From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Romanians, Serbs, Italians, and Croats, all of whom attempted in the course of the revolution to either achieve autonomy, independence, or even hegemony over other nationalities. and Milan Hlavačka.
Revolution of the year 1848 constituted a specific space for human behaviour, permeated by symbols and metaphors. Under the sphere of outward behaviour comes also the peculiar problem of fashion of the time. This fashion we can call revolutionary in broader context, in Czech millieu it could be called national fashion. A prerequisite for spreading of concrete aspects of revolutionary fashion in Europe constituted the nascent „communication space“ that enabled, among others, also the trasfer of cloth designs. In the Czech lands the year 1848 was marked by the efforts for establishing the national style of dress. National clothing became a political symbol of the time, a way to acclaim liberties and constitutionalism. More pronounced was its national role. National clothing was perceived, together with language and national character, as an outward display of the the peculiarity of Czech nation. The most important was not the shape of the national clothing, but its very existence. On the other hand in European context we can talk about revolutionary fashion. As an example could serve the situation of German democrats and revolutionaries who did not have peculiar uniforms, but in most cases followed the style of their leaders. This relates especially to head covers as well as hairdressing. National and revolutionary dress served also as a means of symbolic occupation of public space. In the Czech lands this was true for ethnical competition with Bohemian Germans, in general context for „marking“ of revolution or liberal territory against conservative forces.