Kobali took it over and opened Kobali in 1974. Her love for hats was born after World War II, when her mother started making them in a Zagreb fur shop her mother eventually opened her own business in the 1970s. Nada Kobali claimed there was almost no woman in Zagreb who did not own at least one Kobali hat. “Slavonia, where I was born, has a rich tradition of embroidery and really richly decorated national costumes.” In keeping with these pandemic times, Etno Butik Mara added face masks, which can be personalized with embroidered gold or silver initials in Glagolitic script. “I descend from a family which has always been engaged in textile handicrafts,” Ms. Each collection entails research and cooperation with museums and academic institutions, merging the cultural and ethnographic characteristics of regional folk creations with global design trends. Handbags (260 to 780 kunas), backpacks (420 to 580 kunas) and bracelets (180 to 220 kunas) feature motifs from cultural and historical monuments, such as Glagolitic script, early Croatian interlacing patterns, and stylized ornaments of lace from the island of Pag and the town of Lepoglava.

The result is a spot where traditional Croatian art is incorporated into urban fashion and accessories. In 1999, Vesna Milkovic, the owner and designer of Etno Butik Mara, left her career as a lawyer to chase her dream of promoting Croatia’s ethnic heritage and traditional crafts through original fashion, and her daughter, Marija, followed in her footsteps and will take over the business in a few months. In central Zagreb, Croatian designers and craftsmen cluster on Ilica and Radiceva Streets. (Ties range dramatically in price, from 400 to 15,000 kunas, about $61 to $2,297.) Different techniques are used in accessories, including jacquard weaving and screen printing, and the auHRum line incorporates 24-carat gold-laminated silk threads to weave this expensive material for ties, bow ties, pocket squares and cuff links. They often feature Croatian symbolism, including Glagolitic script, one of the oldest known Slavic alphabets.Ĭroata now produces around 70 categories of products in two facilities in the Slavonia region, which has a long tradition of handiwork. That attention to style has extended to accessories of all types, from hats to umbrellas and jewelry.Īt Croata, a stylish, sophisticated shop in the Oktogon Arcade just west of Zagreb’s main square, heritage marries contemporary style in silk scarves, shawls, caftans and ties exclusively made in Croatia. The scarves, tied in a knot, impressed the fastidious Parisians, who adopted the new fashion “à la manière croate” - in the Croatian way. During the Thirty Years’ War, Croatian cavalry soldiers tied lively scarves around their necks, which women gave to them as a sign of loyalty and love before they went to war. Influences from nearby Italy and remnants of its Austro-Hungarian past, along with traditional symbols paired with contemporary design, create a distinctive flair.Ĭroatia’s claim to haberdashery fame is the cravat, the forerunner to the modern necktie. Croatia is a style-conscious place, and Zagreb, the capital, dresses to impress.

Urban fashion art