Papusza Couture: Paramicha Collection

By Daria Brit Shapiro

4 January 2012

Papusza Couture, Paramicha Collection
with Couture Millinery by Katie Burley

n the Fall of 2009, I was fortunate enough to wander into Kaytee Papusza’s world. The avant-garde designer was invited to participate in Iceland’s Fashion Week with her exquisitely bizarre Sleeping on the Wind Collection. Intended as wildly imaginative wearable artwork, this conceptual couture was hand sewn, hand-dyed, and delicately embroidered with tiny bird bones. Swathed in elegant feathers, fox furs and hides of mysterious origin, each garment was painstakingly constructed by Kaytee – who had tears in her eyes as she sat up all night making repairs and alterations for the upcoming show. As a seasoned curator, I have spent plenty of time with artists, but the connection that bound this designer to her garments was something quite different: horrific and gorgeous, at once.

Since our initial meeting, Kaytee Papusza’s couture line has evolved even further and comfortably enmeshed itself in the contemporary art dialogue. The designer’s current collection, Paramicha, is astonishingly well developed, having been thoroughly researched over the past six years. Translated from the Romani Gypsy language, “Paramicha” means “fairytale”, a notion the designer harnesses by incorporating lore from the Roma tribes and symbolism from the Aleister Crowley & Cat People Tarot Card decks.

Papusza Couture, Paramicha Collection with Couture Millinery by Katie Burley

The garments that comprise the Paramicha Collection are as magical and deeply expressive as Papusza’s inspiration and the inclusion of heirloom objects and fair-trade ethnic fabrics that the artist collected throughout her world travels, channels the spirit of a disenfranchised culture on the brink of extinction. In addition, couture millinery by Katie Burley adds an offbeat political edge, as beaded adaptations of burkas demonstrate a sharp social sensibility. Symbolic of limiting verbal communication, these burkas are meant to emphasize the language of the tarot card as key to the meaning of these wearable artworks.

Papusza Couture, Paramicha Collection
with Couture Millinery by Katie Burley

Passionate about anthropology, Kaytee Papusza wants Paramicha to speak directly to contemporary practices in the fashion and art industries, “I have never thought about my pieces as wearable or functional. I think of them as a way to remind people that we used to make our clothing out of materials and objects that truly meant something to us. Materials with significance – like using all parts of animal or fibers from native plants and trees. The most important thing is that we knew where it came from and we made it all by hand.”

Feeling a strong affinity to the Romani Gypsies, Kaytee comes from a free-spirited and nomadic upbringing. With parents who met while hitchhiking, the designer blossomed under the auspice of a family rumor that her great grandmother’s affair with a Gypsy is evident in her bloodline, bringing with it a healthy dose of poetry and mysticism. As a result of this genealogical mystery, Ms. Papusza has always identified with outsider cultures. Having never understood the social pressure to “lay down roots”, Kaytee has spent her entire adult life as a traveler, observing custom and culture of nomadic peoples all over the globe.

Papusza’s Paramicha tells the tale of a culture that has been in existence for over 8000 years, yet remains shrouded in mystery. With several dialects and over 2 million documented speakers of these languages, the size of the Romani population is staggering: some sources account for 14 million Romani Gypsies around the world. Frequent persecution has led many to conceal their backgrounds and protect their language and culture. Poor media coverage has contributed immensely to the rampant deculturalization of the Romani, by painting a picture of pervasive trickery and thievery amongst tribes. As a result of this social stigma, many Romani are institutionalized, living in squalor and pushed into prostitution and alcoholism.

Papusza Couture, Paramicha Collection
with Couture Millinery by Katie Burley

Kaytee Papusza, impassioned by these mostly illiterate people, has taken on the task of creating a fresh, visual language in homage to marginalized Gypsy culture. In an effort to create a voice for these forgotten people and preserve the essence of this beautiful culture, Papusza’s Paramicha relies heavily on the artisan traditions of the Gypsies, who take pride in making things that are well crafted.

After being based in Brooklyn for several years, Kaytee Papusza is once again nomadic, living the trials and tribulations of this unique existence. But in this unfettered state, almost anything is possible: the designer is blissfully free from industry constructs and able to create a collection that reflects this difficult yet beautiful lifestyle. In Papusza’s words, “I was burned out on New York, jaded by how homogeneous everything is, mass produced, poorly made, and that doesn’t have any heart. I want to create something that isn’t about fashion, but what my heart is passionate about.”

To look more closely inside the world of Papusza, please visit http://www.papuszacouture.com

Photo credit: Elizabeth Raab