The traditional Romanian costume between aesthetics, communication and sustainability

Abstract

The ancestors bequeathed us a huge material and immaterial treasure resulting from their cognitive, creative, artistic, graphic, structural, technical, mathematical, etc. skills that directly materialized other skills such as communication, thinking, psycho-sensory, etc. The traditional Romanian costume presents the result of the integrated functionality of all abilities. The analysis of the identity characteristics allowed the finding of its survival in time, the testimony being the long life span of over 150 years. Each piece of the traditional costume was conceived as a result of the profound analysis of the correlation: medium-functionality-spiritual aspirations/values-carrier-materials-constructive solutions-technological solutions-destination. The objective of the study was focused on analyzing the aesthetics and sustainability of the traditional costume, identifying solutions in this regard offered by our predecessors. The applied research methods are direct observation, comparative analysis, semantic analysis, visual evaluation of museum traditional costume collections, materials used, structural analysis and their positioning within the costume, analysis of constructive and technological solutions of costume pieces, field interviewing, and analysis of photographic materials. The result of the study allowed the finding that the traditional costume presents a code of aspirations of the wearer or creator codified by the ornamental motifs organized in compositional modules, respectively in ornamental registers. The arrangement of the ornamental registers in the morphological structure of the traditional costume pieces forms the image of the costume correlated with the image of the wearer, with the anthropomorphological and conformation peculiarities. The coded messages hidden in the language of the ornamental motifs have made the pieces of the traditional costume timeless products through their continuous actuality, characterized by unity through diversity. The depth of the aesthetics and the symbols of the traditional costume is accentuated by the sustainable solutions offered to us by our ancestors. They refer to: the constructive solutions focused on the elements of regular geometric shapes, the high degree of lightness of the shirts allows their use throughout the wearer's life with all the morphological and conformation changes supported during life, the use of techniques for combining the elements through the keys ensure unrepeatable aesthetic shirts, suggestively capitalize with finesse and elegance the elegance silhouette lines, but also ensure the resistance of the joints to various dynamic stresses of any complexity and extension. Each piece of the traditional costume represents a wise guide of aesthetic, functional, and sustainable solutions offered for the wearer to meet the societal challenges, to communicate, to be environmentally friendly, thus also ensuring the protection of the environment, to be healthy, and to highlight the cultural values of the people and the personal values of the wearer. The study was done within the State Project 20.80009.0807.17. “Education for the revitalization of the national cultural heritage through traditional processing technologies used in the Republic of Moldova in the context of multiculturalism, diversity and European integration”, running at the Technical University of Moldova.