Hand Embroidered Leather Crop 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.

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.

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 marygrace@anagrassia.com. Prices start around $1,000.

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

Paired with Ana­gras­sia ochre green band­ed tunic

Paired with Ana­gras­sia ochre green band­ed tunic

Below are work in progress pho­tos pulled from Instagram