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Transforming traditional flowery Roma patterns into bold, modern prints, designer Erika Varga aims to use fashion to increase acceptance of this much maligned minority.
She launched Romani Design, Hungary’s first Roma fashion label, with her younger sister Helena Varga six years ago. Since then her colourful, sometimes flamboyant, designs have won fans across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, where she has also presented her women’s and menswear collections.
Inspired by the traditional clothing of her rich Roma cultural heritage Varga, 46, hopes fashion can fight stereotyping in society. The Romani are widely known among English speaking people by the exonym ‘Gypsies’, which some people consider pejorative due to its connotations of illegality and irregularity.
Romani are widely dispersed, with their largest concentrated populations in Eastern Europe, especially the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe and Anatolia, followed by the Kale of Iberia and Southern France.
They arrived in Europe from the Middle East in the 14th Century, either separating from the Dom people or, at least, having a similar history - the ancestors of both are believed to have originally left North India centuries before.
Born in eastern Hungary, she was a jewellery maker before turning to clothes. She also worked for several years as a mentor to young Roma people - an experience that she says has had a profound influence on her mission now as a fashion designer.
“We talked a lot about how important it is to find and live fully their Roma identity,” she said of her mentoring work. To succeed in this, she said, society needs to change as well, to be more open towards Roma people.
“The reason why Romani Design was created is that I wanted a much more intensive and stronger communication channel and to boost the prestige of Roma culture,” Erika said in the small sewing room in her studio in Budapest.
At a recent fashion show, held by Marie Claire magazine, models strolled the catwalk in Varga’s vibrant Romani designs. “The fact that Roma designs have now integrated into the international fashion world is a huge experience for the Roma community,” said Lorena Dogi, 38, a Roma activist.
In the audience, Hajnalka Bessenyei, 37, loves Varga’s designs, and the message they send, and wore a pair of the designer’s black trousers with a red flowery waistline as she attended the show with a friend.
The social mission behind the designs gives the clothes a special value, she said. “I think the more people wear these clothes, the more visibility Roma culture gets ... and this can improve relations between the Roma and non Roma communities,” she added.
