EMELIE BERGH

For my conversational prints I wanted to focus on produce. I was a vegetarian for 5 years and i’ve recently become a vegan (four months and going strong!) and healthy food is very important to me and a huge part of my life. Gardening, organic food, and self-sufficiency are all significant in my family and my life in Boston and I want to incorporate my less fashion-based interests into this project. I’m very visually attracted to radishes and other fun root veggies and I love the shapes of different fruits.

Traditional Hungarian clothing/folk dress consists of multiple-piece outfits with ornate detailing and bright colors. The attire is that of the ancient horseman culture that Hungary came from, all garments are made for riding horses including the skirts made for the women. Hungarians tended to be very prideful of their clothing and spend more money than they had on it.

Hungarian embroidery dates back to the 18th Century and is highly Renaissance and Baroque influenced. The peasants where the ones who practiced and mastered the technique much more than the upper class. Popular decorations found were flowers, spiral motifs, leaves, or birds. The embroidery differs depending on the region you travel to and some can be many colors, made in one single color, decorate the whole garment, or decorate only sections. Embroidery is found on pillows, traditional folk dress, tablecloths, and sheets.The primary color used throughout the regions is red. It stands for summer, joy, and happiness. It is also the color of paprika!

Originally, the movement started off with white on white embroidery. Most embroidery was not very complex color-wise until about the 1930’s when the designs became what they are known as today. The most common and popular version of embroidery comes from Kalocsa. Many different techniques are used including madeira, vagdalásos, and the cross stitch. Other techniques including richelieu (Renaissance embroidery) and broderie anglaise (English embroidery) were needlework techniques used to create scalloped edges and intricate lace.

Richelieu

Kalocsa Embroidery on Vest

As you can see, the embroidery varies from region to region. Some garments are covered with no room to spare, while others are mostly white with only a small amount of detailing.

Embroidery and clothing example from Mezokovesd

Embroidery and clothing example from Kalocsa

Embroidery and clothing examples from Bujak

Embroidery and clothing examples from Szentistvan

Alice McCall is one designer who has used Hungarian embroidery as an influence.

Alice McCall SS 12/13 Collection Babooshka

Three floral patterns I’ve made with poppy flowers:

I am absolutely in love with floral prints! I wear them in every season and definitely plan to incorporate them in the majority of my designs in the future. I love floral lace, accents, geometric floral designs… everything floral. Floral prints go especially well with other clothing items that have a lot of texture and look sharp on both women’s and men’s garments.

Here are some of my inspirations:

I’ve created three new designs with my original text/logo:

For some reason they all remind me of being in a patterns you’d find in a paper shop! 🙂

Three things that have been a major influence on my life are my Hungarian heritage, the beauty in nature, and being conscious of how our decisions effect the earth. As a designer, I want to incorporate these things into my designs through elements of Hungarian Folk wear, patterns and shapes in nature, all the while keeping the production and outcome as earth, animal, and human friendly friendly as possible.

In general I tend to include some sort of natural pattern or flower design in both the shapes of my garments and the textile design. In the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s folk dress pieces in Hungary showed their love for nature as well. The women’s clothing were very detailed and included traditional embroidery, lace, and eye catching colors. As a fibers major as well, embroidery and creating a unique textile are very important to me. I find a lot of my inspiration from the ornate, hand crafting designs that make these pieces so special.

In the future I plan on having a line called Vadvirág, which translates from Hungarian as ‘Wildflower’. Not only does this name represent me as a human being and pays homage to my origins, many wildflowers are phytoremediators and clean up the earth’s soil. Keeping the earth in a good state and reversing damages that humans have caused is very important to me. With a line that is animal-free and repurposes old fabric and materials, I would be doing my small part to help the earth and hopefully impact others to clean up their act or become passionate about restoring the earth.

I created my logo with two V’s for vad (wild) and virág (flower). One of the V’s is structured while the other is more antique and playful. The structured V represents the modern designs of my garments while the antique V shows that I will be incorporating older techniques and floral patterns influenced by Hungarian folk dress. The color is a natural green to connect my brand to the earth and show that the clothes are eco-friendly. The fonts utilized are Ferrica Light and Copperplate Gothic Light.

I plan to be designing garments primarily for women but having menswear in my collections as well. The clothing would be modern, artistic pieces that are interestingly constructed and are designed based on the textile. I would start with classical women’s wear such as skirts and dresses and men’s wear suits, but I would want to push the gender barriers and make clothing with woman-like designs for men, and the opposite for women.

I can see my logo made into a pattern or geometric print that could be in various colors and made into a print that could potentially be inserted into part of a garment. It could work as the designs in the stripes of a skirt, cut outs on the back, prints on a bag… etc. I would make the logo very kaleidoscopic.

One Hungarian designer I recommend is Daria Kostenko. Her work is beautiful. I’m very intrigued by her newest collection: Pollocks Roses.

I’ve opted out of my meal plan this year and decided to sign up for a program called Boston Organics. It’s basically the best decision I’ve made this year because I get a box full of organic and (mostly) local produce that is delivered to my door. Yep, delivered right to me so I don’t have to make a trip grocery shopping every week! This week I was psyched to open my box and find tons of potatoes (my absolute FAVORITE), kiwis, plums, bananas, blueberries, and one of my current obsessions: fresh picked apples. I couldn’t be happier! And if you couldn’t tell, fruit is what I really look forward to each week!

The recipes i’ve made with food from the box are Banana Bread Walnuts, Taco bowls, a killer fruit salad, and Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers! This week i’m planning to make a Mixed Potato Soup and Pizza-Stuffed Peppers.

Any recipe suggestions?

-Emelie

My name is Emelie Bergh. I’m currently double majoring in Fashion Design and Fibers at MassArt in the lovely city of Boston. I spend my time making art of many shapes and sizes, creating vegan concoctions, gardening, and trying to keep up with a busy schedule! I’ll be using this blog throughout the year to keep track of my projects and process and any documenting any inspiration I might find.

Enjoy!