A Crown for Every Woman

This photo book documents the makeup and hairstyling traditions of women from one of Sofia's largest Romani communities.

The women featured in these pages belong to the same extended tribe, connected through family, marriage, friendship, and neighborhood ties. While each woman expresses her own personality and style, common aesthetic traditions can be seen throughout the photographs: carefully sculpted hairstyles, dramatic eye makeup, elaborate jewelry, decorative hairpieces.

The stylist behind every transformation in this book is Asen, a member of the community and a relative of many of the women he works with. His salon is located in Zaharna Fabrika, where this community has lived for over a century. For years, women from the community have come to him before weddings, engagements, baptisms, birthdays, and other important occasions.

To an outsider, some of these women may appear dressed like brides or beauty queens. Yet many are neither. They are sisters, cousins, friends, mothers, daughters, and guests. The care devoted to their appearance is not reserved for a single central figure. Beauty, celebration, and self-presentation are shared values, and like we love to say, “the Roma share their thunder.”

This idea inspired the title of the book. In these communities, a crown does not belong only to the bride. It can belong to a guest, a sister, a cousin, a mother, or a friend. The desire to look beautiful, to mark an important occasion, and to present oneself with pride is not limited to one woman at the center of the celebration. It belongs to everyone.

The photographs in this book are not intended to present a single standard of beauty. Rather, they document a living aesthetic tradition.

Contents:

INTRODUCTION

THE ARCHITECTURE OF HAIR

THE CROWNS AND TIARAS

THE EYES

TRANSFORMATIONS (before-and-after shots)

GENERATIONS

ABOUT US