The festive women's dress of the Desulese tradition, due to the bright colors re-proposed in all the garments that constitute it, is one of the most suggestive on the whole island.

The specimen immortalized by the photographs dates back to the first decades of the 20th century and is kept at the Nuoro Costume Museum.

Unlike the abundance of jewelry in clothes reserved for the festive context in other locations (e.g. Cagliari, Dorgali, Ittiri, etc.), in desulese women's clothing, the extremely sparing use of jewelry is supplemented by a large copy of embroideries. In fact, among the jewels there is only the pair of gold filigree jewels, with a central gold foil bezel containing turquoise paste, closing the collar. To them is added a simple silver chain with large circular links aimed at closing the head apron (on saùciu), placed on the pretty bonnet (cugudhu). Like many of the other parts of the dress in question, the bonnet is made of red wool cloth (on scarlet) and blue satin, all embroidered by hand with silk threads in the classic colors red, yellow and blue, and garnished with colored ribbon (sa preta). It is closed like a bow under the chin by means of two ribbons, usually red in color. In embroidery, cross stitch (stitch 'e ruge) occurs, but, as in the rest of the garments, there are other embroidery stitches (recamu) with a different shape and denomination: small diamonds (manedhas prenas: full hands); little wheels (orrodedhas); small yellow dots, embroidered on blue and assimilated to flying ladybugs (pioledhas); etc.

The shirt, in muslin, has a collar full of white embroidery on the white of the garment, as well as the decorations on the cuffs and at the shoulder line (with a tentura). The ankle-length shirt acted as an underskirt (to protect the legs from the roughness of the orbace). The sleeves, buttoned at the cuffs, come out elegantly from the jacket (on ciphone). The latter has a red wool cloth base, with blue ribbon applications and with the execution of rich polychrome embroideries, but mainly yellow, which rivet the tailoring lines of this garment, enriching it. On Cipone, he also leaves the bodice (sas paletas), worn over the shirt, in plain sight. The bodice is red, in damask silk, covered with ribbons and decorated with embroideries with geometric and polychrome patterns, with a neckline with two twisted ends at the breast. It is possible that the pointed shape of this element of the bodice, especially in the case of new mothers, was endowed with an amuletic value, aimed at avoiding the magical theft of milk (against which in other areas of the island a circular white stone was used, encapsulated in silver and equipped with a chain and suspension ring, called pedr'e late e sim.).

Even the varied embroideries, especially those concentrated in the vital areas of the body — the wrists and the shirt collar — as handed down by the older informants, were invested with a protective function against the evil eye (s'ogu malu).

The skirt consists of two parts: an upper one of red orbace, and a lower one of cloth. The two parts are joined by an embroidery of various colors made on blue ribbon and by yellow embroideries that descend, lengthwise, on the sides.

The apron, on saùciu, is made of red cloth with embroidery and a blue ribbon frame, with back lacing.

It should be added that the head apron, worn over the bonnet, on the occasion of ceremonial uses could be replaced by a cap in black cloth with folds that start at the top of the head and edges in silk taffeta, or in damask silk in the latest luxurious variants. We can admire this sober headpiece worn by the prioresses who participate in the Sas Prammas procession to Desulo, which takes place every year on the Sunday before Easter and is broadcast live on television.

Particular were the signs of mourning, expressed through the color of the garments or the entire dress.

For the death of a brother or brother-in-law, a black ribbon was replaced by the blue ribbon that bordered the upper parts of the clothing (cypones and paletas).

The other embroideries were hidden, using paletas, cipone and saùciu upside down. The dress, beyond a mournful sign, was worn backwards in ordinary time, if a single copy was available both for holidays (when it was worn on the obverse) and not.

In the event of her husband's death, the wife would dye her dress black, using “su truiscu” (daphne gnidium). Using different parts of this shrub and depending on the period of harvest and boiling, it was possible to obtain the desired shade. The red with this dye could darken until it became brown and, finally, black. The mother-in-law, on the other hand, dyed her dress using the bark, always boiled, of alder (àlinu), giving the dress a dark red color. This was a sign of very serious grief, lower only than that of the widow. The black shade belonged only to mothers who lost their only child, or to single women who lost brothers and sisters, or affected by the death of a relative, as well as serious, that occurred under serious circumstances.

In the case of a widow's second marriage, the use of the color of the dress responded to a delicate diplomatic operation: it had to express happiness for the new union, but it could not show colors that were too bright so as not to offend the kinship (areu) of the first husband.

The dress, therefore, was the immediate visual synthesis of the life of the woman who wore it. Therefore, the women asked to be buried with it, “a cara bona” (on the obverse), on the obverse, so that at the moment of their passing God could receive them wearing the open book of his life.