The story goes something like this: My maternal great-grandmother Şura Şuşara, my grandfather's mother, was of Tatar, Ukrainian and Polish descent. Șura is Alexandra's nickname in Russian, and Șușara is her maiden name. He had grown up and lived in Cetatea Albă, a port city on the shores of the Black Sea, today part of Ukraine, but in the interwar period it belonged to the Kingdom of Romania. Şura Şuşara, was a tailor as Coco Chanel said. A super flirtatious babe, mega impatient, unfulfilled in love, but indescribably talented. She would cut the fabric on you, poke you well a few times and in an hour the dress was ready. Patterns were invented on the spot. 

 

A refugee in Romania, she lived the rest of her life in Focșani. There, Şura led a gray life. Only her creations had color, which she did not know how to enjoy. She failed to listen to her calling and sewed only for the family. The episode that was supposed to start his career did exactly the opposite. He had to make a dress for the mayor's wife for a ball. Shura wanted to impress the madam and cut her a simple floor-length black dress made of thick silk, but with an entire stylized peacock hand-embroidered by herself all over the back of the dress and on the train. Cucoana did not like it. Tătăroaica swore she wouldn't make orders anymore, and that was it. Thus she became our own fashion designer, I have been wearing her creations for as long as I can remember. 

 

In 2021 I decided to relive Shura's story as I would have wanted her to live it, in front of everyone. The first collection was called "The Dream" and it bears the memory of many women in my life talking, telling their intimates, their feelings, guessing in coffee, trying on outfits for parties, dancing, flirting, laughing, making plans, traveling. I dreamed of a procession of women from the same dough, all dressed in Shura. I woke up and lived the dream shared by the energy of kaftan-wearing femininities.

 

Our creations have a simple cut, but precisely because it is so simple, it leaves room for the woman to ennoble it with her attitude, with the way she wears it. Great grandmother worked with this philosophy, she said it was about the woman, not the dress. Shura worked in a sustainable way, using scraps and scraps to bring her ideas to life. My grandmother and mother wore and still wear her clothes and accessories and I, 50 years later, relive the story, trying to shed light on what she created, honored and humbled by the legacy she left.

 

Şura Şuşara is not a brand, it's a story. A story that writes itself, intuitively, instinctively and immersively. It is written together with the women who wear it and bring it to life. 

 

The farm has a life of its own. She has her energy that can be felt through her clothes. We bring her patterns and story back to life and translate  into a contemporary visual language. 

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