They might feel aggrieved at not obtaining an official seal of approval, but traditional Romanian dressmakers are riding a wave of demand for their folk designs after a top fashion house inadvertently showcased their craft.
Clothes makers from Romania’s northwestern Bihor County were more than a little bemused when they got wind of a Christian Dior SE collection last year. Their jaws notably dropped when they saw an embroidered folk coat that looked strikingly similar to the cojocel binsenesc waistcoat their region has been producing for about a century.
A Romanian version of the garment, historically worn on important occasions, sells at home and abroad for about 500 euros (US$572) — almost a month’s salary in one of the EU’s poorest countries.
Photo: AFP
The Dior coat did not go unnoticed among the wider population either, after a resident of the regional city of Beius spotted it in a Singapore shop and posted it on Facebook, sparking a strong response from users, which was picked up by the media.
“That day, I posted my first comment on Facebook, thanking the Dior fashion house for appreciating this beautiful item,” said Dorina Hanza, a 52-year-old embroiderer who understood the similarity.
La Blouse Roumaine, which promotes the Romanian blouse to encourage women to wear it, juxtaposed the different versions side by side on Twitter with the hashtag #givecredit.
Yet Dior, which did not respond to requests for comment, might well have done the Bihor designers a favor.
Demand has soared since the social media posts pointing out the similarities between both versions of the heavily embroidered, multicolor, sheepskin sleeveless jacket with black fur edging.
“Since then, everybody wants one” from the traditional source, said Ana Florea, who runs a designers’ group in Beius, near the Hungarian border. “This waistcoat is 100 percent ours.”
Hanza, while happy to see the Romanian version in the limelight, said she just wished Dior could have given a nod to their apparent inspiration.
“They could have said: ‘We borrowed this from the Romanian people,’” Hanza said, adding that “the tradition might have been lost” had the current controversy not emerged.
Diana Naprodean, 44, also sees an upside to the Dior garment.
“That proves it’s really pretty,” said the librarian, a hobbyist crocheter and embroiderer who has just produced her own first attempt at the traditional waistcoat.
“Thanks Dior. Thanks to you we have begun to love our traditional costume again,” said 33-year-old Diana Herdelo, another member of the Beius group who is weaving one of her own.
The waistcoat is made from local Bihor sheepskin after a tanning process of about three weeks. It is then tailored and decorated with local-style embroidery and worn by both men and women, although the length and motifs differ.
With traditional regional costumes being worn by fewer and fewer people, demand for the clothes had almost died out until the controversy over the Dior jacket reignited interest.
However, one important detail on the Dior version did not escape the notice of Bihor residents — the jacket worn by the fashion model was adorned with motifs — a phallic symbol — strictly worn only by men.
“Tradition doesn’t allow a woman to wear a man’s cojocel or the other way around,” Hanza said.
With interest piqued, Romania’s Beau Monde magazine and advertising agency McCann have launched an ad campaign entitled “Bihor Couture,” along with a Web site where fans can order a jacket and other traditional items.
The site has already taken about 1,000 orders.
“Our goal is to help people in this region and showcase their work and their traditions, which were in danger of dying out,” former Beau Monde editor-in-chief Roxana Dobrita said.
McCann creative director for Romania Catalin Dobre said he believes that “the fashion industry should do more to support traditions.”
“Across the globe, the leading brands take their inspiration from different cultures without recognizing it,” he said in an e-mail.
Romanian Peasant Museum curator Horatiu Ilea said he believes any accusations against Dior in this case are unjustified.
“Culture is a living thing. Ideas get bounced around, you can’t stop that,” Ilea said, adding that “cultural appropriation” has been going on since ancient times.
Rather than demand some form of redress, Ilea urged Romania “to benefit from this incident, by, for example, launching a campaign promoting traditional and artisanal work.”
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