“I turned my hobby into a profession. This is my vocation”, says Bulgarian female designer Nuri Dimitrova. As early as a child, she learnt how to sew on her granny's sewing machine. “I was first making clothes for my dolls and then for myself”, Nuri continues. She has recently risen to fame with her unique collection of miniatures of the world's most popular and chic royal wedding dresses. After generating a lot of interest in Sofia, the collection has been permanently exhibited at the wedding hall of Nessebar, one of Bulgaria's best sea resorts. The young designed confided that it was her wish to attract more couples who want to pledge eternal faithfulness on the romantic and ancient peninsula. We asked Nuri Dimitrova about the possibilities to do art in Bulgaria and her inspiration for the new collection.
“It's a bit difficult for the people of art, but I'm optimistic about a better future. This collection of miniatures was inspired by the autobiography of Coco Chanel. The times being poor in between the two world wars, designers found it tough to create collections and present them at fashion shows. The then designers' association, Coco Chanel being one of its members, got the idea to present fashion collections as miniatures to cut costs. Of course, it was not grand, but this is how fashion survived in times of crisis. While reading the autobiography, at a moment when we're experiencing a financial crisis, I had the idea to make this collection, which cost less”.
The miniature collection presents the wedding dresses of Princess Diana, renowned American actress Grace Kelly, who married in 1956 the prince of Monaco, Japanese Princess Masako and Spanish Princess Letizia. The collection also presents the wedding dress of Princess Kalina of Bulgaria, which was rich in national motifs and motley embroidery. The miniatures are 40 to 60 cm in length. It took Nuri Dimitrova about a month and a half to sew each dress. Finding and preparing the fabrics, which are close to the originals, that is chiffon, silk and hand-embroidered lace, took almost 2 years.
“I've investigated the history of each wedding- how it was carried out, which year, what the fabrics were, etc. So for example, Grace Kelly married in 1956, and we all know she was a film actress. The film company she worked for gave her the wedding dress. It was made from 125-year old Brussels lace and was hand-embroidered by 35 seamstress for some 6 weeks. Lady Diana's train was one of the longest- seven and a half meters”.
Nuri also found out that Norwegian Princess Mette-Marit was once a bar tender and a solitary mother before putting on the royal wedding dress. Charlene, Princess of Monaco, took the walk to the altar wearing an Armani dress, which took 2500 hours to make and was peppered with diamonds and sapphires. The Bulgarian designer is planning to enrich her collection with more royal wedding dresses. The idea for the collection was born while Nuri was restoring the old wedding dress of a woman from Nessebar, who got married in the remote 1948.
“The dress belonged to a woman living near the old town's gates”, Nuri goes on to say. “ Browsing through an old wedding album, I though I could restore an old wedding dress from Nessebar. After searching for a long time, I found one. Its owner had discarded it a long time ago on the attic. The dress was worn out with little holes all over. The lady allowed me to restore the dress and give it a new life. I gave it a more royal look, since the lady it belonged to had a somewhat royal temper. The dress is from taffeta in ecru, which is a trendy colour even now”.
Each of the miniatures is accompanied by a photograph of the original dress and a brief history of the wedding. What is more, Nuri Dimitrova has recently called the women of Nessebar to bring her their wedding photographs. The idea is to prepare another exposition tracing the wedding dress history of the old town. “We've made an album of the princesses of our town”, Nuri comments. As a true artist, she explores various wedding traditions. This is how she recently discovered a somewhat forgotten recipe for a cake known as damga, once a popular wedding treat in Nessebar.
English version: Vyara Popova
