Lucian Broscotean at Mercedes Fashion Week, Berlin

Lucian Broscatean is a young Romanian designer that just exhibited his 2011-12 autumn/winter collection at the most recent Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Berlin.

Lucian was born 1965 in Sibiu, which is a cultural center in Romania with an amazingly picturesque skyline.

Historically, the city was the center of Transylvania Saxons—Germans who began settling the area already in the 12th century.

Lucian holds a Master’s degree from the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca.

Have a peek at a select few menswear designs here.

“Bloody Remains” in Spring/Summer 2010 with Rozalb de Mura

Alright! I apologize. I don’t know how I let this one slip by my attention. But the collection is still in season.

“Bloody Remains” is the 2010 spring/summer collection by Rozalb de Mura.

Oozing with theatrical extravagance, the line presents just 2 full costumes, which allude to the looks of a warrior’s armament—in masculine and feminine form.

Hiding the identity of the wearer, the two outfits can be composed, decomposed, and recomposed again, like disintegrable antique robots that are constructed with multiple parts.

The warriors’ attire spans primitive, tribal, and royal repertoires, unexpectedlyculminating in contemporary combinations.

Void of buttons and zippers, the collection is pieced together with hundreds of strings in a process that resembles an elaborate ritual, of which the designer writes:

“The woods grew dark and deep. Grey is the light and down it creeps, through thousand needle leaves. A bitter wind, the fir trees stand tall and stately. In splendid indifference you’re all alone. An owl cries, it’s only a bird – wise, they say. Or is it a laugh? You shudder in the unknown.

Beware. Go round the mountains of the moon, get down the valleys of sorrow, do look away from dancing shadows. Cover your ears, the voices you hear are oh, too temptingly, cruelly sweet.

The mighty woods are all behind. You went to rest under the great Hawk’s Rock. And there it was. A nest of earth and bones that threw alluring shimmers, of gold and light, of blues and greens, the dream of dreamers. Remains of bloody unseen worlds, or ancient shrine to power? You’ll never know. Raise and take away your gaze, do not upset the silence. Times are not ripe yet, traveler.”



Photo 2010 s/s collection Copyright Rozalb de Mura.
Photography
Models: Raluca Negrea/Silviu Tolu @ Allure Models

Rozalb de Mura's Powder Cadillac 1B-2140 & Desert Twilight 6A-3410: How Do These Colors Make You Feel?

At London Fashion Week, Rozalb de Mura presented his a/w 2009 collection, which is entitled “Powder Cadillac 1B-2140 & Desert Twilight 6A-3410.”

At first glance, the name may strike you as a bit odd sounding, but as blogger Bobble Bee points out, they are merely two codes from the Pantone color palette. Good work there, Bobble Bee!

But why these two colors?!

Rozalb de Mura based his collection on “the colors of the future” predicted in the imaginary research of Swiss psychotherapist, Max Lüscher, who in reality developed the Lüscher color test.

The Lüscher-Color-Diagnostic measures an individual's psychological state according to his or her color preferences and, through the use of 5015 definitions, reveals 23 different personality traits. Here are a few examples:

Blue: Contentment
Feeling of belonging, the inner connection, and the relationship to one’s partner.

Green: Self-respect
Inner control of willpower and the capacity to enjoy.

Red: Self-confidence
Activity, drive, and the reaction to challenges.

Yellow: Development
Attitude of anticipation, attitude towards future development, and towards new encounters.

Now, what do Powder Cadillac and Desert Twilight say about your personality? Sit back, click on the slide show, and take the test!



Slide show a/w 2009 collection "Powder Cadillac 1B-2140 & Desert Twilight 6A-3410," Copyright by Rozalb de Mura.
Lüscher Test Color Chart from Wikipedia.

Rozalb de Mura Sounds the Drums of War!

Wittily naming his label after the fictional baron Rozalb de Mura, designer Oláh Gyárfás craftily laces his s/s 2009 collection with the imaginary world of WoW—World of Warcraft—a “massively multiplayer online role-playing game” (MMORPG) released by Blizzard Entertainment, which now boasts 11.5 million monthly subscribers and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORRG!

Oláh Gyárfás has definitely placed himself in the arena of winners!

