By Jessica Ye (Jessica Yap)
In this exclusive interview with Couture Troopers, Dóra Abodi opens up about her latest wearable art collection, The Transylvanian Chronicles, which made its striking debut at Paris Couture Week. For Abodi, Transylvania is more than a homeland; it is a living manuscript, a layered universe where folklore, memory, and shadow converge. Through ABODI Transylvania, she transforms ancestral mythologies into garments that feel closer to artefacts than fashion, carrying stories, symbols, and rituals into the present.
Transylvania as Living Myth
“Transylvania is not merely a place for me; it is a layered manuscript where folklore, memory, and shadow coexist,” Abodi tells Couture Troopers.
“Growing up surrounded by its forests, fortified churches, and whispered legends, I absorbed a sense of myth as something lived rather than imagined.”
Rather than illustrating folklore directly, the designer translates its emotional atmosphere into fashion.
“My design language draws from this atmosphere — not by illustrating folklore literally, but by translating its emotional residue,” she explains. “Like a painting by Bruegel where the uncanny hides within the ordinary, I aim to embed subtle mythologies into garments. The silhouettes become vessels, carrying echoes of ancestral spirits, protective symbols, and forgotten rituals into the present moment.”
Tradition Meets the Future
The ABODI aesthetic has long balanced historical references with contemporary experimentation, something the designer describes as a constant dialogue between past and future. “I approach folklore as a living organism rather than a static archive,” she says.
“The key is not preservation, but transformation.”
She extracts symbols, textures, and emotional codes from the past, recontextualizing them through sculptural forms and modern materials. “I often think of it as placing a medieval Transylvanian relic into a science fiction narrative,” she adds. “It is a reinterpreted personal history into something strikingly modern — the essence remains, but the language evolves.”
When Fashion Travels the World
Some pieces, like the castle headpiece worn by Jaden Smith, have already captured global attention.
“When Jaden Smith wore the castle headpiece, it felt like a fragment of Transylvania was momentarily placed into a global mythscape.”
“It doesn’t change my storytelling, but it expands its resonance. I become more aware that these narratives can speak across cultures — that a Transylvanian symbol can be understood intuitively in Tokyo, New York, or Paris,” Abodi explains. “It reinforces my belief that myth is universal, even when its roots are deeply local.”
Designing a World
For Abodi, creation begins with atmosphere, not garments.
“It usually begins with something intangible, like a mood or a fragment of a dream,” she explains. “From there, narrative and imagery emerge simultaneously, almost like storyboards. I often sketch as if I am mapping a world rather than designing a garment.”
Materials and craftsmanship anchor these dreamlike visions into reality. “It’s closer to sculpture or even filmmaking than traditional fashion design,” she says. “Each piece becomes a scene, a character, a gesture frozen in time.”
Baroque Futurism
A defining feature of her work is what she calls Baroque Futurism, where historical resonance meets speculative imagination.
“I am fascinated by the idea of time collapsing — of past and future existing in the same object,” she says. “Baroque aesthetics, with their drama and ornamentation, already feel almost futuristic in their intensity.”
Viewed archaeologically, her pieces resemble artefacts from an alternate timeline.
“I think of it as speculative heritage — imagining what tradition might look like if it continued evolving uninterrupted into the future.”
Symbolic Attire
Abodi prefers the term symbolic attire over costume or sculpture.
“I see it as something that exists between costume and identity,” she explains. “The garments carry echoes of ritual dress — clothing that transforms the presence of the wearer. Like in ancient cultures where clothing carried protective or spiritual meaning, I aim for each piece to hold a sense of intention.”
“The wearer becomes both themselves and something more — a character, an archetype, a story.”
Craft, Ethics, and Conscious Creation
Ethics and conscious production are integral to her practice.
“Ethics are not a constraint; they are a framework for deeper creativity,” Abodi says. Working with craftsmanship and small-scale production allows her to maintain a strong connection between narrative, material, and maker.
“There is a certain honesty in knowing where a material comes from, how it is shaped, and who touches it,” she explains. “It adds another invisible layer to the garment’s story.”
The World Comes First
When building a collection, Abodi begins with the universe itself.
“The collection starts as a world — a landscape, a mythology, a set of rules,” she says. Within that world, the wearer naturally becomes the protagonist.
“Without the world, the character lacks context; without the wearer, the world remains abstract. It’s a symbiotic relationship, like in literature where setting and character define each other.”
Inspirations Beyond Transylvania
While her heritage is central, her influences span art and cinema.
“I am particularly drawn to artists who create entire worlds,” she says. From Hieronymus Bosch to David Lynch, Federico Fellini, and Béla Tarr, these creators shape her approach to storytelling — where the visible is only a fragment of a much larger unseen narrative.
She also draws from Transylvanian folk culture and artists exploring similar mythological themes, including Marcell Jankovics and Béla Bartók.
The Power of the Talisman
Ultimately, Abodi wants her creations to transform the wearer.
“I hope they feel a sense of transformation — as if stepping into a story that is both ancient and yet to be written,” she says.
“There should be a quiet power in wearing ABODI Transylvania: a connection to something deeper, beyond trend or surface. Ideally, the garment becomes a kind of talisman — not just something to be seen, but something to be felt, remembered, and carried forward.”
