At the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in France, in Paris, designer and researcher Khrystyna Rachytska presented a project dedicated to the Ukrainian vyshyvanka. She showcased part of her own collection of antique embroidered shirts, as well as contemporary pieces produced under the KHRYSTYNA RACHYTSKA brand. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports this.
“It is very important to me that the world knows Ukraine through our culture—its depth, beauty and history. For many years I have been collecting antique embroidered shirts, studying them, and each time I discover something new in them,” says Khrystyna Rachytska.
As the MFA notes, work is currently under way to secure international recognition of the tradition of the Ukrainian embroidered shirt and to have it included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Paris event formed part of a broader international communication effort about the Ukrainian embroidered shirt as a living cultural practice—its continuity, regional diversity and significance.
Guests included representatives of countries’ permanent delegations to UNESCO and the diplomatic corps in France, as well as Fumiko Ohinata, Secretary of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
For Khrystyna Rachytska, this work continues her many years of research into Ukrainian traditional clothing. Her archive makes it possible to trace how the construction, techniques and visual language of the embroidered shirt have changed depending on region and period.