Half a century old bodice is being sold: Made from a special material, it has significant meaning, and no other will be made, ever (PHOTO)

This is a bodice that a girl from Kosovsko Pomoravlje had to make herself by weaving the famous Prizren threat, and she never gets to wear it, only on the day when she gets married and when she leaves the house. She can't even give it as a gift, even to the daughter. Each girl must have her own bodice on the day of the wedding.

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Those bodices were brought by people who had to abandon their homes on Kosovo to the northern Serbian cities, preserving tradition. And now they are giving them away or they are selling them on the fairs in central Serbia.

- They were created in Kosovsko Pomoravlje, they were woven with special Prizren thread. It was the best on the market. And you can't find that anymore now - explains Beba Ivanovic from Jagodina, who is selling three bodices, each more than half a century old.

Foto: Telegraf

Beba is selling peasant shoes and slippers on Oplenac Vintage festival in Topola, and she and her husband continue the tradition of Pomoravlje shoemakers, which is over a century long. She received these three bodices from an acquaintance from Kosovo who now lives in Jagodina. She doesn't say if they were a gift or if she sells them, perhaps some of her friends need the money due to poverty. She just deeply respects what they represent.

- No girl could get married if she didn't have such a bodice. The more detail the better, that meant that the girl is skillful and that she comes from a good house. Girls had to make them on their own, that was their test. They could take pieces of advice and help of the more skillful women, but each of them had to work on their own, and they couldn't order it - Beba explains, showing each bodice she has.

It was a garment in which the girl left her home on the wedding day, and she could not wear it before that. She was supposed to wear that for the first time, over a clean white dress, with embroidered hems. When she got married, she could wear it.

Foto: Telegraf

Two older women approached the stand, while she is talking. There are hundreds of shoes and slippers on the display. They are looking at them, they take pictures with their mobile phones. They admire them.

Beba said that people recognize the value of bodices. That they had to sell for their own reasons.

Foto: Telegraf

- There are more than 50 years old,  they were probably created more than half a century ago, and they were probably worn a few decades ago. The lining is old, the one used for bead sheets, at the time when women made them on their own. There are metal "enhancers" inside the bodices, sticks that kept the shape of them. I think that there is some cardboard underneath it, or something similar, so it doesn't change shape - Beba explains.

She said that she received this treasure "from people who fled from Kosovo and who are in Jagodina". She is surprised that they gave up from it, but she understands.

Foto: Telegraf

- Women perhaps kept their bodices, or the bodices of their daughters or even grandmothers. Since one bodice can't be given to another girl, each of them has to have their own, that is why they remained new. Many knew nothing about them, so they decided to give up on it for some reason. Now these bodices are being sold to cultural and artistic societies, and the members wear them when they play some dance from Kosovo Pomoravlje - Beba explains.

She claims that many don't know that "these things will never be made again", and the machine "can't make this". 

Bodices like this are being sold for around a hundred euros, between 100 and 150. They can be bought at Beba in Jagodina, in the shop at the market, alongside shoes and slippers.

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(Telegraf.co.uk / M.R.)