La blouse roumaine IA Association is a non-governmental organization founded in 2016 to support the efforts of La blouse roumaine community to promote, protect and value the Romanian traditional textile heritage in the contemporary creative context, preserving craftsmanship and sparking innovation through cultural design.

Since 2012, the community has been succeeding to connect Romanians and a large international audience around the meaning and image of IA and Romanian cultural dress. La blouse roumaine has contributed decisively to the rebirth and a renewed interest in traditional Romanian culture, being a frontrunner of a larger movement that has generated a real change in thinking and public opinion over the borrowing of material culture.

Ziua Universală a Iei / The Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse

Initiated and coordinated by La Blouse Roumaine, the first Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse was marked on June 24, 2013, with the traditional celebration of Sanziene (Romanian Midsummer Fairies) and the feast of Saint John. 

"In just a few short years it has become a cornerstone celebration in Romanian communities abroad being organized on six continents, in over 200 cities, and in some 60 countries. It has also sparked a renewed interest and appreciation in both Romania and the Republic of Moldova for the traditional folk costume and more broadly for traditional crafts and the artisans who still practice them. In many ways, the Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse has been the right movement at the right time. It has helped connected and catalyze a growing diaspora, which in just three decades has grown from a few hundred thousands to almost five millions, while at home it has brought an appreciation for the authentic at a time when both Romania and the Republic of Moldova were busy and rapidly building a modern society on the ashes of an old one perceived to no longer hold a moral and financial value. Today, both countries have declared national days of the traditional costume and thousands of new blouses are being stitched once again using the patterns and designs that have been passed on from generation to generation for hundreds of years."

Bogdan Banu, Romanians of DC - coordinator of the Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse in North America

"The movement helped promote Romania's image abroad, creating a 'brand' for this beautiful country, which is still working to communicate its identity to the world. What is compelling here, is the fundamental human need for self-expression, the desire to show the world who one is, as a person, but also as part of a culture tied to a fascinating history, and, in a broader sense, as a member of a global tribe seeking the essential through art and beauty. It's fascinating, like a never-ending mirror, that a movement meant to express our modern-day identities, centers around an ancient artifact which, through carefully selected hand-embroidered symbols, was meant to communicate the identity of its wearer, both as an individual, and as a member of a tribe."

Elena Sandovici, artist and writer, Huston, Texas

Currently La blouse roumaine IA Association develops the first online platform for the Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse, including a retrospective project dedicated to the event's 10th anniversary in 2022. 

Give Credit 

In 2020 La blouse roumaine IA Association, as a project leader, won its first grant as co-funding through Creative Europe programme of the European Union for the cultural cooperation project "Give (Back) Credit to the Heritage Communities".