During the Soviet years, the Baltic countries were considered practically the West. In those days, the Baltic states were called nothing less than the "showcase" of the Soviet Union. The inhabitants of the Baltics were famous for their sense of style. For example, the icon of the Soviet pop style of the 1980s was undoubtedly the Latvian Laima Vaikule. Another style icon, already from Lithuania, actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite.



In the 2000s, a fashion appeared among the inhabitants of the Belarusian capital to go shopping in Vilnius. Firstly, there are shops of many well-known clothing brands in Vilnius that are not available in Minsk. And not only clothes, for example, in Vilnius there is IKEA. Secondly, prices are lower than Minsk prices. And, thirdly, it is only 2-3 hours drive from Minsk to Vilnius. Perhaps, the memory of generations also affected. Indeed, in Soviet times, there was a high-speed train between Vilnius and Minsk, and many Minskers went to the Lithuanian capital to drink coffee, and just walk along the old streets. After all, the history of the city of Vilnius is very closely intertwined with history of Belarus.



In 1911-1912, the Belarusian poet Maxim Bogdanovich wrote about Vilnius in his poem "In Vilna":


And, in general, over the past hundred-odd years, the picture of the city, drawn by the Belarusian poet in his poem, has changed little. In the narrow streets of Vilnius, life is still in full swing among shop windows and signboards.



Today in Lithuania, in addition to tourists from Belarus, you can meet a large number of Russian tourists. Unlike Belarusian tourists, shopping in the first place among tourists from Russia may not be worth it. However, in Lithuania, in addition to the mass market, there are many interesting fashionable places where you can buy unique items from local designers.

Places to shop for clothes and accessories from contemporary Lithuanian designers

And one of these places is the House of Naive boutique. The creative director of this shop is Giedre Ramonaite. In addition to the boutique, she also has her own clothing brand. Ramonaite sews her clothes only from local materials, and national traditions serve as a source of inspiration for her. Clothes of the Ramonaite brand can be purchased in the House of Naive boutique, as well as clothes from other Lithuanian designers, plus locally produced accessories and chocolates.



Another boutique selling Lithuanian clothing brands is Baltas Miskas. The place is quite famous, because here you can buy not only clothes, but also decorative pillows, souvenirs, cosmetics. And not only from Lithuanian designers, but also from designers from Latvia and Estonia. The creators of the Baltas Miskas boutique say that the purpose of this place is to demonstrate and promote the products of the most promising designers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.



Amber Queen - Amber jewelry store can also be an interesting place. Probably the most popular souvenir from the Baltics is amber. According to the Lithuanian legend, amber is the fragments of the castle of the sea goddess. The castle of the sea goddess was destroyed by the god of thunder in retaliation for the fact that the goddess of the sea fell in love with a simple fisherman.



Designer Jewelry

In addition to amber in Vilnius, you can find interesting jewelry made from other materials.For example, in the Terra Recognita gallery you can buy jewelry, which are real art projects in miniature, from the Lithuanian artist Saulius Vaitiekunas with 25 years of experience. Jewelry that can be bought or simply viewed in the Terra Recognita gallery, it would be more correct to even call it not jewelry, but sculptures to wear.



Another famous Lithuanian jeweler is Jurgi Lago. Her jewelry, for example, is worn by Hillary Clinton. Jewelry by Yurgi Lago can be described as fun and a little naive, with floral designs and heart designs. But most often, the designer depicts birds on his jewelry.



Lithuanian linen clothes and the philosophy of "slow fashion"

As for clothing, many Lithuanian designers tend to use linen, a traditional material for Lithuania, when sewing their collections. In Lithuania, there are even names associated with the name of this fabric, the male name is Linas and the female name is Lina. And the goddess of childbirth and land Lauma in Lithuanian mythology was also engaged in weaving. True, in Christian times, the goddess Lauma turned into a witch flying through the sky.



But back to the use of flax by Lithuanian designers. For example, designer Jurate Neten, who co-founded the Jurate brand with her friends, mainly sews clothes from linen. The designer explores various old weaving techniques with traditional wooden looms and adapts old weaving patterns to modern times. At the same time, she is engaged not only in sewing clothes, but also creates pillows, blankets, bags.



The Muku company also sews clothes from Lithuanian linen. The brand was founded in 2009 by Dovilej Kirkilionite and Mindaugas Jankauskas. Initially, they sewed exclusively children's clothing, but then added collections of women's clothing. According to designers, clothes from Muku correspond to the philosophy of “slow fashion”, which is popular in the West today. That is, natural fabrics are used, patterns for future products are made by hand, fabrics are cut by hand, and then tailors in a small workshop sew the clothes themselves.



Vilnius Fashion Festival and Fashion Week

Contemporary Lithuanian designers are supported by the LDB organization, a block of Lithuanian designers. The LDB organization supports budding and young designers, organizes business seminars, helps with renting premises, and helps designers take part in various exhibitions. So, thanks to LDB, some Lithuanian designers got the opportunity to participate in the Maison & Objet fair in Paris.

Since 1999, the Fashion Infection Festival has been held in Vilnius, within the framework of which collections of both local designers and foreign guests are demonstrated. The festival is held annually in the month of March. Vilnius also has its own Fashion Week.

For lovers of fashion in all its manifestations in Vilnius there is another pleasant bonus - the opportunity to purchase well-known fashion magazines, for example, “Vogue”, “L'Officiel”, of various versions. On one shelf you can see the magazines Vogue Italy, Vogue Russia and Vogue Britain standing next to each other. And also whole catalogs of fashionable hairstyles or clothes from collections from world catwalks.