Hungarian fashion studio builds Roma cultural prestige

(16 Dec 2021) LEAD IN:
A fashion studio in Hungary is challenging the centuries-old stereotypes faced by the country's Roma minority, and asserting a place at the table of high culture for the historically marginalised group.
The Romani Design fashion studio creates couture and jewelry inspired by the way of life of their community.

STORY-LINE:
Building the socio-cultural prestige of the Roma community.
That's the goal of sisters Helena and Erika Varga, who founded their fashion label in 2010, Romani Design.
By reestablishing Roma culture in a modern context, they're hoping to challenge the stereotypes affecting their community.
The Roma are Hungary's largest minority, and represent as much of 10% of the population in the Central European country.
Like their counterparts throughout Europe, Hungary's Roma are often the subjects of social and economic exclusion, and face discrimination, segregation and poverty.
Present in Hungary since the 15th century, many of the Roma's traditions are deeply ingrained in broader Hungarian culture.
Yet many of their unique customs and occupations — as well as their language, Romani — have been slowly dying out after centuries of official and unofficial marginalization.
Before starting Romani Design, the Varga sisters worked as jewelry makers and designers.
But seeing that the social acceptance long sought by their community had remained elusive, they worried that valuable Roma traditions were being lost, and excluded from conceptions of what constitutes high culture.
"We wanted to sensitise the social majority, including the social elite," says Erika Varga, owner of Romani Design fashion studio.
"This was important because it's the social elite that dictates who is valuable and what position they can occupy in the social hierarchy. We wanted to change the attitudes, we wanted to help. We also wanted to communicate messages to our own community that we don't have to give up our traditional values."
Reutilising the floral patterns, colourful fabrics and depictions of the Virgin Mary prevalent in traditional Roma dress and folklore, Romani Design creates modern clothing, jewelry and accessories that place Roma cultural traditions into a contemporary context.
Helena Varga, the younger of the sisters who oversees the design of their products, said many of the dresses and accessories are reflections on their own experiences growing up Roma in Hungary.
While some advocacy groups in Hungary push for Roma equality and social inclusion by representing elements of Roma culture like folk music and dance, the Varga sisters say that fashion is one of the most powerful means of bridging the gap between their culture and the rest of society.
"Fashion, the way we dress, the clothes we wear on our bodies can send a message so fast and so intense that it reaches its target audience very, very quickly," says Helena Varga.
What the sisters have found out is that their customers want meaningful clothing items.
"Our customers want more than only fashion," says Erika Varga.
"They don't just want to have a nice dress. They want to be able to express their personality as much as possible, to shape their immediate environment, and at the same time to represent values that are important in their personal lives and communities, such as the values of multiculturalism."
Six dresses by Romani Design are currently on display at an exhibition in the Museum of Applied Arts in Hungary's capital of Budapest.
The temporary exhibition, 'In Circulation', has artists choose items from the museum's permanent collection and create their own works inspired by them.

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