| PERIOD COSTUMES IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS (10.08.07) |
| (2007-08-10) |
| Last updated: 2007-08-10 15:49 EET |
Adina Nanu is a professor at the Drama and Film University, where she teaches a course in the history of costumes and interior decoration. It happens that she’s found a particularly original way to illustrate her lectures. In her classes Students are presented with a series of objects from Professor Nanu’s own collection, as the study of past periods is a real passion for her, and not only a profession. It all started when, as a child, Adina and her friends used to try on her mother’s hats when she was young. Later on she moved over to period dresses, blouses and laces, which she collected from the attics of grandmothers and aunties.
Over time, Adina Nanu’s collection grew so much that she displayed her costumes at the Youth Metropolitan Cultural Centre, letting the public admire the tasteful designs worn by ladies in the past. Speaking now is Adina Nanu herself, talking about the collection and the exhibition entitled “Retro”:
"My collection grew sort of naturally. I bought almost nothing, save for some ribbons or small accessories. As I was trying to prove that these dated hats were part of very sophisticated and harmonious outfits, I tried to look around the house for such items, then at my relatives’, trying to search out complete morning or evening outfits. As well as this family heritage of hats, there were gloves or dresses which colleagues or friends gave to me as gifts. So students were fortunate enough to be able to see samples of each decade of the 20th century. In time more such items were added to my collection, so today the exhibition spans more than a century and a half of costumes, from late 19th century to the entire 20th century, including the first years of the 3rd millennium. The exhibition’s last items include suggestions for future costumes and sci-fi projects I borrowed from the fashion students at the Art University, chaired by my daughter Unda Popp."
The hats from the mid-40s stand apart in Adina Nanu’s collection. Large numbers of such hats can be found in Adina Nanu’s collection, and everybody was taken aback by their uselessness. When such hats were in fashion, they were more like accessories, resembling jewels or scarves, rather than a means of protection against the sun or rain. Adina Nanu also boasts wedding dresses made of American parachute silk from the Second World War, a very sought-after fabric at that time. And, as she wanted to remain faithful to the intention of totally reviving the periods in question, Adina Nanu did not only display her outfits, but she also revived the period atmosphere. Adina Nanu again:
"The good thing about having a private collection is that you can always enrich and change it. Throughout the exhibition I tried to revive a period atmosphere, I added accessories to the dummies dressed in period outfits, such as a writing desk, a Venetian mirror owned by Paulina Alecsandri, wife of the poet Vasile Alecsandri, which still bears its owner’s initials… Also on display is a painting by Sabin Popp depicting a young girl from Iasi during WW I, dressed in the extremely sober fashion of that time. I have also included a bust sculpted by my mother-in-law – Teodora Cernat - Pop – representing a young woman with the “a la garconne” haircut, typical for the 1920. Each item in the exhibition has its own story…”
Adina Nanu is not the only person with a passion for preserving period outfits. Other private collectors also have an interest in old costumes. One of them belongs to art historian Adrian Silvan-Ionescu and includes military uniforms.
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2010-07-31
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