D Day - design fair in Croatia.

The event occurred at abandoned industrial complex – an old slaughterhouse in Zagreb – envisioned as a design showroom, trade sales event as well as networking, educational and entertainment venue which gathered more than 60 young creative designers from Croatia, but also some guests from the rest of the region. Designers were representing various disciplines from fashion to industrial design, furnishing, new media, jewelry, volunteering and architecture.

The event program was rather rich and comprehensive. My friend Iva and I have visited the last day of the event – featuring D-Market where we had the opportunity to buy some of the unique designer pieces.

Bellow we have captured those pieces which occupied our attention the most.  In case any of the bellow interests you, I have collected their contacts and commented on their work bellow each photo based on the short interviews I conducted with the designers.

The whole event was very well organized and agenda with all the designers information, quotes and other detailed info was issued in form of a bilingual newspapers.

The old historic venue gave a special touch to the whole positive vibe of the event, I even found an old direction sign from long time ago directing to Zenica – Bosnia.

Designer duo Branka Šeparović and Maja Šimunović behind their clothing brand Roba had the most holistic and creative communication in terms of presentation, promo stand’s decoration and mechandising.

Roba Store, Preradovića 30, Zagreb

They create timeless and classic, but unique pieces which do not depend on seasonal trends and can fit numerous personality types. My favorite were soft black lether colar which almost looks like a jewery piece and can be easily worn with T-shirt on as a jewery on strapless dress for red carpet gala and a sholder piece which can be also worn on numerous way and which will most certanly demand attention. Roba stand offered bloody red cherries as a snack and packed their clothes into meat foil  to stay in the spirit of the events historic venue. They even did an editorial shoot inspired by butchers in slaughterhouse! Bravo for the effort ladies! 

Vedrana Mastela was working with suade and cotton fabrics  - although very simple in cut her work is very much wearable, economical as well as eco friendly. She is certainly keeping up with green trends of the design for the new millenium.

Krpa.hr is a rather new, alternative social network which in only 3 months managed to gather more then 200 fashion fanatics – models, make-up artists, designers etc. who create and update their profiles and network. Some of the the designers – protégés of Krpa.hr featured on D-Market were: Pinkeye’s Twisted Jewelry, Little Wonder, Irena Vučinić, Tea Rihtar, Kris Tija, Dott, naLa purses, REC and Bitemystyle. Krpa also hosts local fashion and beauty bloggers as part of their network content. 

These amazing bracelets among other divine things you can find at: Prostor store & gallery, Mesnička 5, Zagreb or purchase them online on www.prostor.com. 

"Lolina kućna manufaktura" by Gorana Lolić & Goran Villi - is a small brand of pop-art inspired jewelry made with technique of decoupage. Iva and I spent a lot of time on this stand playing with rings featuring local political figures, folk singers etc. at the end I purchased a vintage looking ring with black and white photo of Audrey Hepburn.

Iva was a one day ahead of me as she visited the event day before me as well so she noticed a pair of amazing sunglasses she came back with me to buy. The brand is called Sheriff & Cherry and it has been founded by young fashion and graphic designer Mauro Massarotti (who has amazingly blue eyes). Massaroti has helped to revive a local sport shoe brand Startas from Borovo in Vukovar, Croatia but he has also cooperated with Ellesse Heritage, Lacoste, Ghetaldus, Zooo, Parosh and many others.

Other then fashion and social media – if you read some of my  previous posts you know I am also passionate about environmental sustainability in fashion but also in daily life. This is why this stand was so motivating and inspiring for me – there was not much info about it nor business cards but it sure looked amazing!

All photos by Iva Mažar 

At the end of our walk around I came across this lovely jewelry box – coffee table, I almost wanted to buy it as it really looks amazing and would fit perfectly in my apartment but Iva reminded me that we are going to Hrelić (local vintage market) this weekend so I restrained myself from purchasing it.

How do you like what we found lovelies? Have you had the chance to visit this event? Who's work did you like the best?

Xoxo,

Designer quicky:Vjera Vilicnik - the fairy with the hands of gold

I am so happy to learn about this amazing young lady. Vjera's resume embellished with masters in fashion design from Italian school of Design, Instituto Marangoni - the incubator of fashion talent and degree from haute couture embroidery school Ecole Lesage, the last remaining house of haute couture embroidery dating from 19^th century which collaborates with fashion institutions like Dior, Chanel and Lacroix on their couture collections, as well as her experience working with labels like: Julia Smith, Abercrombie&Fitch, Meeting, Basso&Brooke, Saint Hill Couture, Roksanda Ilincic, Max Mara, Tom Ford and WGSN differentiates her from many other fashion spotlight hopefuls.

My first impression of Vjera was "Gosh her name suits her so well!" and my second was "Gosh her pieces are so gentle, classic, delicate and dreamy." 

Vjera started her label back in July,2010. in pursuit of a  constant quest for more beautiful, more intricate garments that are unique yet timeless. She treats every piece of her clothing as a precious part of the overall story creating beautifully hand crafted, meticulously finished and soul stitched wearable timeless pieces each embellished with a tad of couture.

Vjera Vilicnik seems to create with free spirited, happy, elegant, very feminine and soft but confident women in mind. As she saids: " The woman in my mind, my muse, is a woman full of contradictions, but they are not really opposed to each other." Read more here.

Vjera Vilicnik Spring/Summer 2011.

