As a member of the two-day expedition to Pshavi, organized by the Center for the Study of Caucasus and Black Sea Region at the University of Georgia (CBSR), I was interested in traditional Pshavian clothes and particularly in the local interest and using of traditional clothes in contemporary Pshavi. As we stayed in the village of Magharoskari, I went to the head of the village to get advice as to see the right person for this matter and he suggested to visit the principle of the public school of the village, Ms. Mzisavar Turmanauli. I arranged the meeting with her in the evening in the public school, where their salon, a place where they work on making traditional cloths, clothes, wool, felt, etc., is situated.

The salon in the school is run by the principle of the school and her childhood friend, cloth designer Ms. Tina Datashvili, both very nice and welcoming people, who contribute to and know a lot about traditional clothes and cloth in Pshavi. They were my major informants. According to them traditional clothes in contemporary Pshavi are not worn anymore and they are striving not to lose the tradition. The principle of the school was herself both wearing details of traditional cloth from her grandmother and thinking aloud that keeping the details and the characteristics of traditional cloth is essential for contemporary Georgians. “We can put it in modern ways so that Georgians keep it and also enjoy wearing the cloth, to highlight the cultural heritage we have” – said one of informants. Also according to them the patriarchy of Georgia is working on this issue too. The above mentioned information is very interesting and essential for the further study of the revival of traditions in contemporary Georgia and the ways of reckoning, understanding and using traditional elements in modern reality.

The latter statement was also seen in the process, when Ms. Tina Datashvili showed us from the very beginning to the end how felt is made, and explained that before felt was rarely made with designs and multi-colored, however nowadays more colors and elements have been added to the traditional ways of making it and it is used for making many cloths, which contemporary Georgians like and wear. As for Pshavi, both of my informants, as mentioned before contribute a lot to keeping traditions alive and hope to create many Pshavian clothes so that everybody in the region wears them on a particular day, dedicated to the traditional clothes of Pshavi.

Picture 1: Ms. Mzisavar Turmanauli wearing a detail of design from old traditional Pshavian cloth on her dress (wearing it the way people in Pshavi would do, according to her) - Photo by Natalie Turabelidze

Picture 2: An example of felt which is made in the traditional way, but more colors and designs are added, used for creating modern clothes – Photo by Data Chigholashvili