Wear Your Sorochka

In the mad press that is contemporary life, it takes courage to stand still for a moment and consider what is real, what will become of all the mad activity. My personal life has been a blur of colours, fast paced interactions, effective and less effective tumultuous volleys into the fray. Busy life, with really important priorities. So I have been trying to select the opportune moment to return to blogging, astounded, as everyone seems to be, with the public media frenzy around Ukraine and her aspirations in the 21st century.

Recent events in Ukraine have certainly impressed upon the world how difficult it has been for Ukraine to thread the needle under her neighbor's watchful eyes lately.  The intensely woven grid of social and public media has many millions of common minded people contributing their strong feelings about her independence, sovereignty and freedom.

Public awareness perhaps, but most have no awareness of the 360 degrees (years) of courage shown by the people of Ukraine.  What to understand of the three centuries of government bans on language, culture and ethnic awareness?  What to say of three centuries of smiles, stage presence, traditional embroideries, joyous singing, delicious traditional foods served to guests both trusted and not, resolutely and steadfastly presenting a brave face in spite of threats, danger and pain. Call it folly, call it bravery? 

Threading the needle has been difficult for Ukraine, but time continues to weave its tapestry.  The common thread (pun intended) is the Ukrainian blouse.  It is everywhere, including the fashion runways of late.  Why the sorochka?

I have always had a hunch that, like so much of the Ukrainian ethos, and much like Ukrainian folk songs, ancient Ukrainian embroideries encrypt sensitive information, perhaps powerful language or symbols for survival. Images of physical and mystical trials, the emblems, amulets, symbols and patterns are endowed with great power. The sorochka (embroidered blouse) confers on the wearer the collective aspirations of heroes past. 

What of the quiet weavers, threading their needles in silence at home?  Perhaps theirs is the true power, not the sword, not the pen, but the single thread that embroiders the hopes, dreams and aspirations of a people into an armour that empowers community identity.  

Do you know who you are wearing?  

(ідеальний настрій на полотні створили Роман та Марія Федини)

Fashion Embroidery

Is it my imagination, or is there a resurgence in embroidery as a ornament on women's clothing?  From ancient times, traditional Ukrainian embroidered ornaments вишиванки on clothing have also performed the function of magical talisman - protection for the wearer.  It is a symbolic vocabulary - with a power of its own.

Ukrainian embroidery has never been something ordinary, especially because each piece carries the energy of the person who worked and embroidered!  But here we have fashion designers and entire fashion houses pursuing the idea of feminine ornamentation using Ukrainian embroidery!

I was out somewhere, thankfully with my camera, and caught these three stunning pieces of evidence in Canada's FASHION magazine dated Summer 2012, and if I remember correctly, STYLE too. You can see that first photo is a modern version of the Hutsul Keptar - the architecturally structured vest that wears everywhere, and in every season.  Just look how softly and intricately it is embroidered, and tassled, with such lovely wearable colors, too.

And this second photo has the most lovely embroidered sleeve peeking out of the women's coat sleeve.  A stylized embroidery that ever so gently peeks out of a structured outfit instantly conveys power and pretty.



And the neck piece that has versatility to go over just about any piece of clothing, the gerdan.  Lacy, and bead worked, this piece should be in every girls' collection - typically Ukrainian.

And if you see the golden hued crown of intricately braided hair коса, this style has been imitated and celebrated everywhere from the pages of Elle magazine to British Pop-star Kylie Minogue.


Sadly, not all of us can be as beautifully and outrageously dressed in Ukrainian embroideries as Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko but you have to admit - she does have a point there. Representating the nation to the international community, in a position of power, she has shown solidarity and respect for women.  This is a powerful thing, a message about "berehenia" - the "keeper of the hearth".  Embroideries like hers are a statement, about women, their craft, their talent, and the garment design.  And she champions women everywhere by wearing such wonderful handiwork!! And when embroideries have by design become "written amulets" of power and influence, the wearer communicates a lot to the world simply by wearing such a beautiful garment.

Women everywhere are rediscovering the beauty of truly richly designed and thoughtfully ornamented fashion.  And Ukrainians have certainly influenced many.  Actually, whether for fashion, patriotism, or as national identifiers, Ukrainian embroidered garments imply that a person cherishes his ancestry.  More power to them!

