About

Founded in Bucharest, Blouse Roumaine Shop is a platform for authentic handmade Romanian blouses—the ia roumană. The brand was founded by Creative Director Antoaneta Mareș.

Antoaneta studied Communication and Public Relations at the University of Bucharest, with knowledge in marketing, anthropology and journalism. She works in strategy and cultural positioning.

The Discovery

In 2012, Antoaneta noticed personalities like Kate Moss wearing blouses that resembled the Romanian ie. Around the same time, Adele appeared on the cover of Vogue in a piece inspired by Romanian blouses—a pride moment in Romania. The Romanian ie had become a source of inspiration for designers: Tom Ford, Isabel Marant, Valentino. Retailers like Mango were introducing bohemian loose blouses strikingly similar to traditional Romanian blouses.

And then came the question that would change everything: Why is there no place to buy the original piece?

She searched and discovered a forgotten history. In the 1970s, New York designers had partnered with Romanian artisan cooperatives to reconstruct the traditional Romanian blouse—melted linen hand-embroidered with silk and cotton. Jane Birkin, Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch, and Brigitte Bardot wore it. It became the iconic statement piece of an era.

In 1980s Romania, these same blouses were everyday wear. Women had no access to international fashion. They wore what was made locally by these very cooperatives. What the world saw as bohemian style, Romanian women lived as reality.

After the 1990s, those cooperatives were forgotten. The designers moved on. The artisans remained, invisible.

In 2013, when the reinterpretations continued, Antoaneta asked: Where are the women who made this?

She found them—still working, still embroidering, still creating the same pieces. With the Craft Union of Romania, she visited cooperatives across the country. What she discovered wasn't folklore. It was living craft. Modern intelligence preserved in textile form.

When she launched Blouse Roumaine Shop platform, the first customer was a woman from Helsinki. She understood immediately: this wasn't about Romania. It was about connection. These garments belonged to the world—just as they had in the 1970s and '80s.

The platform gives women around the world access to the authentic piece. The term “Blouse Roumaine” emerged from Romanian designers using famous Henri Matisse painting “La blouse roumaine” in 2010–2012 for Romanian blouse-inspired collections.

The platform became a reference point in discussions about cultural appropriation and heritage. But Antoaneta positioned it as a solution, not a manifesto. She believes brands like Dior can collaborate with artisan platforms, credit their sources, build partnerships that benefit the makers.

As Blouse Roumaine Shop evolved, Antoaneta recognized something larger happening. In Ukraine, the vyshyvanka—the traditional embroidered blouse—was experiencing its own parallel revival. The same cultural current that had generated the modern Blouse Roumaine was simultaneously inspiring a new generation of Ukrainian designers to recreate modern vyshyvanka.

Both narratives emerged from the same place: the rediscovery of heritage, the reinterpretation of traditional embroidery for contemporary wear, the demand for artisan-made pieces. Romanian ie and Ukrainian vyshyvanka were being revived in tandem, rooted in the same aesthetic philosophy but developing independently within their own cultures.

Antoaneta brought these worlds together. The platform became a bridge between Romanian and Ukrainian artisans, highlighting their shared ethnographic traditions and embroidery techniques. Both cultures had been mining the same aesthetic—the handmade, the embroidered, the rooted. The platform created a dialogue between these parallel movements, showing that the impulse toward heritage-driven design was not isolated but regional, spanning Eastern Europe.

Emerging Ukrainian brands began using similar models—connecting artisans directly to global audiences, crediting sources, building sustainable partnerships. What Blouse Roumaine Shop had articulated as a solution was being echoed across borders, not because it inspired them, but because they were answering the same question.

For Antoaneta, these are not trends. They are investments in cultural equity and true luxury. Value is rooted in origin and authorship: natural materials, original stitches, hands of traditional artisans. Rarity and traceability compound worth over time.

“Sustainability is not a slogan—it's a way of life. I choose fabrics, not logos. Real luxury is consciousness. Elegance aligned with integrity.”