Contribution long abstract:

Contemporary fashion often incorporates motifs and themes from folk art, creating a dynamic dialogue between past and present. The ‘'Gypsy Madonna Collection' (by Romani Design) is a unique combination of folk fashion and family portraits. The designers make creative use of stylized Romani motifs. Their clothes also feature Kalocsa embroideries of Hungarian folk art. In their 2021 collection, they substitute their portraits and family photos for images of the Virgin Mary and sacred objects on clothes and accessories, in line with traditional Christian iconology. The 'Gypsy Madonna depicts the Roma woman, the images of them and their family, in a transcendental position among the saints. The face of the Virgin Mary is replaced by a photograph of their mother or grandmother, thus proclaiming a religiously elevated emancipation of Roma women. Their images of the dresses are inscriptions on textiles that carry their biographies. The ‘Gypsy Madonna’, brought to life by the designers, is a performative act of Roma women's identity. However, such explicit acts of writing, of symbolic shaping, also have a significant unwriting background and imaginary discourse. In my paper, I attempt to unpack these unwriting positions. One of these is the unwriting of space, as designers take their garments beyond the standard fashion show into performative spaces (museums, churches, Roma community events) that deconstruct the standard symbolic frame. A more subjective personal yet performative unwriting gesture is the allusive order of the visual world.