Vjera took time and was kind enough to answer couple of my questions:

Were you ever approached by any of the organizers of fashion events in Croatia and would you ever consider showing your collection on any of them?

 Croatian fashion scene is still new to me, and since I was a part of fashion studies in London, I fell much more at home here. I would of course love to show in Croatia too, but for now time doesn't let me focus more on that idea. I recently gave an interview to Fashion.hr so there is a chance there will be collaboration with them.

Where do you sell your clothes? Do you have a showroom,do you sell online or via multibrand boutiques?

I have an online shop as part of the website, and you can see the pieces at The Showroom, just of Marble Arch, London, which is a part of FASHIONCAPITAL.CO.UK, an organisation that helped me to with the start. I would love to have my own little boutique but that is something for the future.

Brandalley.co.uk and Brandalley.fr have had competition for young designers and I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the winners, both with LBD and Perfect Blouse project, and so for a certain period of time you could buy the pieces on their websites too.

Are you ever planing to go towards mass production or would you prefer to have a smaller more exclusive stores in selected locations?

Because of the haute couture embroidery in my pieces, it is impossible to direct it toward mass market. The pieces sometimes take few days to finish, which of course, suits a smaller range. I would love to have the collection in a few selected stores, and keep the pieces unique and long lasting in making and quality as they are now.

What are the demographics of your customers?

The customer that wears Vjera Vilicnik, is a women full of contradictions, but they are no contradictions at all. She is a work force, and a gentle lover, she is a loving mother and she dances the night away. She is between the ages of 25-40, in search for something unique, long lasting, and classical with a twist, something that she can express herself with.

Do you have a "signature piece" and would you please indicate a price range of your pieces?

The signature piece is the carnation waistcoat. It is fully covered with handmade silk chiffon roses in shape of carnation flower, and for this season it is mixed with fine woollen balls for a more dramatic effect and mix of textures. It takes days to finish and hand stitch but it is also my favourite piece. The prices range from £80 for a simple t-shirts, go to £150 for short dresses and then climb to around £400 for long dresses or embellished pieces.

Please do visit Vjera's website to buy her clothes or view her collections at http://www.vjeravilicnik.com or her facebook fan page.

Vjera will show her latest collection at the Charing Cross hotel, Strand, London on Saturday 19th February 2011 as part of LGN Events off-schedule London Fashion Week catwalk show - A LA MODE. 

"God gave women intuition and femininity. Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met. "

Farrah Fawcett 

Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb FW 2010/11. - part #1

     I have been slaking big time with writing fresh posts and I have terribly good excuse for it! Last couple of days I have been involved with organizing Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb, as a representative of main partner - Dreft. This year's key message was : Fashion Always returns. Take care of your clothes. 

        And I do, I am still mourning after my tragically shrunk and destroyed double threaded black cashmere Ralph Lauren sweater - RIP cashmere sweater - you shall never be forgotten!

Not to blow my own horn, but this year's event was fabulous! The organizer took the challenge to make bigger, better and more sophisticated fashion week without much yellow press with absolute focus on fashion and she did a marvelous job! 

Selected got the invite to see this year's shows on 40 m long white runway. Outside of the tent guests could preview the collections on touch screens and take their picture in one of the dresses via augmented reality tool and send it to their email. Also, fashion cookies, cupcakes from "Fancy Cakes" and green Dreft cocktails were served on ice during show breaks.

   Of course, there is still much room for improvement, but knowing that we are together working on resurrecting local textile industry and supporting the education and development of young designer talent is very exciting and rewarding. 

Last night coming from the last day of fashion shows I could not wait to come home and finally write a post about it! With my head still spinning under the impression of gorgeous Manolos and fabulous Bodyamr pieces who's show closed Dreft Fashion Week I ran home to draft a report to the brand and to start posting the pictures of my favorite pieces. 

My absolute favorites in terms of complete collections were:

Pop Art inspired band brand The Rodnik Band  - this singing trio pulled the inspiration out of modern art particularly Pop Art movement and work of Marcel Duchamp. They have shown extremely unique, wearable and affordable collection - they sold the most of it on the day of the show in the back stage. Artistic and with business sense! Marry me guys!

Bodyamr was absolutely perfect showing gorgeously tailored bold 80s inspired but timeless pieces. Models channeled strong; confident, stylish and sexy women. Positive energy, luxury and girl power was so strong, you could almost taste it during the show. Very motivating.

Mauro Gasperi  did classic Italian tailored wear inspired by 40s and 80s mix. His collection was so practical and beautiful it will fly of the shelves.

Marko Mitanovski known as a designer who designed those famous Lady Gaga glows is often compared with recently deceased world favorite coutourist and fashions bad boy Alex McQueen. I think such comparison is very premature and invalid. 

Marko is undaubted fully extremely talented designer with bright future with already noticeable diva attitude to say the least, but he is still to prove that he is not a one hit wonder. He needs to start to think "sell" as he apparently understands "promote".

Louis de Gama is a frequent guest at Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb. This year he has shown 40 pieces! Louis, we do remember these exact ones from last year :) I guess he took more new pieces to show as he went to do a show in Africa. It is never good to sit at the two chairs at the same time Louis. Croatian women like the latest and the greatest!

    

Part #2 coming next, second post will be about young Croatian designers. Stay tuned!

Xoxo,

               Kat

"You don't learn style from watching people on a runway. Fashion happens every morning when you wake up. "

~Shalom Harlow ~