THE ROOTS: Reimagining Polish Heritage

Developed through exhaustive ethnographic research and intimate, hands-on collaboration with local artisans, regional embroiderers, and cultural specialists, the collection interrogates the rich visual lexicon of traditional dress, translating its archival resonance into an urgent contemporary narrative. At the core of the project is the deliberate revival of historical Szamotuły embroidery, a craft lineage tracing back to the 19th century. Traditionally executed on fragile, ethereal tulle, these compositions are celebrated for their rhythmic complexity: fine openwork, minuscule circular eyelets, pulsing dotted motifs, and winding organic branches where expansive flower heads, leaves, and budding contours assemble in razor-sharp precision.

Rather than treating these motifs as museum relics, Vicher undertook an exacting study, reconstructing historical techniques and patterns directly from archival records, ethnographic documentation, and oral knowledge preserved through generations of local makers. The original 19th-century artisans belong to another time, yet their technical mastery breathes anew through the contemporary craftspeople who continue to safeguard and transmit these complex skills today. The labor behind the collection stands as a testament to this preservation: a monumental skirt requiring 500 hours of painstaking hand embroidery, a corset demanding 300 dedicated hours, and an extensive series of handcrafted garments executed with the same uncompromising devotion.

A defining architectural breakthrough of THE ROOTS is Vicher’s reinterpretation of the traditional Szamotuły rurok. Historically recognized as a fitted women’s jacket defined by distinctive, deep tubular folds flaring from the waistline, the garment becomes the foundational blueprint for the collection’s silhouette. Vicher dissects its historical engineering and translates it into an entirely new sculptural syntax. Those signature tubular folds are liberated from their historical confines and reimagined as modular, independent design elements: architectural tops, rigid waist belts, structured corsetry, and dramatic, exaggerated collars. Once static components of regional dress, these geometries now actively alter the human form, carving out bold new volumes, challenging anatomical proportions, and redefining the spatial dialogue between the body and cloth. This metamorphic process underscores Inez Vicher’s guiding artistic manifesto: treating historical construction not as a constraint, but as a fertile bedrock for avant-garde design.

Expanding far beyond embroidery and the anatomical reimagining of the rurok, THE ROOTS formulates a comprehensive contemporary wardrobe grounded in architectural tailoring, striking proportions, and a tactile friction between materials. Heavy wool, pure cashmere, raw leather, distressed denim, slick satin, delicate silk, floating tulle, and voluminous shearling converge in deliberate contrast. The garments drift effortlessly between softness and rigid structure, architectural discipline and fluid motion, moving from towering statement pieces to razor-sharp modern ready-to-wear. Across each look runs an innate balance of aristocratic refinement, structural disruption, and progressive, experimental femininity.

The accompanying visual campaign anchors this dialogue between historical lineage and present-day edge within a living cultural framework. Members of the Szamotuły Folk Ensemble took part directly in the campaign imagery, donning authentic, museum-grade regional attire alongside Vicher’s contemporary silhouettes. The ensemble operates under the direction and choreography of Maciej Sierpiński, recipient of the World Cultural Heritage Conservation Award 2025 presented by the PEARL Association in honor of his lifelong dedication to preserving and transmitting indigenous heritage. Their physical presence side-by-side with Vicher’s garments sparks a genuine intergenerational confrontation, allowing ancestral lineage and radical fashion to occupy the exact same frame.

Ultimately, THE ROOTS unfolds as an exploration of collective memory through the discipline of modern sculpture. Archival embroidery is reborn through the hands of contemporary practitioners; the historical rurok mutates into a modernist silhouette; and generational wisdom becomes the driving engine of radical fashion. Through this body of work, Inez Vicher gives Polish heritage a bold physical manifestation, turning history into a living, breathing, wearable Gesamtkunstwerk. The land remembers. The form evolves. Hand embroidered. Polish heritage. VICHER.

Inez Vicher – Fashion Designer, Artist & Creative Director

Inez Vicher is a Polish fashion designer, visual artist, and the founder of fashion house VICHER, recognized for her signature sculptural vernacular, avant-garde artistic vision, and architectural approach to the human form. At the heart of her creative practice lies a continuous fascination with sculpture, kinetic movement, and the tactile relationship between textiles and the body. Her collections actively challenge traditional proportions, utilizing exaggerated volumes, experimental construction techniques, and bold geometries to transform garments into wearable art.

Her creative universe stretches seamlessly beyond fashion into contemporary performance. Vicher recently collaborated with internationally acclaimed choreographer Emanuel Gat, designing the stage costumes for his contemporary dance work Five Days in the Sun. The piece had its world premiere at Festival Montpellier Danse and was presented at La Biennale di Venezia, with upcoming performance dates scheduled at Sadler’s Wells in London, Festival de Danse Cannes – Côte d’Azur, and Opéra de Lille. This ongoing international dialogue highlights her dedication to exploring the shared boundaries of couture, choreography, sculpture, and physical motion.

Across her recent projects, Vicher has immersed herself deeply in Polish cultural heritage, reviving forgotten craftsmanship and regional techniques. By working directly with local artisans, master embroiderers, and generational craftspeople, she brings regional wisdom into an avant-garde framework. Her latest collection, VICHER AW26/27 – THE ROOTS, crystallizes this vision through thorough ethnographic fieldwork and collaborative handcraft, resulting in monumental silhouettes that bind ancestral memory with progressive aesthetics. For Inez Vicher, fashion remains an extension of sculpture—an artistic manifestation of identity, regional heritage, and movement existing at the exact intersection of fine art, craftsmanship, and uncompromised experimental design.