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!
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.
Nautical trend featuring navy or light blue horizontal stripes has become a classic trend marking all from casual wear transitioning from Spring to Summer, casual business wear in combo with khaki pants or shirt, to yachting resort collection and editorials on fabulous tropical retreats.
Designers who does nautical best is for sure Ralph Lauren as you can see on the photos bellow taken from www.ralphlauren.com.
Even though many are scared of wearing horizontal stripes as they may add to the width I can resist to wear them.
My favorite nautical look is often the classic one in combination with khaki bottoms, ropy accessories and red make up. In terms of accessories I try to combine one statement jewelry piece with Chanel red lipsticks and nails and that is it.
Net-a-porter
Victorias Secret
Also, I love wearing straw hats and clutches or beach bags with maxi cotton dresses and just a swimsuit to complete all I will need through the day.
Lucky magazine editorial
Coral jewelry can also be a great statement piece which will showcase the dark skin and the rested glow we all tend to have during vacation. :)
Vogue Australia 2011.
I believe there is no excuse for ladies to down dress on vacation as this is the time that you actually have time to play around with clothes and maybe try new things.
Do you feel like you give yourself more time then usual to dress up and look your best during Summer lovelies?
Zac Posen is definitely one of my very favorite evening wear fashion designers which is ever more true since he returned to the City from Paris a year ago. Zac continued to use luxurious fabrications from silk organza, chiffon, bordeaux tulle creating old Hollywood glamour but still modern looking evening pieces.
Both of his lines Zac Posen and Z Spoke by Zac Posen are absolutely on the point with what I love to wear.
There is so much to admire in his resort 2013. collection, amazing halter gowns, precisely to perfection tailored pencil skirts, hourglass dresses, amazing detailing and attention to details, female body flattering fit which can make any women look like a glamorous red carpet goddess.
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"I always try to create age and body diverse collections
that work for all types of women ... The collection is inspired by a woman’s
ability to be flirty and sexy,
while always remaining elegant
and sophisticated."
Zac Posen
Emina Hadžić is a London based designer, originally from Bosnia, she is a lady behind the young La Luna London designer brand. Her team asked me to review her romantic, RTW Spring/Summer 2012. collection. As soon as I ran through photos I had my favorites! Lovely black lace and mustard silk lining and maxi red dress worn by Scottie Thompson on the photo bellow.
Overall, I liked the down to Earth, real women in mind approach and smart targeting Emina is doing with her brand. Her target customers are very much so real, working women, her models, lookbook setting and the collection feel is realistic, romantic and feminine. There is not much Photoshop and super skinny models involved which is quite refreshing in today's fashion industry environment. Her SS 2012. collection is focused on dresses all made of luxury materials such as silk, lace and chiffon, with pencil structured dress as her signature piece.
Emina's dresses are worn by many real life women naturally but also many celebrities in US, UK and Balkans, ranging from various TV hosts like E!News's Liz Hernandez, Ashlan Gorse to Mika Newton, Emily Moore, Scottie Thompson and Lepa Brena :)
Scottie Thompson featured in Regard Magazine December 2011., California
Were you ever approached by any of the organizers of fashion events in Croatia, Bosnia or Serbia and would you ever consider showing your collection on any of them?
I was actually approached by Stella from ABC models in Sarajevo for Sarajevo Fashion week Spring/Summer 2012 unfortunately due to some very important meetings and appointments I could not attend. However, I am looking forward to taking part in the very near future.
I was actually approached by Stella from ABC models in Sarajevo for Sarajevo Fashion week Spring/Summer 2012 unfortunately due to some very important meetings and appointments I could not attend. However, I am looking forward to taking part in the very near future.
Where do you sell your clothes? Do you have a showroom,do you sell online or via multibrand boutiques?
At the moment I am only selling via ASOS.com, I figured as I am only just starting out it would be a good try out and then I will concentrate on opening my own store. I am currently working on a showroom but I just cant seem to decide where to open it..London or Los Angeles. We are also working along side few online stores to get La Luna London collection sold via them..so many things happening at the moment.
La Luna London Mini Crepe dress sold via Asos
Are you ever planing to go towards mass production or would you prefer to have a smaller more exclusive stores in selected locations?
To be honest, I don't think I will ever go towards mass production. I prefer to make smaller quantities and have my dresses sold by more exclusive stores rather than big retailers. I also think that I will only ever open one or two stores, just to make it all little bit more exclusive and exciting.
What are the demographics of your customers?
I feel like knowing your target audience in this business is crucial, our customers range from the age of 20 to 45. We are a brand that concentrates on everyday working women, who also have a fun side and who appreciate true style at the same time.
Do you have a "signature piece" and would you please indicate a price range of your pieces?
My signature piece is my structured pencil dress, my dresses are bound to flatter your body in every possible way. La Luna London dresses range from 200 GBP to 1,700 GBP.
