Feeling the itch

Romania has been great and all, super inspiring in its beauty and contrasts, the landscape, the towns, the people.

But now I'm feeling the itch to turn all that inspiration and enthusiasm into something tangible like...AN OUTFIT.

And this is where Romania is letting me down. My mind is brimming full of the images of 17th century heavy bleached flax peasant dresses with high necklines and frilly sleeves, colourful embroidered vests and cinched waisted skirts, fringed headscarves with the traditional Maramureș floral print (a bit like a very excited Liberty print), gypsy pretty-ugly outfits of layered skirts and tops with patched, wool felt jackets, felt or straw fedoras, crochet neckscarves, floppy long socks and muddy gumboots (hello Roskilde!). But try BUY any of the above here and you're a bit stuffed, except for maybe the hats (I compensated by buying three). Somehow they have failed to commercialise this most wondrous natural resource of theirs. You can take the country's communist dictator out of the country (or just kill him, in Ceaușescu's case), but can you take the communism out of the country?

For Romania's sake, I hope so, as the 'bag lady' moment in fashion won't last. Romania, now is your time!

For someone else kind-of on my wavelength, check out this post at The Future Imperfect http://www.thefutureimperfect.com/trends/the-bag-lady. Although I don't necessarily endorse all of the styling, or the phrase 'a trolley is all you have in life'!!