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Out of the Archives | The mysterious case of the velvet jacket

Posted on April 6th, 2026 By: Stephanie Lile

If you could pack just five things to represent your home and cultural identity when immigrating to a new country, what would they be? For some, it would be photographs.

For others, a carved spoon. Still others might opt for a special textile representative of their country. Such was the case with the beautiful “libade” now on view in the “Hostess with the Mostest” exhibit at the Harbor History Museum.

Originating in Serbia, a libade is a women’s short velvet jacket embroidered in elaborate gold designs, a technique called “sarma.” But how did this remarkable libade come to be in the Museum’s collection? How did a search for “embroidery” end with an international mystery?

This libade, a Serbian short jacket, is part of Harbor History Museum’s Hostess with the Mostest exhibit. Photo courtesy Harbor History Museum

Hostess with the Mostest

During exhibit preparations, we were searching for examples of sewing and embroidered pieces to complement our “Hostess with the Mostest” exhibit. We expected the basics: examples of cross stitch, pincushions, lace and crochet. But of all the embroidered pieces our collections manager discovered, the most astonishing was a short jacket made of deep purple velvet embroidered in gold.

I’ll admit, we didn’t know it was a libade — or even what a libade was — until we did a deeper dive. If you’re thinking that it was a relic of the late Artist Formerly Known as Prince, you’d be missing the target. However, this piece would no doubt have inspired Prince, from its lush velvet to its unique gold thread embroidery to its long, flared sleeves. But what was its real story?

We began with the donor record. The jacket had been donated by Frederic W. Park in 2015 just before his passing a year later. Park lived in Gig Harbor from 1997 to 2015 after a career in the Air Force. He had donated the beautifully preserved piece in memory of his mother, Persida Vladislavjsic Park. The notes said it was from Croatia in one sentence and Serbia in another.

With the dancing political boundaries of that region in the 19th century, it became easy to see how both could be in play. Both were once part of Yugoslavia and before that the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From about 1451 to 1830, the Ottoman Empire ruled much of today’s Serbia. Because of these changing boundaries and ruling empires, Serbia has a complex history and a variety of cultural influences.

A Serbian libade

So, we turned to our trusty source of all things Croatian costume and music: John Morovich. He looked at the pictures of the jacket and identified the “srma” embroidery, saying it was “likely Serbian.” After a bit of research, I found that “srma” or “sarma” embroidery was distinguished by its gold thread and wire composition.

Telltale srma embroidery on Persida Park’s libade. Photo courtesy of Harbor History Museum

Its roots were in Ottoman craftsmanship. The patterns were often of floral shapes, but could vary from garment to garment. A search of images yielded many dead ends until I found the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade and their remarkably generous and knowledgeable textiles curator, Jelena Sekulovic.

“Based on what I can see (in the photographs), the garment appears to be a very nice example of a libade, most likely dating from the late 19th or early 20th century,” wrote Sekulovic.

“The libade is a short, fitted jacket that formed part of traditional dress in Serbia. It was particularly common in urban environments of the Kingdom of Serbia during the 19th century, although garments of this type continued to be worn well into the first half of the 20th century, both in towns and in rural areas. In the collection of the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade alone, we preserve more than 170 examples of libade, which illustrates how widespread and characteristic this garment once was.”

Sekulovic went on to explain: “Historically, the origins of the libade can be traced to the broader Ottoman system of dress, which strongly influenced clothing traditions throughout the Balkans. Over time, however, such garments became integrated into local dress practices and were incorporated into what is today recognized as Serbian traditional costume.”

The portrait of Princess Persida Karađorđević of Serbia (1813–1873), the wife of Prince Alexander Karađorđević, who ruled Serbia in the mid-19th century, shows her wearing a libade. Portrait by Katarina Ivanović, 1847, via Wikipedia Commons

Persida Park

But what of the donor’s mother Persida? Did she wear this libade at her wedding? Was it a treasured object she brought with her to remind her of home, her family, of another life?

The donor’s birth record from November 1921 shows he was born in London to Persida and William Park. That same document states that the Parks married in Belgrade in February of that same year. Emergency passports had been issued to both William and Persida for their travel back to the States. It is from there that we get the only known photo of Persida.

The libade in the Harbor History Museum collection was brought to America by Persida and saved as a family treasure by her son Frederic Park, who lived in Gig Harbor.

A ship’s manifest shows them arriving in New York. Their passports say they were headed for Los Angeles. After that, aside from notations in a family tree, the two seem to vanish. No death records, no birth records, no obituaries. They seem to evaporate into the L.A. haze.

Yet from that haze emerges their son, Frederic William Park, who grew up to enlist in the Air Force, get married and father three children. His was another life lived, another soul who cared enough about his heritage to carefully preserve a unique piece of Serbian-American history.

Because we have other traditional costumes featured in “Hostess with the Mostest,” I added the remarkable jacket to the exhibit. People need to see it, and in tribute to Persida V. Park, a brave young woman who found a new life in a new world, it needed to share her story.

“It is particularly meaningful that Persa [common for Persida] brought this garment with her when she emigrated to the United States,” explains Sekulovic. “Objects such as this were often carried across great distances because they embodied memories, family ties, and cultural identity. In that sense, the jacket represents not only a piece of clothing but also a tangible link to personal and cultural heritage.”

Although Persida may have vanished, this beautiful libade is tangible proof of her life and story.

More intricate embroidery adorns the back of Persida Park’s libade. Photo courtesy Harbor History Museum

Find out more

Join us on June 11, 2026, for a special presentation on traditional Croatian costumes by John Morovich. His remarkable collection of Croatian costumes reveals the differences and influences from region to region, as well as why these official costumes are important historical records.