You can find out more about this young designer brand on La Luna London website and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
There are many reasons why Miss Selfridge is one of my favorite brands. I used to shop in Miss Seldfridge bircks and mortar stores iz UK, Madrid and Zagreba and now I mostly shop online. Last thing I ordered is this mint and scull scarf bellow and one mint peace bracelet.
What I love about Miss Selfridge the most is that they have great prices, modern prints and fabrications, the close is true to size and I usually pick natural fabrications in which my skin can breath. Bellow is the selection of cool pieces I found in last couple of weeks on Miss Seldfridge online shop.
I love that they have "Going Out" shop and other compassion shopping sections which help me choose and find pieces faster. Since I work for big multinational company I often try to find clothes and dresses particularly which I can wear day to night, bellow is the selection of couple of those, price range for these is from 30 to 50 Euros.
I also very much love the origami and 3D one shoulder dresses in beige-black and red bellow which I would recommend as evening wear both for business and some other semi-formal evening parties.
There is also lovely selection of "Going out" dresses, I am currently obsessed with dresses which have sheer parts and peplum.
I found this cute bondage black fitted dress with bright color wrap detailing which I love but I got the feeling it would be super short on me since I am quite tall with long legs.
Those of you who follow me on Facebook know how much I adore McQueen and scull details, mostly on jewelry and accessories. Last time I ordered from Miss Selfridge online store I was just about to go to Madrid so I entered Madrid address as shipping one and since I was in a hurry I miss-typed the zip code and apartment number, the order was couple of days late but they made some extra efforts and had it found me for which I am so so so grateful, especially since it was totally my fault.
I am trying to get these quite rubber flats for this summer, hopefully they will still have it my size by the time I make my order ;) Since, I think recently they also have a free iPhone app through which you can browse, share and shop on the go which can be a handy feature.
I never before ordered shoes from this site so I cannot tell you how they run in terms of size and quality but bellow are the ones I have on my Summer WANT list :)
What are your experiences with Miss Seldfridge products and online ordering lovelies?
For discussion of this book we selected the charming little cafe Amelie in Zagreb which I previously wrote about here. Lucija, Diana, Anita met in person, while Armina who lives in Sarajevo joined in later during the group discussion.
"Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is written in two parts. First part tells the story of Ayaan's childhood while second part tells the story of her escape from a forced marriage and the brutal militant Islam regime in Somalia.
"Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is written in two parts. First part tells the story of Ayaan's childhood while second part tells the story of her escape from a forced marriage and the brutal militant Islam regime in Somalia.
In second part, Ayaan shares her wonder of arriving in modernity of Netherlands, and her relentless effort to create a productive, independent life for herself. An outspoken advocate of the rights of Muslim women, she was elected to the Dutch parliament in 2003. Ayaan became a notorious critic of Islam, at one point daring to call the Prophet Muhammad a pervert for consummating marriage with one of his many wives when she was only nine years old.
In 2004, she made a short film called Submission: Part 1 in which she depicted women mistreated under Islamic law raising their heads and refusing to submit any longer. Tragically, the film’s producer, Theo van Gogh, was brutally murdered by an offended Muslim, who left on van Gogh’s body a letter threatening Ayaan to kill her.
Since 2004, Ayaan has had to live under the constant protection of bodyguards, often going into hiding for months at a time, currently she lives in US.
"At the time Christian charismatics were no less aggressive then the radical Muslims. Maybe people were just holding on for what was comforting and safe." - Ayaan Hirsi Ali (page 108)
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS
On the photo: Anita and Diana
Anita liked the way in which this book was written. It was easy to follow the story and relate to the feelings author wanted to portray, however she didn't like the part where Ayaan started to impose her political opinions towards the end of the book.
Lucija pointed out how this book made her
question her religious believes. She always considered herself to be quite
liberal towards other religions, but she never took time to better investigate
Islam as a religion. She wasn’t aware of the fact that radical Islamist separate themselves
in their own communities when living in a foreign country, not for the sake of nurturing
their religion and culture, but due to the fact that they consider other none-Muslims
filthy.
Katarina - for me, the most memorable text in the book were last 10 pages where Ayaan fairly states that her giving up the faith is her private decision, she doesn't thinks all Muslim women should do it, she thinks Islam is a religion in which some of the practices need to be taken with reserve and not literary and they should be adopted to liberal democracy and the reality of living in 21st. century. To be perfectly fair, I think this should be done with Catholicism as well (women to be able to become priests, Church should be paying taxes etc.)
Lucija was also intrigued by the moment in the book when Ayaan came to
asylum in Netherlands and was surprise to see how different then her Bosnian Muslims
are.
Diana was particularly shocked when she
learned that excision (genital mutilation) is still happening in radical Muslim
communities not only in third world countries but also in communities stationed
in Western European countries.
UNDERSTANDING OF ISLAM
On the photo: Anita
Diana pointed out that the negative
connotations of Islam for Westerners often come from the fear of unknown. Diana considers herself Catholic but she is
against many of the things Catholic Church preaches and has done in the past.
