0 | Uploaded on December, 18,
2009 | 1 week ago 
The cryptic garments of Rozalb de Mura strike a harmonious yet jarring balance: providing everything you desire… and absolutely nothing else. The canvas for Spring/Summer 2009 is soft yet severe - being strangely evocative of a dry desert landscape. Men are sheathed head-to-toe in a single shade of faded-khaki while women receive an unusually austere baby pink. All shapes are created out of a plain, woven fabric reminiscent of a Mennonite colony. Only traditional pieces are created - coats, shirts, dresses, pants. Any pieces that could be considered unnecessary, or beyond basic definition, are assertively left behind.
The strong attention to restriction hardly means, however, that the line’s pieces lack personality and expression. Removing the unnecessary allows the series to be rich and powerful in its few - but carefully determined - elements of frivolity. Shining through the sober garments are forceful ruffles, gathers, proportions, pockets, petals, and padding. These are not applied in any mindless or trendy manner, but are holistically incorporated and inherently necessary to the form and construction of the harsh landscape they inhabit. At times these motifs are exaggerated to a point of almost laughable over-sizing (rather than a ruffle attached to a sleeve, it appears that the sleeve is being birthed from within the ruffle). However, like a group of religious zealots, the extreme severity and conviction of their statements make these garments anything but humorous.
It’s not hard to discover where this unorthodox yet restrained aesthetic comes from. Designer Olah Gyarfas, based in his Romanian hometown of Miercurea Ciuc, believes in blending a base of sturdy minimalism with a dash of regionalism. He pulls ideas from the traditional costume of his mountainous area, incorporates lessons in craftsmanship (learned from his tailor mother), and adds a twist of self-proclaimed perversion (just for good measure). Through this, Gyarfas is able to deliver a unique and refreshingly original line just in time to resuscitate our creative juices.
Text By Tyler Stevermer for Lurve Magazine
Photo Zana Bayne
