Sheepskin skirts with delicate bead embroidery shone on a Bucharest catwalk in a one-of-a-kind ethnic fashion show blending French design and centuries-old Romanian handicraft.
The recent vibrant display was meant to counter some of the negative labels stuck on Romania, often dismissed as a drab post-communist outback, but in fact a rich melting pot of Latin, Balkan, Hungarian, Slav and Roma influences.
Entitled Prejudice, the women’s clothing line created by the French designer Philippe Guilet, who previously worked with Karl Lagerfeld, Thierry Mugler and Jean-Paul Gaultier, is to be shown in Paris early next year.
Photo: Reuters
Delicate lace dresses or multicolored woven skirts recalled the traditional women’s costumes of northern Romania, and they floated over high heels inspired by Romanian-born sculptor Constantin Brancusi’s iconic Endless Column.
“Romania is often derided, but actually this country is quite the opposite of what people might think,” said Guilet, who has spent the past four years here.
The former research director for Jean-Paul Gaultier has launched a cultural project called “100%.RO” that aims to reinterpret Romania’s heritage.
Photo: Reuters
Far from the gray, downtrodden cliches, Guilet found the ornate embroidery of artisans from the northern region of Bistrita Nasaud who have been handing down their skills for generations, adorning clothes, belts or necklaces.
“The beads we use for our traditional embroideries resemble a field full of flowers in springtime,” said Ana Bodescu, one of the women who worked on the collection.
In place of their traditional costumes, the women of the remote village of Salva this time embroidered a toreador-style vest, a long organdy black dress or a tweed-like suit with strings of beaded lace.
Photo: AFP
Some of the items took many months — and several kilograms of beads — to create.
Guilet’s encounters with handicraft makers in their rural environment, where 16th-century woodworking tools and bone needles are still used to embroider sheepskin, have inspired 34 creations.
Each one carries a Romanian woman’s name: Anca, Alina, Ioana.
Some 50 local artisans contributed to the show, set against the elegant backdrop of the French embassy in Bucharest, decorated for the occasion with barren trees and haystacks as if caught in a snowstorm.
Many items bore the imprint of Constantin Juravle, an artisan in his 60s from Straja, a remote village in the northern Bucovina region, whose family has been working sheepskin for generations, following a technique that is a carefully kept secret.
One highlight of the collection was a glittery metal-laced dress created by a family of Roma goldsmiths whose metalworking traditions go back 300 years.
The project “is a combination of modernity and ancestral work,” said Guilet, who made the point that Romania still boasts skills and know-how that designers now struggle to find in France.
To illustrate this coming together of two worlds the artisans, most of whom have seldom left their home village, stepped out on the catwalk next to the models and some of Romania’s best known designers at the end of the show.
“Philippe has come from afar and appreciated the value of our skills. It is extraordinary that he has showcased our work,” said Virginia Linul, one of the artisans from Bistrita Nasaud. “Nobody has done this for us before. Now people can see Romania’s real image, one that you don’t generally see and which is quite beautiful.”
If one asks Taiwanese why house prices are so high or why the nation is so built up or why certain policies cannot be carried out, one common answer is that “Taiwan is too small.” This is actually true, though not in the way people think. The National Property Administration (NPA), responsible for tracking and managing the government’s real estate assets, maintains statistics on how much land the government owns. As of the end of last year, land for official use constituted 293,655 hectares, for public use 1,732,513 hectares, for non-public use 216,972 hectares and for state enterprises 34 hectares, yielding
The small platform at Duoliang Train Station in Taitung County’s Taimali Township (太麻里) served villagers from 1992 to 2006, but was eventually shut down due to lack of use. Just 10 years later, the abandoned train station had become widely known as the most beautiful station in Taiwan, and visitors were so frequent that the village had to start restricting traffic. Nowadays, Duoliang Village (多良) is known as a bit of a tourist trap, with a mandatory, albeit modest, admission fee of NT$10 giving access to a crowded lane of vendors with a mediocre view of the ocean and the trains
Traditionally, indigenous people in Taiwan’s mountains practice swidden cultivation, or “slash and burn” agriculture, a practice common in human history. According to a 2016 research article in the International Journal of Environmental Sustainability, among the Atayal people, this began with a search for suitable forested slopeland. The trees are burnt for fertilizer and the land cleared of stones. The stones and wood are then piled up to make fences, while both dead and standing trees are retained on the plot. The fences are used to grow climbing crops like squash and beans. The plot itself supports farming for three years.
For many people, Bilingual Nation 2030 begins and ends in the classroom. Since the policy was launched in 2018, the debate has centered on students, teachers and the pressure placed on schools. Yet the policy was never solely about English education. The government’s official plan also calls for bilingualization in Taiwan’s government services, laws and regulations, and living environment. The goal is to make Taiwan more inclusive and accessible to international enterprises and talent and better prepared for global economic and trade conditions. After eight years, that grand vision is due for a pulse check. RULES THAT CAN BE READ For Harper Chen (陳虹宇), an adviser
RSS