacket. It is not how you tell the women's bunad.
The sned on the Sørfjord bodice is two notches on the front. They are about 2–2.5 centimetres deep. The same article.
Odda
Hardanger is one costume area. It covers Kvam, including the former Strandebarm, Granvin, which is now part of Voss, Ulvik, Eidfjord, and Ullensvang, the former municipalities of Jondal, Ullensvang, Odda and Røldal. The same article.
The Sørfjord women's bunad is Ullensvang except Røldal. Today's Ullensvang is the former municipalities of Odda, Jondal and Ullensvang. Odda and Jondal sit inside that bunad. They are not a third costume beside it.
Røldal has its own women's bunad. Hardangerbunader, the editors, last updated 21 September 2026: the women's Hardanger bunad is category 1, an unbroken tradition. The men's bunad, and the Røldal bunad for women and for men, are category 4.
What separates Eidfjord and Ulvik from Sørfjord is that they do not use a sned on the bodice. Granvin uses bodices with a sned and without one. Every part of the area has a sned on the jacket. Bunad Creations, read 28 September 2026, writes that Granvin is now part of Ullensvang. The encyclopedia says Voss.
Kvam differs above all in the headcloth.
Three velvet bands are not the rule for the skirt. In Jondal, and among some in Kvam, black bands at the hem are usual. On the Kvam skirt some use two or three black velvet bands, often two in Norheimsund and three in Øystese. In Granvin, Ulvik and Eidfjord there are three bands: silk on fine wool, velvet on wadmal. The same women's article.
The black jacket that replaces the bodice is called a snedatrøye. It is not a black bodice.
The men
Hardangerbunad – mann, text from Norsk bunadleksikon, last updated 29 March 2022. The model is the clothing of the mid-1800s. Unlike the women's clothes, the traditional men's clothes had fallen out of use. The bunad is category 4.
The vests in use are red, green, blue and black. The most common is a red vest with the black jacket. Dark blue vamper existed, longer and wider than the jacket, worn as the outer layer. They were not taken back into the bunad.
In Kvam a green vest is used more often. Jondal and Tørvikbygd use a red vest. Husfliden sells that one as a Hardanger bunad. The same article.
The print in the shop is a green pattern of stars, fruit trees and mountains, with the words “Julegave fra Hardanger”. It is not a bodice, and it is not a bunad for sale. The drawing of 26 September is one square and a cut. It is not an apron on a person, and it is not in the shop. The cut is on the embroidery page.
We have no physical shop in Odda. What we make is printed to order and sent by post.
Sources
Checked 29 September 2026, unless a line says otherwise:
- Hardangerbunad – kvinne in Store norske leksikon, Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen, last updated 2 January 2025. Bright red cloth in Sørfjord, green and other colours beside it. The skaut for married women. Black smøyg reserved for married women in Eidfjord, Ulvik and Granvin, whitework for everyone. A fangreim only with the stølebelte. Blue on old wadmal outer jackets, not on the bodice. A sned on the Sørfjord bodice, 2–2.5 centimetres. Eidfjord and Ulvik with no sned on the bodice. Granvin with and without. Three bands in Granvin, Ulvik and Eidfjord. Two in Norheimsund, three in Øystese. The snedatrøye replaces the bodice. Granvin is part of Voss. Odda and Jondal are inside today's Ullensvang, and inside the Sørfjord bunad.
- Hardangerbunader, the editors, last updated 21 September 2026. One costume area. Category 1: Hardangerbunad (women). Category 4: Hardangerbunad (men), Røldalsbunad (women), Røldalsbunad (men).
- Hardangerbunad – mann, text from Norsk bunadleksikon, last updated 29 March 2022. Red, green, blue and black vests. A red vest with the black jacket is the most common. Dark blue vamper were not taken back up. A green vest more often in Kvam. A red vest in Jondal and Tørvikbygd, sold by Husfliden as a Hardanger bunad.
- Hardangerbunad at Kleopatra Bunadssaum, read 28 September 2026. Blue, purple, orange and green reconstructed from farm finds. Red is the one they use most.
- Hardangerbunad at Bunad Creations, read 28 September 2026. Granvin written into Ullensvang. The encyclopedia says Voss. The page is not the source for a bodice.
- Hardangerbunad on Norwegian Wikipedia. A red bodice for an unmarried woman, a green one for a married woman. That sentence is not in the women's article in the encyclopedia, and it is not printed here.