“KYUSTENDIL MADONNAS” is a calendar of authentic traditional Bulgarian costumes.
These costumes are preserved in the Regional History Museum in Kyustendil. We looked at this beauty through the eyes of her greatest connoisseur – Vladimir Dimitrov The Master. Inspired by his paintings we recreated contemporary beautiful Bulgarian girls in traditional Kyustendil costumes, in the way the Master has seen their grandmothers. We dedicate this project to the 135th anniversary of the birth of that great Bulgarian artist.
Woman’s Saya Costume from Kyustendil Region The costume consists of a shirt /koshulya/, saya, sash, apron /skuta/, pectoral and stockings. The shirt is long, with a tunic-like cut, with wide sleeves and mostly red embroidery on the sleeves and skirt. The saya is a piece of upper clothing, opened at the front along the whole length. It could be black or white in summer, it has an oval axil and elbow-long sleeves. It is decorated with colourful braids and galloons on the sleeves and the axil. In the 30-s and 40-s of the XX c. those braids were replaced with goldthread. The striking contrast of the saya is due to the sash and the apron which are usually in red and orange, decorated with colourful horizontal stripes.
