Designer quickie: Aba Drvar-Tomičić.

Following last Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb I had a chance to interview Aba Drvar-Tomičić. Young designer who's super cute faux leather jackets for SS 2013. season totally won me over! Especially styled with maxi cotton dresses which I often wear! Another reason to do this interview was a boutique opening at Nova Ves 84 street in Zagreb which Sonja Lamut  whom I interviewed earlier this year and Aba have opened together. 

How hard it is to be creative in today’s volatile economic environment? Where do you make most compromises? Where do you manage to save and what is the most expensive part of making a collection?

It does get hard sometimes.  In order to create a good quality piece one usually needs to spend a good amount of money. When it comes to building a brand it gets especially hard to make any progress without significant financial investment. Lately it seems like all of us young designers are becoming experts in creating something out of nothing.

I actually make compromises in every step of the collection making process. 

Each time I start quite ambitiously in hopes that I will be able to manage pull out full collection and execute my essential idea to its fullest but then slowly but surely reality kicks in and I start to compromise on each thing a bit without hurting the quality of fabrication and making as much as possible in order to finalize my collection. Usually the most expensive things are little details which break the set budget at the end.

Jacket - 1000kn | Dress - 800kn

Jacket - 1000kn | Dress - 800kn

When you look back now what is that one thing you wish someone have told you when you were a student about being a fashion designer?

I started to study fashion design at the time when textile industry in Croatia was still going strong and fashion design still underrated. When I completed my studies, textile production in Croatia started weakening and design started strengthening a bit, now I feel like it it overrated in some cases, especially in comparison to the textile production and quality of making.  

I would like there to be some gold-middle where one can learn about design through practice and how demanding this job really is. It would be great if there were experienced designers in Croatia who could mentor me through the whole process of planning, creating and presentation.

In what way do you see fashion designers and social media are changing fashion industry?

Social media and fashion bloggers are making fashion much more dynamic, personal and approachable, everything has became much faster. Trends are changing faster than ever which puts personal style in focus and fashion is getting a whole new meaning and dynamic.

How would you comments textile industry and fashion design in Croatia today? Do you think it is possible to live solely of fashion design?

I think that fashion design in Croatia has matured a lot in last several years with it, domestic fashion houses realized importance of hiring good fashion designers as a key to good sales and production of their production.

Unfortunately, due to current financial situation I think there will still be some time before Croatian textile industry recovers fully.  In order for this to happen a strong push is needed which will bring together expert from various fields: business people, designers, pattern makers, technological support and PR experts which currently doesn’t seem to be feasible?

Currently, small manufacturing sites are surviving and managing well designer part of work but also business and PR.

I still can’t live solely of my job, I just started and investment needed is massive.

How did the fact that you became a mum changed your creative process and influenced your work?

Actually, I decided to complete my fashion education after I gave birth to my third child, so my kids are actually from the start of my education.

I truly believe that the fact I have kids has motivated me to continue and finalize my education, and to fight to do we hat I love and become a complete person.  As with most of the families with little kids, we never have enough time in one day to do all we want to do.

What is your average customer like?

I really have various types of clients, just like I work within a range of styles.

Roughly I would say that my clients are in their early thirties and many seem to be quite artistic.

The price range of my pieces is quite reasonable I think, from 250 kn for shirts which I paint manually up to 1500 kn for the faux fur, double side coat from my last collection.

Recently you have opened a boutique in Zagreb with your colleague designer Sonja Lamut, what are you plans for the future?   

Sonja and I have studied together at Profokus school of design and we have been friends ever since. We have completely different creative goals but we appreciate and respect each other’s work and are always here for each other. This is how we decided to open a boutique together at Nova Ves 84 street in Zagreb which we are currently redecorating and looking forward to its opening. 

Tigress Reign by Ada Zanditon

One of the most anticipated shows for me on this SS 2013.season's Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb was Ada's show. I interviewed Ada before she came over to Zagreb to do the show, she told me about her passion for creating sustainable fashion pieces, about challenges of working in today's volatile economic environment and of course she showed me a sneak peak of her SS 2013. fashion film.

Backstage at DFWZ was as hectic as everywhere else, Ada still managed to have fun with her team of dressers and to sneak on some popular Croatian candy - Kiki.

I cannot say I was surprised by the energy, girl power and fierceness of Ada's SS 2013. collection after following her work for couple of years now there words are exactly describing Ada as a person. I loved everything from mood film, styling, amazing Julian Hakes shoes, luxurious floaty silk used for dresses as well as patches of leather which accentuated shoulders of dresses transforming a romantic floaty silk piece into a protective armor for tigresses in all of us.

