Published 12/20/2013
Clothes really are worth passing on. Certain pieces are made to last and are important elements of the stories that tell the history of a love, a family, and how things came to be the way they are.
That hideous fur coat? It shows the streak of reckless elegance that runs in the family, just as those pointed leather cowboy boots do, worn for generations.
First Ukrainian Dress I made in honor of my grandmother is here
But then some things are born, introduced––my sister now has a wedding dress, two pieces that are part of her new family history. It tells a story, one that includes so much about her life & love, the things important to her and the details of the way her wedding came about and was celebrated. Clothes are a way of preserving and keeping tradition.
Clothes also give honor––we honor ourselves (in the right kind of way!) when we dress nice for events that call for respect. We spend more money on things deserved, properly earned and properly acquired.
And in my case, I make custom clothing (and spend countless hours on special pieces/garments) because it’s a way for me to express my gratitude to those deserving around me.
The dress I wore to my sister’s wedding was a way of honoring my late grandmother. She was an immigrant who made her own way in America, who stitched clothes to pay doctor’s bills, and who wanted to live well and work for prosperity that she and her husband would give to their children. Instead of buying a cookie-cutter bridesmaid dress, I resurrected and completed something my babcha started with her own hands, her own idea of beauty to be given to a loved one.
And now, as we come to the first Christmas after my babcha’s death, I wanted to give something to my Aunt Marusya that honors her, too. Years of my aunt’s life have been given in devotion to caring for my babcha as her health declined. She was one of my aunts to worry about the little things before they ever became big enough to tell anyone else and witnessed my grandmother suffer during her last years/days on earth.
I wanted my Aunt Marusya to have what I have, essentially, created as a tribute to our roots, to this woman who was beauty and made and did beautiful things––a dress that is all of these things! It is simple, but rich with detail, and authentic. It’s something that will continue as we wish to live through the things we do even after we are gone and something that makes us feel beautiful when we wear it because it is real and made by someone who “blesses” it by her patience and diligence and creativity while making it.
I’ve had this project done for sometime, but needed to make adjustments before giving it to my aunt and didn’t want to post anything until she received the gift. Below my sister is modeling the dress (before the changes made).
