A new fashion trend - the Romanian „ie”

A must-have outfit for this summer is definitely the traditional blouse called „ie” which has beautiful floral print and ethnic characters. We can even talk about a throwback to tradition for this matter, if we judge from the designers point of view.

Few have expected for the Romanian national blouse to become an inspiration for famous collections of designers such as Isabel Marant, Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford or Yves Saint Laurent.

A short history

Yves Saint Laurent collection

Yves Saint Laurent was the first international designer to discover and promote through his creation the „ie” and he began in 1981. He was followed by Oscar de la Renta at the beginnings of 2000, Jean Paul Gaultier in 2006 and Tom Ford in 2012. 

Celebrities such as Kate Moss, Katie Holmes or Halle Berry had chosen many times to wear this outfit.

You can read the entire article in Romanian here: Divahair.ro

Romanian Traditional Costume day

17th of May was declared in Romania the National Traditional Costume Day. That's when the Romanian fashion magazine, The One, gathered pictures of the citizens wearing their traditional costumes.

The day was also celebrated by local celebrities such as news anchors or fashion designers.

Dana Rogoz, romanian actress

Andreea Esca, PROTV's news anchor

Tradition vs. Modernism

Women’s clothes respected the same code; unmarried girls would wear costumes with floral motifs and wore their hair in braids without having to cover their heads. After a woman would get married she would wear only a simple strip sawn on the sleeve, they were expected to wear a scarf on their heads or a kerchief with tassels. Women with a higher social or financial status would saw that strip with beads, while poorer women would only have a colored one. After the birth of a child, women would give up their costumes for a sober, white and black costume characteristic to the region they would live in.

Different generations wearing the same costumes

Today the traditional Romanian costume became an inspiration source to the wholesale fashion production industry designers, both Romanian and international. Adrian Oianu is a very appreciated Romanian designer who launched two collections inspired by his native’s country traditional costumes: “Suflecata pan’ la brau” (“Turned up ‘til the belt”) and “Bucurie” (“Joy”). Both collection conquered fashion enthusiasts around the world. Dorin Negrau had as inspiration for his “Lost” collection the traditional costume from the Bihor region. Other designers influenced by the Romanian folk costume were Olah Gyarfas, Corina Vladescu and Ingrid Vlasov.

Philippe Guilet's collection

French designer, Phillippe Guilet, launced the collection “Prejudices 100% RO” which focused on the traditional uniforms of the “Callus” (Calusarii), folk dancers from the south western part of Romania. Yves Saint Laurent had a collection inspired by the Romanian traditional flax blouses called “La blouse roumaine”. Other international designers that included Romanian folk costume elements in their collections were: Tom Ford, Joseph Altuzzara and the American brand Anthropologie.

Source: http://artifexlohn.com

Greetings from the Carpathians!

Girls in Field

We have a saying in Romania, that “it is not the coat that makes the man”. The romanian people are warm and welcoming, their cheerful spirit is drawn on their smile and regard, but also on their clothes. There was never a working day on the filed, a weading or a feast when the Romanian peasant would not proudly wear his traditional clothes.

It is said that a woman who lives in the countryside can change the needle into a paint brush and the thread into an aquarelle in order to create such impressive stiches. The costume’s adornment is like a nature’s mirror, it represents the fields’ flowers, the birds, the people and their animals. These are the sources of inspiration that a countrywoman has, so she knows exactly how much magic to put into a coat in order to frame the nature with a great purity.

You can find here all the information and photography you need to convince yourself that what we say is true, but you should rather come and see with your own eyes! We invite you to dance like we dance at our balls from Bucovina and say “Yes” at a weading from Maramureș, places where we still Wear Tradition!