Designer quickie: Dominika Mandić

Through some of my work projects I had an opportunity to meet Dominika. What I particularly like about this young lady is that she is extremely hardworking no matter what job it is, she is aware and realistic about situation she is in, she plans ahead and has clear goals of where she would like to be. Although still a bit inexperienced she has a natural drive, talent, look and fighter mentality, she has proven to swim well in local media and fashion environment which will enable her to reach across Croatian boarders as well. 

Dominika has applied for local upcoming fashion student competition called Modni Ormar and has participated in recently held Dreft Next Generation young fashion designer contest where she made gorgeous illustrations for her ocean inspired collection however the contest called for Fall-Winter one which prevented her for progressing further in the competition. I hope she will still manage to produce this collection as I would love to see it come to life!

Here is what Dominika had to say...

1.   When did you realize that you want to become fashion designer and why?

Since I was 9 I wanted to be a fashion designer. It might see as cliché but once, my mum's friend was babysitting me and we were watching Fashion TV, I was hypnotized with what I saw and I loved it all instantly, 2 days later, I was still fascinated, I simply asked for a pen and a paper and I started to draw, as the years passed, my fascination with fashion only grew bigger and bigger.

2. On which fashion design contest did you participate so far?  

Recently I participated in Dreft Next generation contest with collection inspired with sea creatures shapes and forms, next I will participate in 7th edition of fashion student contest  Modni ormar, finals are scheduled to be held in November 2012.

3.   Who are your role models when it comes to fashion design?

I have a number of designer figures I see as role models, I differentiate them according to generations. First, there is naturally Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, then their successors Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano, then Eli Saab and finally never forgotten McQueen.

When it comes to Croatian designers I love the work of Adela Kliškić and Nikola Barbir because I find their talent unreachable!

4.   What were your inspirations for the collection you applied with on Dreft Next Generation contest? How would you describe this collection and are you planning to produce it?

I got inspired for this collection while listening to Gorillaz album Plastic Beach and thinking about set contest topic which was – Dreft Black. Simple blackness is too simple for me. I am always searching for the background story; this is how I created collection inspired by sea shapes damaged by oil spill. I am planning to produce it as soon as I will be able to fund the production.

5. You are currently attending TTF (Croatian fashion design college), do you feel that this school is preparing you well enough to become independent profitable fashion designer and why?

TTF definitely has amazing professors who are experts in their fields and know how to transfer that knowledge on us – students. Also, I think that our school is amazing inspiration source and provides additional knowledge for those who are proactive enough to seek for it. I don't think that anyone in school can prepare you for the real life and showbiz environment.

6.   What is your opinion of Croatian fashion industry today?

The way I see it, in comparison to the rest of the world, I see it as a big joke. We are very small and irrelevant in global context, but everybody seems to consider themselves a big celebrities. It seems like famous designers, models, stylists and starlets are made over night. I feel like most of the people in the spotlight in fashion industry in Croatia have no background to support their status, this is why I would love to move abroad as soon as possible.

7.   Other then attending fashion school what other jobs do you do?

I used to work in Stilist magazine as a stylist, now I am writing Fashion ID column on fashion portal – La Couture. I look for people who dress differently and I interview them about their personal style. Soon I am planning to start working on cooking & styling project with Mr. Rene Bakalović but this project is still in development stages. Naturally, I am working on my upcoming collection for Modni Ormar in November.

8.   Do you think that fashion designer can make a decent living in Croatia?

I would say no, but since currently we have so many fashion designers, I seem to be wrong.

9.   What are your plans after graduation?

After finishing my undergraduate degree here at TTF in Zagreb, I would like to enroll in graduate school in Amsterdam, then, if I will be lucky – masters in London. I am planning to network and build connections in Western Europe and then decide where to settle. For now, the one thing I know for sure – I don't want to stay in Croatia.

10. What kind of women do you see as the buyer of your clothes?

I would like to enchant women of all ages, those who like to dress feminine, but feminine with the twist to it, women who are not scared to be different, to walk in high heels all day and are not intimidated of the admiration looks they will get walking down the street when wearing my pieces.

I want to design for women who will not settle for classic skirt and dress shirt, those who dress for themselves exclusively, not for those who use clothes to attract men.

11. How do you see the influence of the social networks and bloggers on fashion industry today?

I am terrified more than anything to talk about this topic, hehe. I do respect foreign bloggers who are professionals and make money from their blog, those who really help young designers with promoting their work. In Croatia, I respect street style blogs and blogs constructed as fashion news.

     I ignore and dislike bloggers who dress something new every day and publish dozens of photos of having coffee with their friend, I consider those to be a self promotion sites. In Croatia, most of the blogs are like that.

12. What are your immediate plans for the future?

Next in order is upcoming fashion student contest Modni ormar which will take place on November the 15th, where I was selected as one of the 16 finalists to show their collections. This is the first opportunity for me to show what I can do; I am doing my best to create the collection as perfect as possible to most tiny detail.  I hope this collection will be a success and create more opportunities for me.

Designer quickie: eNVy room

For a while now I am following the work of this two young designers: Vjeko Franetović and Nikica Ivančević and their, now well established brand eNVy room. However first time I wrote about them was fairly recently when I introduced photos from one of their campaign shoots. 

