Culture Moment: La Blouse Roumaine

Today 24th of June, Romania celebrates the day of its national blouse and I am extremely proud to come from a country with such stunning traditional culture and customs. We call it ie and it is completely worked out manually. Nowadays there are fewer and fewer women that know how to create this extremely gorgeous piece of cloth this is why it becomes so much more valuable. I wrote this article as I want to raise awareness and highlight to whoever wants to read about the beauty of the Romanian treasure, the IE

---

"The first historical evidence for the ie comes from the 6th century AD. The word ie refers exclusively to the traditional blouse worn by women (the male equivalent has a slightly different design and is is called a camasa). The ie is thus feminine, and was an important element of the woman's identity and one of her heirlooms. Made of natural fibre, linen, it was one's Sunday best, worn only on special occasions. Its decoration and colour palette would reveal the age, status and geographical origins of the woman wearing it: the brighter the colours,  the younger the wearer, while the opposite was also true. An accompanying headscarf meant marriage, and a richly adorned ie meant wealth. The embroidery, either floral or geometric,  was specific to the different regions of the country but also to the wearer,  who would have it custom-made with motifs  meant to keep the evil eye at bay and bring prosperity. Because of its symbolism, the ie  has become a valuable document of Romanian anthropology."  (Source)

My grandparents come from the beautiful village of Rucar in Muscel county and the models of the ie in my region look like in the pictures below (both are personal owned). The black sewed one is brand new and it's created by the new and young generation of people that still know how to sew a IE, while the red one was my grandmothers from the time she was a young lady.

"Despite the decreasing number of Romanian women who create these authentic pieces of art, the beauty and carefully handmade embroidery of peasant blouses inspired several designers. Some international examples are Tom Ford, Jean Paul Gaultier, but there are also Romanian designers who promote Romanian folklore in their collections as Adrian Oianu or Ingrid Vlasov. French designer Philippe Guilet launched in 2011 a whole haute-couture collection inspired from Romanian costumes, being helped by Romanian handicraftsmen.
During 20th Century, the famous French painter, Henri Matisse, created important series of paintings which portrayed women in Romanian blouses. He started painting women in ie after he received one as a present from Theodor Pallady, Romanian painter and his colleague at Ecole des Beaux Arts from Paris. One of Matisse's paintings is displayed on the cover of Constantin Roman's book, "The Unsung Voices of Romanian Women", a book about tradition and art regarding traditional blouses." (Source) 

Today it is usually wear with long/short jeans, before it was just one of several parts that build up the Romanian traditional costume. 

If ever in Bucharest, The Peasant Museum is the perfect place to discover the big variety of styles across the country.

#ILoveToTravel