Entitled “the Drums of War Will Thunder Once Again,” the s/s 2009 Rozalb de Mura collection unfolds a distant planetary saga, of which the baron writes:

“Rain of fire poured down again in the frosty North. The Darkness Knights viciously broke the pact of the Fourth War. The Horde united in ferocious vengeance attacks. Alas, the blessing of our peace sanctuary might soon evaporate. Winds of change blow on our lands. The spirit of Ghost Wolf thus spoke: take sides or otherwise perish in the might of the burning embrace.

But the Great Assembly announced: let us not paint our faces in the colours of their war. Any alliance will throw upon our peaceful people the curse of agony and extinction. The undead shield still protects us for one hundred years. Our tribe must remain free, unbounded by ties of loyalty or dominion. Wise like Amarog, fierce like Ithagai.”

In the remote and turbulent past, nations have ardently craved and fiercely fought for freedom as they embellished their warriors with insignias of bravery.

Oláh Gyárfás draws on his inspiration from the Hungarian word vitezkotes, translated as ‘the string of the brave’, which was an embroidered black string on the traditional Hungarian male garb, now permeating the s/s 2009 collection—the Drums of War Will Thunder Once Again.



Slide show s/s 2009 collection, Copyright Rozalb de Mura.
Photo top right baron Rozalb de Mura & Oláh Gyárfás, Copyrighy by Rozalb de Mura.

Gypsies, Vampires, and Rozalb de Mura

Romania—the northern Balkan country on the Black Sea—is home not only to Romanians but also to thousands of Gypsies and over a dozen displaced minorities like Germans and Hungarians, who predominantly live in Transylvania (Latin for ‘on the other side of the forest’).

Historically, Romania was home to the Dacians, a branch of the Thracians. For those of you who saw the film, gladiator Spartacus was a Thracian! In 106 AD, however, the Roman Empire conquered the Dacians, pummeling their kingdom into a Roman province; hence the name Romania and the Romanian language, which closely resembles Latin.

I first arrived to Romania in 1995 when I was European director for a multinational corporation. I immediately developed an affinity to the Romanians, given the similarity of the Italian culture and language. To my surprise, however, my Romanian rep turned out to be an ethnic German living in Transylvania!

Before arriving to Romania, my only exposure to Transylvania was the Bram Stoker tale of Count Dracula. Fortunately my ignorance vanished when I learned that the tale was partially inspired by a true historical figure—Transylvanian-born Vlad III Dracula—otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler, who reportedly murdered 20-40 thousand people by impaling them on a sharp pole.

My Romanian rep kindly filled in other gaps of knowledge, such as how her German ancestors migrated to the area as early as the 18th century when Transylvania was annexed by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. As for the Hungarians, they had long dominated the region, since the 10th century.

So, welcome to the world of Oláh Gyárfás, the ethnic Hungarian designer who lives in the mountains of Transylvania, in a small village near Miercurea Ciuc. Olah Gyarfas founded his label in 2006, basing it on the fictional baron, Rozalb de Mura.

Rozalb de Mura collections can be described as very "trans": Transylvanian—a mix of Hungarian and Romanian ethnicity; transgendered—a mingling of masculinity and femininity; transdisciplinary—a platform for artists, musicians, and writers; and transpersonal—a journey from reality to the mythical.

Of the fall/winter 2008-2009 collection, Rozalb de Mura writes:

“Olah Gyarfas wrapped himself in the mystery and austerity conveyed by the sheer blackness of an all black lot. In a conscious gesture, all pieces have been immersed in a black viscous liquid, and then brought to surface bearing the lobe-like traces due to the solidification process.

‘The Thing’ has the appearance of several lobe-like frozen flows of some viscous lava. According to its aspect, the specimen could be the result of an eruption. Inexplicably, it tends to manifest alternately as a black, porous ground mass or as a smooth and undulating shiny-black surface.

Some unspecified force within it spreads an eerie glow, which is definitely not due to the reflection of light onto the microscopic crystals of various totally unknown minerals, as it had been suggested. It is, we dare say, beautiful.”

Stay tuned for more in the next few days on this promising designer of Transylvania!

Photo upper left Sumuleu Ciuc by Locketudor, Copyright by Wikipedia.

Slide show 2008 a/w collection, Copyright by Rozalb de Mura.