DUNIA x Katrin Pasha

My own journey of life led me through the world with different traditions from South America, to Australia and Asia. In many places I stayed only a short time and in some countries, like in Indonesia, I stayed for quite a while. The women of Sumatra enchanted me with their colorful garments and radiant smiles. The traditional batik fabrics are mostly worn at festivities - as a shirt or as a kebaya, a long straight skirt made of batik with a top of plain fabric, lace or batik. In cotton cloths with colorful Indonesian patterns, the women also carried their children tied around their bodies or attached them to a piece of wood to rock their babies to sleep in.

During my long travels through Indonesia, I found love in Sumatra and stayed there for a long time. In traditional style we got married there. Since my great-grandmother and mother are Dirndl and model tailors and I was so to speak the love of traditional costume and fashion in the cradle, my mother sewed me a batik dress in Dirndl cut, which I wore on our wedding day. Decorated with clasps and buttons from Bavaria, it united our homelands. On that day, the idea of my own fashion label was born and so one thing led to another and I founded the brand DUNIA Dirndl.

I started in a time of pandemic when most festivals could not take place. Due to the high appeal of Indonesian fabrics, I now bring them to life as part of an everyday collection. But the original name DUNIA Dirndl is still appropriate.

Dirndl (in Bavarian: a young woman) feels inspired by the colorful world (Indonesian: Dunia).

Have much joy with your DUNIA pieces!

Katrin Pasha