Bosnia & Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina certainly has a very rich heritage and historical background full of diversity that has influenced the costumes and traditional design throughout the centuries.Fashion and cultural heritage have created one of the most fruitful and strongest bonds when it comes to the preservation of national identities but also creation of new opportunities for intercultural exchange. Fashion industry, as one of the world’s biggest industries that has become intertwined with almost every aspect of human lives, has given us a chance to reincarnate and recreate our traditional cultural identities. Maybe one of the easiest and most direct ways to preserve the cultural heritage is to support and develop museums, along with development of culture of appreciation of its value. What we concluded, is that Bosnia and Herzegovina, out of all partner countries has the sadly worst situation when it comes to collections of the traditional costumes in museums. There are several places in the country that have displayed these treasures, but that is nothing comparing with others. There are just few very small collections available for general public, but other than that, there are no museums dedicated exclusively to the cultural heritage in the context of clothing, embroidery a etc.

Young people who are involved in fashion, traditional dances, or any other form of art that has links to traditional culture and heritage are aware of the importance it has in people lives, and they all share the same passion for creation and art, but also all seniors and already professional designers are skeptical of the insufficiently high-quality plan and program that has been taught in schools, especially when it comes to making traditional costumes, as well as embroideries and different sewing techniques. Established designers had to work their way up and improve themselves constantly and most of them had to go abroad to gain more knowledge and work experience in order to be able to produce the work and art they creating right now.

 The influence of world designers who were inspired by tradition is not negligibleand encourages young designers to think about how the elements of folk costumes and techniques of old crafts could be used as inspiration and a theme for future creations.. Nevertheless, the youth is more than willing to participate in this project, finds it very empowering and is looking forward to all of the activities, which is something that we are really looking forward to bring to life in the future.

We found that there are many obstacles when it comes to funding especially, lack of quality educational system when it comes to national Bosnian educational institutions, but also lack of opportunities for them to grow as creative artists and young designers.