One of my very favorite dresses from this collection on top of the green jungle dress with leather patch sleeves and open back is the bellow gray digital print silk dress ideal both for work and play which I plan to order upon my return from Barcelona to Budapest.

Jungle dress - 100% silk, made in London, £770

" It was fantastic to be back in Zagreb for the third time to be part of Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb.  Many thanks to Suzy & Sarah for inviting us back! Yet again, the experience of being part of this event was fantastic and Alexis Knox, my stylist and I had great assistants backstage, fantastic models and a great production crew to work with. The audience response to the show was brilliant - we were really thrilled and following the show we had celebrities and new customers wanting to buy dresses from the collection."  

Ada Zanditon

Jersey print dress, 100% silk, made in London, £405

Bellow you can see the full fashion film - Tigress Reign, the location of filming was Cyprus with the help of Ada Zanditon's partners: Easy Jet Holidays, Ecover, Illamasqua and Keune.

Director : Thomas Knights | Music: Sebastian Bartz  Styling: Styling: Alexis Knox | 

Makeup: Mika Johnson of Illamasqua | Hair: Christian Landon 

Designer quickie: Ada Zanditon.

As Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb is coming closer (22-24.11.), I got the chance to interview British designer - Ada Zanditon. This is the second time Ada is showing at DFWZ, last time she did an interview for Croatian press she said that she absolutely loves Zagreb and would love to come back, so she is coming again this year.

I first met Ada at DFWZ after party, we were coming out of the cars at the same time in front of one club and she said "Girl, you look fierce in that dress!" - I was wearing Lei Lou multifunctional fitted dress with long bat sleeves and later wrote a post called 'Ada the Fierce'.  Ada was all smiles that night after she showed her rather impressive collection called  Poseisus. 

My favorite thing about Ada is not only her amazing designer talent but also her passion for creating sustainable fashion pieces in this time of crises when most designers are focused on how to increase the income and not much thinking about how damaging their product creation might be for environment or where are they sourcing their materials. Also - Ada worked for the house of McQueen - my absolute favorite brand in the world. :)

What was your inspiration for SS 2013 season which you will show this week in Zagreb?

My inspiration for spring  summer 2013 is tigers, Particularly the way that the female tiger is both majestic elegant and beautiful and I made a narrative based around the tigress As if she was a woman in a Quentin Tarantino film. Here is the short preview. 

How much effort does your brand put into sourcing and producing eco-sustainable fashion pieces? Why is this important to you?

We make a great deal of effort to source our  fabrics sustainability and from transparent sources it is important to me to do this because I want to show that it is possible to create products which are desirable, innovative and interesting. I want to create a narrative that can be engaged with because it is a creative story or because it is analogy about our relationship to our environment, Whatever someone chooses to take from the collection as long as it's inspiring, then that's what's important. 

Either someone will choose my brands because it is sustainable and they like the product or they will choose it simply just because they like the product. 

Do you feel the impact of economic crises on your creative work? How much did the economic crises affect the sales of your collections if any?

It has been a very big challenge to grow a business during the recession however it has also given me resilience and strength that I have Milans how to grow a business on the download economic climate, make it flourish and continue to grow.

Alexander McQueen is my all time favorite fashion designer. How would you describe the experience of working for the house of McQueen?

I am very lucky to have had some good work experience before setting up my brand. All the work experience that I did helped me to understand how tough the fashion industry is and what level of dedication and perfectionism would be required in order to create a brand.

Do you think that in today’s day and age fashion designer needs to be equally a creative genius and a business person in order to build profitable brand?

In today's climate if you are a new designer and you are independent and you cannot afford to pay someone else to do the business side entirely for you, then absolutely you must be good at the business as well.

 I have to spend at least as much of my time answering emails and working on the business strategy as I do spend being able to design and make things.

Puffy jackets - boring no more!

So I came to the office today at 8 am after all day of work and shows yesterday and after minor heart-attack due to my computer not wanting to turn on I could finally push this post live!

Alright, let’s get down to business.

For the most of the evening I was flapping around with my social butterfly wings chatting with business partners, agencies and organizers, as well as the backstage team and my fellow blogger Maybe who is doing backstage beauty report.

This year I love the positive energy, hard work, team spirit and professionalism I am seeing while observing this young team. Obviously, there is always room for improvement but I think that fundamentals set are quite strong already.  So cheers to you DFWZ team!

While I was chatting away in front of the runway hall some cool looking foreign guy with bright green sneakers kept interrupting me with various questions, naturally I was polite but a bit surprised as well as I had no clue what he wants or who is he, sorry Nino Bollag but you made a dramatic style change with that beard you grew.