Armina, who is a Muslim from Bosnia, who
survived a war in Bosnia, understands and practices her religion in modern
and peaceful way said that she has negative opinion on the topics as the one
discussed in this book. She thinks this book is politically motivated as many
other books against Islam in the last 10 years and gives completely wrong
picture of Islam as a religion to people who know nothing or little about it. Armina thinks Ayaan’s descriptions are
over exaggerated and sensationalized with the goal of making Islam look bad, focusing on self-promotion and selling the book.
Anita commented that she respects the
different opinions of this book but she still highly recommends it and thinks
it is a very motivating and intriguing female life story. Even if Ayaan has after
escaping to Europe from a Somalia managed to do all she did: to educate herself and bravely speak up on sensitive subjects, consequently earning money from this
book, so be it, good for her.
Katarina - the second time I started reading this book I also got the Quaran in English and the Bible to read in parallel, where I saw that indeed many of the verses from both books if taken literary as radical leaders take them in order to manipulate with poor, hungry and uneducated masses in the countries without real government leadership can be extremely violent and deadly, as these people are used and manipulated by a small group as an army of mortuaries.
This is what I think is now happening in the Middle East and in some other third world countries. I agree with Ayaan when she saids that Islam in majority of Muslim countries now in the world (in terms of population size) did't go through the reformation and enlightenment but is practiced the same as in 7th or 8th century, and these practices do not belong to 21st century.
"No book is completely holly, the problem arises when the secret books are taken as absolute. Muslims should us their free will when understanding what is written in Quran. In the Quran, Alah calls himself benign and remorseful and a number of times He mentions that he has given us a free will. In comparison to Judaism and Catholicism, in Islam a penance to Allah."
writes Ayaan
This is what I think is now happening in the Middle East and in some other third world countries. I agree with Ayaan when she saids that Islam in majority of Muslim countries now in the world (in terms of population size) did't go through the reformation and enlightenment but is practiced the same as in 7th or 8th century, and these practices do not belong to 21st century.
Armina thinks that Ayaan’s horrific
childhood molestation and mutilation have more to do with the third world African
culture where she is raised then with the true meaning and the practice of
Islam as a religion in general.
Armina points out that those who are the
strongest critics of Islam mostly haven’t even read the Quran and investigated the religion in depth. She finds it sad that people are blaming and
stereotyping all of the Muslims according to terrorist deeds of Muslim extremists, she saids
that this would be the same as if she would blame the Serbs as a nation for the
deeds of the Serbs who attacked her country - Bosnia.
On the photo: Lucija
Lucija concludes that although she is a Catholic
she doesn’t believe in Catholic Church – Vatican, but she believes in God and the
community of people with same believes who are "The Church" in her eyes.
"Why are infidels enjoying the life in peace in democracy while we - true Muslim nations, are killing each other when we are the ones who are respecting the God in the right way?"
asks Ayaan in the book (page 269)
WOMEN IN ISLAM
Armina points out that the base of every religion (Islam as well) is not to hurt any other live being (man, women, child) no matter where and how in the world religion is to be practiced. Armina pointed out the verse from Islam refering to the way man should treat women (which I also found) which saids: "The Best Among You, Is The Best To his Wife".
Ayaan compares relationship between God and human in Islam as a relationship of a master and a slave and saids that Quran is written by a human and not God (which also goes for Bible). She claims that Islam as she knows it is taking all of the human rights from women.
Ayaan compares relationship between God and human in Islam as a relationship of a master and a slave and saids that Quran is written by a human and not God (which also goes for Bible). She claims that Islam as she knows it is taking all of the human rights from women.
The most memorable and suitable quote from the book for Anita was comparison of Muslim women with the birds in the cage who are still afraid to fly out to the freedom even when you wide open the doors of their cage.
"Each value I learned from Islam taught me to put myself last.
"Allah said that men must beat his wives if they do not obey, this is written in Quran."
writes Ayaan (page 293)
CONCLUSION
Overall,
the book “Infidel” is definitely eye-opening and shocking, especially for those
of us with a narrow knowledge of Muslim culture and Islam as a religion. It
is hard for us to distinguish the elements of radical vs. more modern Islam
practices.
We have
agreed that the women who are currently going through the suffering which Ayaan
went through while living in Somalia and Middle East in her childhood are probably unfortunately
unable to get in contact with this book and read through Ayaan’s experience and
maybe find motivation to follow Ayaan’s example.
Most of the ladies agreed
that this book should be viewed as memoirs of emancipation of a very determined
and strong woman who is trying to fight her way from what looks like the end of
the world to a modern civilization where she can be the owner and a tailor of
her own destiny.
Did you had a chance to read the "Infidel" ladies? What is your opinion on it?
You can find out more about the La Passion pour la Fashion book club here and read more about the ladies in this exclusive club here. For more photos from this meeting check out our photo gallery. You can see the book we are currently reading in the right column of the blog and are welcome to read along with us and later comment on the book by adding comments to our reviews.
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