The (Imaginary) Costume Museum

Character research. Ottoman dress.

And if there will ever be another comic book based on it all, this is what the cover might look like.

Bulgarian

Interpretations of the Vlasca (Romania) dress.

(Unclear what’s up with the long sleeves. Either they are a prehistoric reminiscence of a goddess worshiping cult, or very late, nobility wear inspired addition to the traditional costume.)

More character design. This time inspired by southern Romanian, 1821 (...which is very vague. might be Albanian. might be Greek? or just generic Ottoman. it certainly isn’t the traditional folk dress of the region) (dacă sunteți români, think Tudor Vladimirescu style) 

First one is vaguely Bulgarian, the rest are... Ottoman inspired? Ottoman... adjacent? Character design for a comic I dream of having time for one day.

Ukrainian

More character design! Influences are Iranian and Romanian and contemporary fashion (and if you scroll long enough you’ll find them). The long sleeved blouse is Romanian, from Vrancea, and genuine, and we’re not quite sure WHY (fertility rituals? midwife spells to protect the baby?)

Romanian, Oltenia or Muntenia, I think. 

(Based on a romanian legend - The Brother and the Not-Brother, twin gods from pre-christian Romanian mythology. One is boring, cunning and self proclaimed righteous, while the other is a dumb creative (evil?) trickster. Together, they made the world (while simultaneously trying to drown each-other!)

Ukrainian

Byzantine, via Greek icons.

American, 1840-ish.

Ottoman - after an Amedeo Preziosi drawing (so... mid 19th century, I guess).

Anyway, Uzbek costume, Emir Seyyid Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, after a photo by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (if you never heard his name, google this photographer right now - he was working with color in 1910 and he has the most amazing images)

Based on a shirt from Năsăud, Romania. IRL, the collar, while not quite so big, is indeed embroidered on the ”inside”.