My favorite three shows were definitely The Rodnik Band, Milena Rogulj and sisters Špoljar.

The Rodnik band.

Since I already wrote a postannouncing their collection, here I would like to emphasize the business sense as another of Phillips talents. Phillip has carefully selected to tone down a bit for Zagreb, showing price wise acceptable and very wearable pieces all wrapped up in another charming musical and dancing performance. FYI – the Rodnik Band has left Zagreb three seasons ago with empty suitcases, selling out the whole collection within an hour after the show ended.

Milena Rogulj.

I must admit I have had a preconception about this designer as a bit too abstract, sculptural and targeting the older audience; however with this Fall/Winter collection she wowed me as she presented the proper combination of wearable, innovative and “winter theme magazine editorial worthy” collection while still staying true to her brands image and vision. Individual pieces, like the brown vest and patchworked cozy and warm looking puffy jackets are sure to make an appearance with its volume, color and innovative design. They can be styled and worn as athletic apparel, casual but also dressy. Milena, you have definitely widened your customer base with this collection!

Špoljar sisters.

All photos: (c) 2010 Borna Čavrag Photography

These two charming ladies are now traditionally cooperating with auto-industry and have won numerous international awards as a result of it. I really admire their creative idea, strength to stitch this kind of material (car safety belts) ;) and eco way of thinking as they are recycling old auto gear transforming it into lovely and wearable clothing pieces.

I am so looking forward to Basso & Brooke tonight, as well as the marvelous Bad Spirit and talented Nino Bollag! For those of you who cannot be with us live, be sure to watch DFWZ live stream here (link appears at 8pm) if you have missed yesterday shows video is available here .

Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb blogger survival kit

Ok, so 17^th Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb is in order this week…I have been a part of the organizing team in a way for the organization of the last 6 Dreft Fashion Weeks, prior to that I have interned on 2 New York Fashion for some of the busiest NYC showrooms and last year I attended Milan Fashion Week for business purposes…

So…after fainting from exhaustion 3x, getting very sick with a fever numerous times and losing about 5 kg if I added it all up I have decided it might be a good idea to take some precaution measures this time in order to prevent a total body and mind collapse during these 3-4 days of shows and more than a month of intense preparation for it (some people from the organization who I spent most time on the phone talking to this week might relate to this post ;) ).

My precaution measure is to plan my snacks, sleep time, comfortable clothingand posting time for a hectic few days ahead or if we want to make it fancier sounding I have put together my “Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb blogger survival kit” which maybe can serve as an inspiration or just a reference to some of the other bloggers or multitaskers (bloggers, organization members and fashion columnists) like me attending this years DFWZ.

I am suggesting to bring some obvious blogger essentials: laptop (there is a free WiFi in the Hypo Center), camera, business cards, super stylish planner (ženski rokovnik) but also if you are coming from outside of the town or even different country or you will like me be wearing multiple hats during the event like me and will be at the venue all day, it’s good idea to bring some snacks (I take almonds, carrots and honey-sesame bars to avoid eating fatty stuff from bakery all day) and lots of liquid with you, preferably the kind of liquid that will keep you awake for the events and fashion shows during the day and evening, all three after-parties and next day’s early office hours ( lots and lots of coffee, still water and green tea works for me).

Naturally, you should have a big enough and fabulous enough bagto fit it all in like the amazing LeiLou hot pink bag which I have placed in my set.

In terms of the clothing, I would recommend wearing flats or stable heels (I usually do boots) and obviously something warm to throw on while walking around during the day and the evening as they are calling for the snow in Zagreb starting Wednesday, while for the after parties I am sure most blogger will have their party outfits ready and will dress to impress, maybe not Yvan this year but there will be for sure cameras all around ;)

See you on Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb kicking of with a bang by The Rodnik Band! J

I'm with the band!

This will be the third time The Rodnik Band is showing their collection on Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb, every single time they prepare a special show, bursting with positive energy and each time they wow the audience!

Zagreb loves The Rodnik Band! This is why I am so excited that they are coming back this week, their show gives that much needed kick in the ass to sometimes a bit to snooby, conservative, quite mainstream and brand oriented Croatian audience.

Rodnik's designer Philip Colbert is equally fashion designer, rockstar and the artist, driving inspiration for his collection from any of his listed talent areas.

His most obvious influencers are Andy Warhol, Duchamp and similar pop-art artists. Philip first started The Rodnik Band in colaboration with Richard Ascott (left the band in 2008) designing primarily Russian folk inspired knit scarves.

The Rodnik Band SS 2012. Collection is called „Cod save the Sea“. It is designed as a support to environmental action organized by Justice Foundation.

