Hand Embroidered Leather Crop Jacket

embroidered leather jacket

Pub­lished August 2019

My Ukrain­ian her­itage is a con­stant source of inspi­ra­tion. Some­times it might just be the work eth­ic. I have been known to work with clients on projects I think are impor­tant even when they ulti­mate­ly cost me mon­ey. But oth­er times the inspi­ra­tion is bit more obvious.

hand embroidered leather jacket

Today, I am shar­ing pho­tos of my new Ukrain­ian inspired jack­et. This jack­et is made with Argen­tinean cognac calf leather and Amer­i­can gold suede leather. The embroi­dery was cre­at­ed by hand from tra­di­tion­al Ukrain­ian pat­terns. I chose this design because I could tweak the pat­tern to the Mal­tese star. (Watch the work in progress videos and images on Insta­gram sto­ries here: Sewing Embroi­dered Leather Jack­et)

This jack­et was prac­tice before cre­at­ing the final com­mis­sioned embroi­dered and leather jack­et. (I MUST give cred­it to my best friend for com­ing up with this idea and mak­ing this project pos­si­ble for me!) The sec­ond jack­et will have a dif­fer­ent design and made with soft lamb leather.

hand embroidered leather jacket

Cultural Appropriation in Fashion 

Ukraine boasts the glo­ry and boun­ty of the Carpathi­an Moun­tains. The land is one of the rich­est regions on earth, and the col­ors of nature influ­ence almost every aspect of reli­gious and social cul­ture, includ­ing the col­ors of the nation’s flag!

One of the most strik­ing exam­ples of this is seen in Ukrain­ian kil­im design. Geom­e­try and col­or cel­e­brate the nat­ur­al world, and if you have ever been to Ukraine you know these are not exaggerations! 

Kil­im designs have been around for cen­turies and per­haps longer than we can deter­mine from his­tor­i­cal accounts alone. The prac­tice of weav­ing and embroi­dery was shared as Ukrain­ian artists and man­u­fac­tur­ers were open and eager to pros­per and spread beau­ty. There are inter­est­ing claims that Native Amer­i­can designs that in some cas­es look iden­ti­cal to the kil­im style were actu­al­ly inspired by the East­ern Europeans/Ukrainians as Euro­pean new­com­ers to land of North Amer­i­ca com­mis­sioned Native Amer­i­cans to repli­cate the style.

As a Ukrain­ian, I am delight­ed by fact that peo­ple con­tin­ue to be moved by beau­ti­ful gar­ments. Dress­ing well is devo­tion to design and tai­lor­ing, and I believe that what is tru­ly beau­ti­ful will always sur­vive the cul­ture it was born in. The beau­ti­ful things peo­ple make will live on for­ev­er with those who have eyes to see how beau­ty fills human life with dig­ni­ty and meaning.

I once walked into a bar wear­ing my jack­et and a woman referred to it as a sign of “cul­tur­al appro­pri­a­tion.” Not only is this like­ly his­tor­i­cal­ly inac­cu­rate, but it made me think. The ele­ments of fash­ion that are born from an authen­tic desire for what is good, true and beau­ti­ful deserve to sur­vive and pass through dif­fer­ent cul­tur­al inter­pre­ta­tions. Peo­ple don’t make beau­ti­ful things to sep­a­rate them­selves from oth­er peo­ple; it’s a way of shar­ing the joy of liv­ing and the pride of human dig­ni­ty. Would I be upset if I saw Ukrain­ian kil­im designs on peo­ple who clear­ly don’t descend from the peo­ple of the Carpathi­an Moun­tains? How could real beau­ty ever inspire bad feelings?

But for now, I am still a Ukrain­ian wear­ing a Ukrain­ian jacket!

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If you want to order a cus­tom & hand embroi­dered leather jack­et, please email me at [email protected]. Prices start around $1,000.

Leather embroi­dered jack­ets will be post­ed on the Ana­gras­sia web­site when the lamb leather sam­ple jack­ets are finished. 

hand embroidered leather jacket
hand embroidered leather jacket
Paired with Ana­gras­sia ochre green band­ed tunic
ukrainian hand embroidery
Tra­di­tion­al Ukrain­ian Hand Embroidery
hand embroidered leather jacket
Real Cognac Calf Leather Jacket
hand embroidered leather jacket
Paired with Ana­gras­sia ochre green band­ed tunic
hand embroidered leather jacket
Cognac Amer­i­can Suede Leather Collar/Lapel
hand embroidered leather jacket

Paired with Ana­gras­sia ochre green band­ed tunic

hand embroidered leather jacket
hand embroidered leather jacket

Paired with Ana­gras­sia ochre green band­ed tunic

hand embroidered leather jacket

Below are work in progress pho­tos pulled from Instagram

Couture Ukrainian Hand Embroidered jacket
hand embroidered leather jacket
couture leather jacket
ukrainian hand embroidery
hand embroidered leather jacket

One thought on “Hand Embroidered Leather Crop Jacket

  1. Irena

    Stun­ning ukrain­ian design and craftmanship…beautiful jacket!!

    Reply

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