Os bordados de Caicó em vestidos de noiva: um estudo de composição visual

Abstract

This research is about the Embroideries from Caicó that are present on wedding dresses. A local and handcrafted embroidery production, traditional in the city of Caicó (RN), Rio Grande do Norte9s Seridó region. Nationally acknowledged by the National Institute of Industrial Propriety (INPI), categorized as geographical indication, the embroidery taken as a subject is one of the region's cultural expressions, being very used on the surfaces of textile designs on items of domestic decoration, more commonly on household linen. Also being acknowledged by the INPI register through this textile segment. From this point, the questioning was made: in which way is the embroidery from Caicó, commonly used on domestic decoration items, applied on more noble and symbolic products, as wedding dresses? To answer this question, it was done a research of qualitative and descriptive approach, with bibliographical review, aiming to analyze the visual composition from the insertion of such embroideries on textile surfaces of wedding dresses. For this purpose, a case study was made, through a historical and documental investigation of artefacts that belonged to a familiar dressmaking studio, located in the city of Caicó (RN). From the collecting, sorting, selecting and a photographic register of dresses, samples from eleven dresses were made, manufactured between the years of 2000 and 2009, to be analyzed. Two models of tables were designed to complement each other: one to catalog the sample, using photographic images of the dresses highlighting the embroideries; and the other model to make an analysis of visual composition through sketches made from those images. The researched originated a catalog that shows, for each dress, five images shot in similar conditions for all the artifacts, a description of the general characteristics of each product, as well as the main materials used to compose their surface design. Besides, based on the sketches of these dresses and on zoomed images of the embroideries, the latter analyzed by their visual composition, describing their visual expression elements and techniques, configuration of the embroideries on the dress surfaces, shapes and repetition systems present on the motifs. Due to the comparison between the analyzed samples, it was concluded that the wedding dresses show there was a fashion trend that explains the common use of this embroidery in this segment, at the time they were made, due to the number of dresses with the same surface design characteristics. It was noticed that the embroideries are distributed on the surface of these artifacts, in a planned way, aiming to show a visual composition that favors a harmonious and coherent result with design of a wedding dress, in a way that matches the style of the artifacts, with no mistaking them for embroideries applied to domestic decoration items. Furthermore, this research shows that these dresses are part of a collection that needs to be preserved for posterity, for having the embroidery from Caicó, art of great cultural value that also characterizes the material culture produced in this place.