What I like the most about this brand is their business sense, strong focus on their core product and the fact that they are personally so in-touch with their customer via all of their communication channels from column, website to live communication on Facebookand Twitter.

 I definitely agree with the well known fact that dress is the best one piece outfit which almost always makes us look elegant and well put together. So eNVy room's focus product is very well on point ;) Here comes the interview...

Is there a fashion brand or an individual designer who you admire in creative or in a business sense?

We cannot differentiate one specific person, but we definitely follow and observe what is going on in the industry overall locally and internationally.

 Who is an average eNVy Room customer? What is the price range of your pieces and what are the best selling ones?

 Our basic product is the dress. Primarily evening dress and wedding dress, so our average customer is the women seeking  such dress for a special occasion, mostly weddings and prom dresses, while for example in Wien the demand for such dress is much higher.

There are three main price ranges: short dresses ( 2,000 to 4,000 HRK), long dresses (4500 – 6500 HRK) and wedding dresses for which price ranges corespond to long and short dresses accordingly with most expensive pieces ranging up to 1,000 Euros.

   Which other companies outside of the fashion industry did you cooperate with?

Last year, we have colaborated with the biggest Croatian consumer goods store Konzum and the Libresse. Product design has always been our area of interest, we really enjoy doing it.

Do you think that designer needs to have formal education in order to be successful in his work? Does fashion designer need  to be talented or rather a good business person to succeed?

Formal education cannot harm, it is desirable actually, but it's definitely not a guarantee for success. In order to be successful in todays economy it isn't enough just to be creative and talented, one must also have a good business knowledge.

You two are one of the rare Croatian designers who seem to have well developed PR strategy: blog, Facebook, Twitter, column, website etc. Are you administering these pages on your own or do you use an agency? How important is such close communication with consumer for development of your brand?

We don’t have an official administrator person, it is mostly us personally who communicate via these channels. We definitely follow and believe in current and future role of the internet as our brands communication channel.  It has definitely positively impacted our brand.

As many other Croatian designers you have started to collaborate with Croatian fashion bloggers. What is your opinion on Croatian fashion blogger scene? Do you find Croatian fashion bloggers media wise to much publicized based on their fashion knowledge and blog readership?

We have to admit that we are not that familiar with the readership of Croatian fashion blogs, so we cannot comment this part and compare it with media coverage they are getting.  For us fashion bloggers are still interesting subject, as we wrote about it in our last column.

Naturally, from marketing and advertising side, they should be treated as any other media, for us they are just another channel of communication toward a potential customer.

What is your overal opinion on the Croatian women styling and on the current situation in the Croatian fashion scene and existing polarization among local fashion events? Do we really need that many fashion weeks?

This is one of the topics we wrote about in our column. We don’t see it as being black or white. While there are designers willing to show their collections, interested guests and media who eager to watch these shows, while we all successfully do our jobs, why not? Competition is a good thing. Production wise, we believe that Fashion.hr event can be compared with some of the international fashion events.

Do you find Croatian designer prices in general to be a bit to high? Why is that so?

It depends, in comparison to an average salary in Croatia, yes, they are definitely to high. However, the costs of the local production are rather high (machies, fabrics,rent, utilities and staff), so with that taken into account, the final price is not that high anymore. However, both of these sides need to be observed from local market point of view and its reality.

Where do you produce your garments, what are the avrage quantities and do you insist on local production?

All of our production is mostly independant, local in limited, smaller series.

Did you ever noticed someone copying your designs? If so, what did you do about it? Do you believe that current local legislation protects your design as your intelectual property?

We are not one of the paranoid ones who would create a noise about every similarity we notice, and we don’t think we have patented things like draping or bondage dress. However, there were the cases, absolutely, some that flatter, while other which clearly went too far with copying.

There was only once that we have proactively reacted, when one young designer from Rijeka has in detailed copied one of our dresses and presented it in media as her own collection design.

Local legislation doesn't provide sufficient protection so the public humiliation is the highest penalty one can get in Croatia in such case.

What is your stand on collaborations of high-end fashion designers with mass market retail clothing chains like Versace & H&M, Alduk & Amadeus. Do you think this cheapens designers main line? Why would someone buy more expensive piece from Versace's runway collection when one can get the similar piece 4x cheaper in H&M?

Such collaboration certainly makes fashion more available to general public. We fully support it.

Your collections can be purchased on 4 locations in Croatia and one internationally in Wiena. How hard it is for Croatian designer to expend to international market?

The main goal of each Croatian fashion brand should be the placement of their product to the local market first. If local market in Croatia could ensure well functioning business environment and placement to international markets, it would be much easier for us. This way it is rather hard. With Croatia entering the EU next year, there will be no import fees which will help us to be cheaper and thus more competitive on EU markets.

What are your future brand development plans?

We are working on showing new collection on the next Fashion.hr event as well as on launching T-shirts with fashion illustrations.

Given the current negative local and global economic trends, our plan is to maintain current business activity. While as a response to the economic crises, in the near future we plan to respond with launching the lower price tier collection.