FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Dress of Bogomila
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
The character we chose for this competition was a pagan priestess Bogomila from a story called "The Baptism on Savica" (Slovene: Krst pri Savici) which is a two-part epic-lyric poem written by the Slovene Romantic poet France Prešeren. This 500-word long poem follows a narration of war between Christians and Slavic pagans in the 8th century near the Alps, on the lands of Carantania, today the country of Slovenia. The poem is a mixture of historical events, following events of the 8th century, a time of violent Christianisation of the predecessors of Slovenes, and made-up heroes. And the main heroes of this story are Črtomir, the leader of the losing Slavic pagan army, and the woman he loves, Bogomila, a pagan priestess of the goddess of life and fertility Živa.
As was given in the historical events following a Christian victory, Črtomir’s army was slaughtered and lost, but Črtomir survived and he returned to Bogomila at Savica Waterfall, only to find she had also turned to the Christian faith and became a nun. But instead of the story ending in tragedy, Bogomila filled it with love through her acceptance of Christianity and its promise of an afterlife – now she and Črtomir could be together even after mortal death.
Outline the construction…
Creating this garment, we kept in mind that natural fibres are very important. We used linen, wool and cotton fibres, with which we stayed traditional to the old garments used in the pagan Slavic culture. The dress is made of 100% linen fibres, and the embroidery is made of cotton-coloured fibres. Cuts are made from the historically well-known tunic, out of geometrical shapes and using as much of available fabric as possible. Women wore woollen or leather belts. Our belt is table-woven, made from wool.
The whole tunic is sewn by hand. All embroidery is hand-stitched with cross-stitches, a well-known technique used by all Slavic cultures, and are even present in today’s traditional folk garments. Due to very limiting knowledge on the Slovenian Slavic culture, we were left to wander off towards Polish and Russian traditional dresses. We also focused heavily on Belorussian symbols, due to their unique geometrical simpleness and how they have specific symbols representing certain aspects to Bogomila’s character - symbols of motherhood, fertility, and family. Of course, the most important symbol for our character is Zhiva’s (Živa) symbol, placed on the centre of the tunic’s chest.
I’m in love with those embroideries. They are extremely neat and precise. You did an amazing job ! Congratulations !
The designs are so striking and crisp — beautifully done!
So gorgeous!
Lovely stitching
Gorgeous and inspirational work on the embroidery and tablet weaving. I want one.
all the details in the embroidery are impressive, and you sewed this all by hand! Lovely!
Super impressive, I ADORE the design!
Lovely. Your embroidery work is beautiful. The outfit, overall is amazing.
Wow. A tablet-woven belt! 👏
oh the colors and embroideries <3
Wow this is stunning! All the hand work is so impressive.
It looks amazing!😍😍😍 I do viking reenactment, and this dress really caught my eye – it is similar to some of the clothes I see on markets, only more, I guess, ethereal. It is so beautiful, and I feel this historical vibe to it. It feels like it has stepped out of a fairy tale, no, a legend or a saga. It is so simple, yet so intricate, and it just oozes of magic, riches, and stories.
Great job!
I love this dress. It looks so comfortable and the embroidery is amazing!
I love this dress! The cultural inspiration behind the design is something I know nothing about, but is so interesting, and I adore the embroidery! So beautiful, well done!