Stylization of Renaissance Ceremonial Costume, Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania Museum, Vilnius, 2022

In 1543, the heart of Sigismund Augustus, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, was captured by the daughter of the wealthiest family in the Lithuanian duchy, the young widow Barbara Radziwiłł-Goštautienė. The mutual feelings faced opposition from the young duke’s parents, King Augustus the Elder and Queen Bona Sforza, as well as the Polish nobility. In 1547, the couple secretly married in the Royal Chapel of Vilnius Cathedral.

In 2018, after Vilnius was included in UNESCO’s Romantic Europe route, I began developing a cultural startup called “Secret Love.”

This collection was created in collaboration with the Garment Construction and Sewing Studies Department of the Automechanics and Business School during creative workshops.

Together with a group of teachers and students, we used the color of plaster and delved into the constructions of garment silhouettes, seeking to transfer the appropriate proportions of the 16th-century ceremonial costumes of Queen Barbara Radziwiłł and King Sigismund Augustus into a contemporary design dimension.