Estonia's history goes back thousands of years, but the history of an independent Estonia is only starting to be written.
Pick any point of the last 500 years and the lands that make up modern Estonia were owned elsewhere. First it was the frontier between Germanic and Russian empires, and in the 20th Century as an occupied part of the Soviet Union, only since the early 90s has Estonia enjoyed permanent independence.
Despite the centuries of foreign rule and influence, Estonians crafted a diverse regional clothing tradition. Regional tastes represent the respective influence of Germanic Lutheranism and Slavic Orthodoxy - not to mention the Finnic paganism that has been a part of Estonian culture for thousands of years.
Like their Lithuanian and Latvian neighbors, modern Estonians have a deep passion for cultural identity that most publicly shines through its clothing and musical traditions.
These photos were made in partnership with the Folkdance Group "Soveldaja" and were made in January 2023 in Tallinn.
The group was formed during the mid-1980s at the University of Tallinn. It represents the clothing heritage of each Estonian region and it's repertoire includes the folk dances of those regions.