Part of RDW Design GO! within Romanian Design Week 2024

The solo show “Chimeșa. The Old Blouse” brings together fashion, textile installation, and cultural heritage in a concept proposed by Dorin Negrău, a remarkable internationally renowned Romanian designer, a constant presence at New York Fashion Week, and founder of The Traditional Center for Connection to the Simple Life, an artistic residency programme promoting traditional crafts in the north of the country. Literally and figuratively, the exhibition follows a red thread telling the story of the Romanian Blouse – often known simply as “chimeșă” or “spăcel” – from a perspective reuniting tradition and innovation, contemporary art and the mastery of old craftsmen, applied arts and visual arts, past and present. (Ana Daniela Sultana)

Dorin Negrău is a Romanian designer regularly invited to top fashion events in New York, Paris, Moskow, Düsseldorf, and Saudi Arabia. Besides his contribution to the world of fashion, Dorin Negrău is also active in the world of beauty, launching the line of products called CLONA. After the “Visions” fashion show, which took place on a building site in the Old Town, on Lipscani street, Dorin Negrău, launched the spring-summer collection called “LOST”, in 2013, at the National Library in Bucharest. The collection was inspired by the traditional costume from Crișul Negru, Bihor County, made by his grandmother 50 years ago, a piece which always represented for him the feminine beauty ideal. In 2023, Dorin Negrău initiated a valuable travel exhibition titled “From Bihor to New York”, presenting his works together with costumes from the collection of the Museum of Criș Country.

Ana Daniela Sultana is a curator and columnist, who graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Her articles appear in ARTA magazine, Romanian-Italian Cultural Horizons and on agentiadecarte.ro. She collaborates with institutions such as creart – the Center for Creation, Art and Tradition of Bucharest, the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, the Romanian Cultural Institute in Istanbul, the Romanian Cultural Institute in Vienna, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Bucharest, the Museum of Bucharest, the Literature Museum in Bucharest, the Art Museum of Timișoara, Kunsthalle Feldbach, Aluniș Art Center and with various contemporary art galleries.