Nationalists in Romania have adopted an item of clothing traditionally worn by villagers, particularly women. Liberals say it’s an appropriation of a cultural identity that belongs to everyone.
The painter Henri Matisse and the designer Yves Saint-Laurent both took inspiration from it. The British singer Adele wore it for a Vogue fashion shoot. Louis Vuitton used it for one of the company’s seasonal “By the Pool” collections of luxury products.
More recently, the Romanian blouse — an embroidered top traditionally worn by villagers, particularly women — has acquired a new set of devotees: nationalist politicians in Romania besotted with folk couture as a badge of devotion to the nation and its traditions.
Diana Sosoaca, a far-right firebrand, has made the blouse — known in Romanian as “ie,” pronounced “ee-yeh” — a central part of her political brand. She rarely appears in public dressed in anything else. George Simion, a nationalist candidate who lost a presidential election on Sunday, is also a fan, as are many of his supporters.
Calin Georgescu, an ultranationalist who won the first round of a subsequently canceled presidential vote last year, centered his campaign on TikTok videos that featured him dressed in the blouse riding a white horse, among other activities.
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