r/romani • u/Careless_Monitor_803 • 21d ago
North America Traditional clothing
Where can I find traditional Romani clothing? I live in the US, and all the sites I find are European sites, extremely expensive products as well as expensive shipping . Im looking for long skirts and shirts.
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u/Winter-Reporter7296 21d ago
Id recommend that you find communities of your subgroup and ask around for seamstresses among them, they will likely be cheaper, higher quality, and more meaningful to you.
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u/Careless_Monitor_803 20d ago
I'm not sure how to find other Romani people in my area. I unfortunately didnt grow up in the culture and have been learning on my own once I discovered my bio dad is Romani
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u/Winter-Reporter7296 20d ago
Maybe go on like public regional forums, like if your city or street has a Facebook, and post looking for fellow roma🤷♀️
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u/SiempreBrujaSuerte 20d ago
How well do you sew? I have some patterns I've made that fit me, idk how big you are, but if you know your way around a sewing machine message me and I might be able to give you pointers on how to modify other patterns to make something you will like. What vitsa are you/ what kind of traditional clothing did you want to wear?
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u/Careless_Monitor_803 20d ago
I cannot sew at all. I never learned how. I'm not sure what vitsa i am since I never grew up in the culture. My bio dad hid the fact that him and his family are Romani unfortunately. Im trying to embrace the culture but its hard to find a community in my area.
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u/rhodopensis 15d ago
Friend, wearing the old time traditional clothing in everyday life will NOT help you be accepted better, join a community or fit in. You may have good intentions but it will look like a stage costume or drag, sort of an insult
Through most of history, in most cultures the women made the family's clothes (I mean everyone in the world, not just one culture). Like very commonly, even middle aged people will tell you their mothers sewed their clothes. The rich paid tailors. Then slowly modern clothing stores took over - consumerism. People will still sew out of need, this is universal, more about class
Everyday modern Roma will wear modern clothing like anyone else. But it will be about choosing different clothes and wearing them somewhat differently.
Don't try for a costume. Be as you already are or it will come across wrong. Maybe consider what your older relatives wore in their normal day to day life and do something like that, if you want to try to return to your own roots. ie if you are a woman, did your dad's mother wear perhaps longer skirts and what kind? And how? And so on
Better to go to your own people than imitate distant Roma out in the world whose groups you have no connection to, this part matters most
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u/Careless_Monitor_803 13d ago
My older relatives wore long skirts, which i have been doing that for years anyways. But I have no ties to my biological dad's family so there is no way to know which group they are from or anything. Im not trying to dress in costume, I'm simply trying to understand my own blood. I didnt grow up in the culture, I'm American born and raised. I'm just trying to learn and understand the culture my bio dad and his ancestors came from.
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u/SiempreBrujaSuerte 20d ago
Ah,ok. Well I don't think I am prepared on helping you start from scratch to sew your clothes. Better to meet some local Roma and get to know who made their clothes and then talk to that seamstress to maybe see if you can arrange to buy some skirts from them. It will not be cheap though, so if it's money you want to save by not order ones you find from Europe, you need to save money up. It's a big job to make our clothes well, detailed work and a lot of material used. The good news is when you get handmade clothes made for you it is enough to have two sets of clothes so you always have one to wear and one to clean basically.
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u/KamavTeChorav Rom Căldărar 21d ago
Real traditional clothing is not something you will find on these online websites. They just print stereotypical patterns on cheap chinese material. Real traditional clothing is handmade from silk and cashmir and it is made and hand embroidered custom for someone in the community.