Manifesto
Raw and delicate. Glamourous and imperfect. Honest and beautified. Beneath all the glitter and the eccentric poses, there lays a vulnerable soul, one you might never know is there outside these clothes. Individual with the urge of living out fantasies fearlessly, dazzlingly, and desperately. With clothes, we congratulate ourselves upon the pure beauty of which, us humans are capable, reassuring ourselves of our being as creators. Noticeably we create with the intention of achieving radiance, equal parts fantasy and reality, on which the creatives lean so heavily. The fantasy is and can be, tangible.
Fantasy and dreams are heavily involved in my work. Born in Slovenia, I always yearned for a visually rich life, though the reality surrounding me was anything but that. Only dreams remained. They were a driving force for motivation, giving me hope, and providing a reason for my existence. I wish to capture the explosion of excitement; the feeling of a bird trapped in a cage and then being released for the first time. The hunger for life. The freedom. The excitement. That is the essence I wish to embed in my designs every time.
I find the animal skins, with their boldly contrasted patterns or harmonic colours and organic shapes, quite intense and that is something that excites me. I take those graphic features of a particular animal and I play with them, creating something more abstract and dynamic, almost distorted or out of shape, which in the end ironically becomes my new shape. With that I often find myself mixing the contradictory; manual - digital, contrast - harmony, traditional - modern, bold - delicate... This spins the base matter into fields of colour, scale, and proportions. My shapes initially start on paper in a form of collages, which I create with my prints. Using myself as a mannequin, the newly formed figurines become my guidelines for garments. The silhouettes spark the first emotions into energy to try and capture the essence of those figurines, where freedom of movement is frequently part of it.
I borrow visual references from nature’s beauties, but never at the cost of the environment. Responsibly sourced materials, recycling and up-cycling, vegan-based fabrics, and not harming animal beings along the process are things heavily rotted in my practice.
Clothes represent connections on the emotional level, the expression of living desires. It is the impulse with which we explain who we are internally and spiritually. Something that compels us to show our inner souls and that energy is not defined by gender, traditions, cultural heritages, or social norms. Therefore my vision has no gender or size attached to it. It is about the beauty that lies within everyone and something that should be expressed and celebrated. My goal is to create a free, sincere, and authentic experience for the individual, embracing their own identity, origin, and dreams.