Home Decorating - Ukrainian Infused

amk2012

Finding the inspiration to decorate your home can be tricky - it is hard to wear someone else's design.  However, if you love Ukrainian culture, folklore, and arts, perhaps it is easier than you think?





amk2012

In an earlier blog post, I wondered what my daughters should take from our family home when they move.  An embroidered pillow, paintings from our collection of Ukrainian artists, and a bowl of pysanky - these came to mind instantly.  But there is so much more! I hope their homes feel Ukrainian too!
http://ukrainiancalgary.blogspot.ca/2012/07/hope-springs-eternal.html



amk2012

A friend recently recommended I pick up Ukrainian Style, a book co-authored by an American mission traveler in Ukraine and an interior designer - and I was pleasantly surprised to have discovered another admirer, not only of Ukrainian culture, but its truly human soul! A beautiful, hard-cover publication, Ukrainian Style exhuberantly celebrates Ukrainian arts in home decor.  Love it!


The book is beautiful beautiful enough for a coffee table book, but really, really much more! Whether you are interested in expressing your sense of beauty through Ukrainian arts in your home, or you are drawn by the professional interior decorating advice, delicious recipes and cultural references, this volume is a lovely tabletop companion.   The photos are just spectacular, and of course, a picture can tell at least a thousand words!

Linda Wicklund and Alecia Stevens are celebrating village life and bringing it home in Ukrainian Style. Referencing great Ukrainian museums and resource people in the Eastern US it is evident the authors have decided to represent Ukrainian folk traditions and fine arts rather accurately.  And I appreciate that proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Zolotonosha Youth Center, in Zolotonosha, Ukraine.  In this way, the authors have dedicated this volume to Ukraine's future - its children!

To purchase this lovely book contact www.yevshan.com or www.UkrainianStyle.com.   A wonderful way to infuse Ukrainian style into your home decor - and pass it on!

Hope Springs Eternal





My embroidery

Our daughter just moved away from the comforts of our home in Calgary, and into a new life far away from the embrace of the familiar - her community, friends and family. As parents, we know the human journey involves change, and her place isn't really that far from home. But if you look at it as another emigration from the "homeland" it takes on a hugely different significance.

The ancestral homeland of Ukraine sits at the crossroads of many important travel, economic and political influences.  It has been so, since forever, it seems.  So, with international opportunities beaconing from every corner of the globe, Ukrainians, like every other people, have chased, emigrated, resettled, re-acclimatized, and re-assessed their "cultural inheritance".  I mean that quite broadly, though.  " Pobutove zhittya" is probably a better descriptor than "culture", but even that needs explaining.

In this particular context I am defining culture as "everything people can pass on to ensure their progeny thrive in the future".  So when helping pack some of her things, we had to anticipate her needs, in the short term, and perhaps longer.  Then to look at all of our collected stuff, and consider what would be hers to inherit. Besides the coffee maker and towels, what could we give her to sustain her, comfort her, and prepare her for life - for it happens without our invitation.  Change happens, but somebody recently told me, it is the small stuff that reveals what a person is made of.  If so, what truly authentic messages will her "stuff" reveal about her ancestral inheritance?  About us, her parents, grandparents, great grandparents?

I was speaking with a cousin in Winnipeg, and she suggested that every child of hers would have a newly embroidered pillow, for the living room sofa.  Taking a traditional pattern, going monochromatic with the color scheme, graphic and modernly finished.......

One of her grandparents gave her a painting referring to home-ie. Ukraine. A montage of events around church, the sights, smells, and spirituality a thousand years or two in the making.  Memories of blessing baskets, eating kutia, that kind of thing.

Another family member wanted to send jars of borsch.  Food, they say, is the most tenacious of the cultural elements, because it hangs around in the memories of home, comfort and love.  Actually, my daughter makes better varenyky than I do, but nobody makes better jam than baba.

And, knowing how much fun it can be to move big bulky stuff, I sent pysanky which can sit in a bowl on the counter to remind her of the many hours we sat together dreaming of what the future would bring. The "masterpiece in the hand", the "ikon of the universe" may prove to be a conversation piece, perhaps someday someone will ask what the whirls, crosses, circles, deer, wheat, and flowers signify?

What does a family give their child who is leaving, not just an airplane trip away, but a world away, like my great grandparents did over a century ago?  What "stuff" sustained them to the degree that many generations later, we still identify with their journey? Many Ukrainian immigrations ago it was said that a person could survive with two books in hand, the Bible and Taras Shevchenko's Kobzar!   How about your family and the travails that have brought them to their Ukrainian Calgary adventure?  What really important message is hidden in the gifts you will leave in your packing trunk?