Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why, then, O brawling love, O loving hate,
O anything of nothing first created,
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep that is not what it is.
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William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 170-176
I started embroidering by accident during the pandemic. My little sister bought my mom a Jane Austen-inspired embroidery kit for Christmas, and the gift that wasn't meant for me quickly turned into a passion. Though I hadn't embroidered since I was a child learning cross-stitching in Ukrainian Saturday school, it seemed to come naturally to me through sense memory, and I fell in love with its slow, calming, repetitiveness. After I finished my first project from the kit, I was inspired to start creating my own designs, and so Serious Vanity was born.
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My aesthetic is informed by many of my interests: art history, Ukrainian folk art, Victoriana, gothic literature, and the natural world. My canvas of choice are thrifted garments, which I launder and mend before hand embroidering them. This clothing is given a new life, intended to be cherished as wearable heirlooms and artworks that carry stories of both past and present.
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Recently, I created an 18 piece collection for MAK Chicago, a pop-up in Chicago's Ukrainian Village featuring over 50 Ukrainian artists.
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Email me at seriousvanitystudio@gmail.com for inquiries or to start the commission process. Join the Serious Vanity Community on Instagram @seriousvanitystudio
