Nuns’ Tapestry of Devotion

From the sanctity of a 19th-century convent, Romanian nuns weave vivid, Byzantine cloth for Orthodox priests. Word of the sumptuous silk has reached fashion designers--and soon could debut on the catwalk.

The Romanian Orthodox Church disclosed recently that the Versace fashion house is negotiating to buy the cloth, a rich fabric encrusted with metallic embroidery and usually made into priests’ robes costing about $120.

“Fashion houses have shown an interest in the Byzantine cloth, including Versace,” said the Rev. Radu Boraciu, a technical director for the nuns’ fabric workshop.

But not all of the nuns are thrilled that their handiwork might be worn off the altar.

“We don’t want to dress mannequins. We want the cloth to be used in church,” said Mother Mira, who runs the workshop but is not involved in the negotiations, which she said are being discussed “at a high level in the church.”

Telephone messages left with Versace headquarters in Milan, Italy, were not returned.

A spokeswoman for the Italian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce said many Italian fashion houses have operations in Romania but are secretive about their activities.

Tiganesti Convent, 25 miles north of the Romanian capital of Bucharest, began making the cloth in 1924 as employment for the nuns.

Peles Castle, which belonged to former King Michael, was furnished with the fabric.

The sisters have sold it before, though never to a fashion house. Bolts of the shimmering cloth have been bought by churches from the United States, France and Germany, and by the wives of diplomats visiting the abbey.

“I’m happy the cloth will be used by a fashion designer,” said Sister Justinian. “Don’t they make material like this abroad?”

A yard of Byzantine cloth--in tones of amber, aquamarine, mint green, scarlet or cream--costs from $4.50 to $14. Imported German or Italian material of similar quality would cost about $120 a yard in a Bucharest fashion shop.

It takes 90 minutes for a yard to be woven on the convent’s clanking mechanical looms, and up to a week to fit the machines with the cloth pattern. Some fabric is imported from Italy, and the glittery thread from Japan.

Nuns work day or evening shifts in a room reeking of the oil that keeps the looms running smoothly. Their salaries are paid by the church.

Paper icons have been pinned to the machines to remind the nuns that they are working for God, not haute couture.

“Some of the nuns broke away from the secular world, and to talk about ‘fashion houses’ seems odd to them,” Boraciu said from his Bucharest office.

“But I said: ‘Girls, there’s nothing bad in that. Your work will not just be seen in the church, but everywhere.’”

Sister Eupraxie, sewing a tapestry of Jesus Christ with luminous thread and fake rubies and diamonds, takes a pragmatic view.

“We do our duty, and the material is good quality. We are not responsible for what happens to it afterward,” she said.

“However, I know some of the wives of ambassadors who come here to make jackets, because I see them trying the swatches of material. I’ve just never seen the final product,” she added with a smile.

Romanian fashion designer Catalin Botezatu, a protege of the late Gianni Versace, agrees that Byzantine cloth could make beautiful clothes.

“I will include the material in a collection later this year,” Botezatu said. “I am one of the first designers to do this.

“The Romanians haven’t always appreciated the material, but they will.”