Photo source: www.fashionmagazine.com/The Rodnik Band/Asos.com

There is one t-shirt from the collection already available on Asos.comfor $44.93, all of the proceeds from the t-shirt sale are going towards the Justice Foundationcharity, the rest of the collection will be available for purchase in December.

Bellow you can see the SS 2012. „Cod save the Sea“ collection video:

The Rodnik Band will kick of the Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb with a bang as the opening show on Thursday at 8:30 pm! Can't wait! I'll drink to that!

“I wanted my new collection to scream, with a self awareness and acknowledgment that fashion 

is ridiculous—even absurd—but that’s why I love it, and that’s what makes it an art.”

Philip Colbert

Ada the fierce!

I had the opportunity to hang out with Ada Zanditon during last year’s DFWZ after parties when I also first met Victor whom I still remained in contact with for my NYC visits. 

Ada has left an impression of very direct, absolutely fierce, very fun loving and cool person and above all an amazingly talented young designer who I very much admire as I know how hard it is to fight to make a living, do what you love and study in such a demanding school in one of the most expensive cities to live in the world- London.

Ada’s mission is to create an elegant and sculptural womenswear embellished by her unique illustrations.

Here is the Poseisus collection Ada has prepared for SS 2012. Collection is inspired by seahorses, Greek goddesses and Haiti’s festival while accessories and details are inspired by origami.

Another thing which I like about Ada’s work is that she very much thinks about and is dedicated to creating a environmentally friendly fashion pieces using organic and natural fabrics which she sources from ethical and reliable manufacturers; as well as jewelry in cooperation with a designer Luca Romany using recycled plastic. 

Here you can find more about an amazing dedication Ada’s has for sustainability.

    Jewelry SS 2011. Collection

Since graduating from London College of Fashion Ada is showing her collections on prestigues fashion events worldwide like London Fashion Week, Kiev Fashion days and Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb. Her work is featured in many publications such as Vogue, Glamour, Grazia, Telegraph, The Sunday Times etc. 

Bellow is a reminder of what her previous collections looked like:

Here is a little preview of 'Poseisus' S/S 2012. Collection presentation which was shown on London SS 2012. Pre Fashion Week, which we will now have the opportunity to see live on Saturday November 26^that Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb where Ada is coming with a real power squad. 

The hairstyles for her show is going to be done by famous hairstylist and wig master Christian Landon, who pulled the inspiration from colorful cotton candy specially for Dreft Fashion Week show.

Photo sources: http://www.fashionreview.co.uk/ada-zanditon-fashion/; www.adazanditon.com

I can't wait to see Poseisus live next week!

God bless the world & most of the people in it!

You might have noticed if you follow my blog regularly, that I have a thing for sculls and Rock&Chic alongside of my other elegant and feminine side (like romantic Lei Lou dresses), well we all have angel and demon moods & style needs don't we? J

I have written about my ultimate favorite Alexander McQueen who never really had a competition when it comes to scull branding,however while doing my pre-work for upcoming Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb reviews I have came across an amazing Italian designer and a business owner of a Bad Spiritbrand whose collection and work exactly fits my demon mood taste ;) 

Very rockerish, punkish, gorgeously tailored, reasonably priced considering the quality of making and well known Italian quality of manufacturing Bad Spirit brand was founded 1994 by Massimo Sabbadin. Massimo uses skulls and studs, with collections focusing on great rock and punkish bands as Metallica, Iron Maiden and AC/DC whose members love and wear Bad Spirit clothes alongside many other celebrities.

Male and female collections contain jeans, T-shirts, outerwear ( like these amazing leather jackets and sweaters on the photos) accessories like hats, scarves and belts – all inspired by rock lifestyle and embellished with sculls, studs, Swarovski crystals and print.

Massimo has a showroom and a concept store in Via de Amicis in Milan which is decorated in all back furniture, leather carpets and a big black scull featured everywhere as it is a Bad Spirit's logo.

Photo sources: Black leather jacket – www.blondsalad.com; store photos – www.onescentlife.com ; brown lether jacket – www.vogue.com ; Clothes – www.fashionweekzagreb.com

Bad Spiritcollections are also available for purchase via numerous online sites and in showrooms in France and Hong Kong.  My only remark (I might be wrong here but I haven't found it) is the lack of brand's presence on Facebook (only FB groupbut not the page) and no Twitter presence. Hopefully that changes soon as the brand is growing fans rapidly! Amazing stuff! I'm in love!

P.S. Bad Spiritshow is scheduled on Friday 25.11. @ Hypo Center Zagreb as part of 17th Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb!