The story behind this shoot started with a desire to take photos of traditional Transylvanian folkloric garments that have incredible details, are all hand-made, embroidered and take months to make. Each area has its own motifs and style. After me living abroad for 8 years, I wanted to reconnect with my roots. Luckily, I came across a lovely lady living in the countryside who took great care of her dowry. She was kind enough to let me borrow the garments- for me to take photos of and style them as I please. I wanted to style them in a contemporary way-in a way to bring them back to life. ⁠Thus I combined it with local designer corsets that are upcycled and I invited local people to be my models. I also set out to challenge gender-specific outfits by dressing up the male model with traditional women’s folk garments.⁠These folk garments are specific to Călata (Kalotaszeg in Hungarian)- a Hungarian minority area. . The illustrations are a collaboration with a Romanian illustrator showing local flora, with a similar⁠ inspiration approach as the folkloric garments. ⁠.⁠ Credits:⁠ Art directed, photographed and styled by me. ⁠ Models:Sonia Salome, Gabriel Gordon⁠ @soniaoffduty @gorgabrieldon⁠ Hair: Pop Salon @_popsalon Make-up: Karina Durnea @karina.durnea⁠ Illustrator: Alexandra Nistor @esth.ethique⁠ Wardrobe Credits: Corsets @cyclederror