We often include traditional items in our daily, urban outfit. Sometimes they are objects that belong to our family or ‘vintage’ pieces we bought at the flea market or pieces we made ourselves.
We keep them close and in use because of the emotional ties, their aesthetics and their utility. It is not easy to wear the complete traditional outfit for a busy day in the city or at work. Yet it is very important to know how all the pieces of this puzzle functioned together.
Yes, visiting museums it’s important, we can see the traditional textiles displayed. Equally important is to visualize them alive, when real people are wearing them.
The ETNOTIQUE project is, at the moment, the best initiative in this regard. The team is collaborating not only with Museums and Private Collections, but also with members of rural communities who have the knowhow of all the elements required by a complete outfit.
Many members of our community turned to Etnotique to get inspired and to match old descriptions & texts from books and patterns from albums with the real images, in a moment when the “online” exhibitions were more important than ever. But the images are inspiring many others, from the general public. And they get involved, if not with the needle, but with the brush. (Alexandra Negrila, the founder of ETNOTIQUE is wearing a traditional shirt from her native Teleorman – photo and drawing inspired by photo)
It’s not enough to work hundreds of hours on embroidery. It is also important to make sure that its message gets to the public in attractive visual stories. Etonique’s site will take you to all major ethnographic regions of Romania.