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BELGRADE DREAMS

Fashion Studio Click organizes the Fashion Week, taking place from 19 th till 26 th April, for the fifteenth time in a row, under patronage of the City Assembly of Belgrade and the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Services. Although one might consider it a jubilee, the figure itself speaks of the continuity of a fashion event that has become one of the most relevant happenings on both the domestic and regional fashion scene in the past eight years. Thanks to that fact, HYPO ALPE ADRIA BANK, being also the regional leader in its domain, recognized the Belgrade Fashion Week as en event worth supporting. Therefore, it has become our new friend and partner. At the same time, the Fashion Week has succeeded in accomplishing its goal, which also coincides with the main reason of its initiation: to present the creativity of domestic designers and their new ideas, as well as world brands, on the postulates of the Western fashion market. It has been a long journey since 1996, when Fashion Studio Click initiated the Belgrade Fashion Week following the example of great world fashion centers. Today domestic designers have an opportunity to present their collections twice a year. Young talents have a fair chance to make their first steps into the real world of fashion and to present their work to the widest fashion public. Media can cover an attractive and rewarding event of glamour. The public can enjoy seven days of beauty and excitement. Fashion professionals have a gathering place where they can make business deals. Finally, Belgrade has one more event on its cultural, art and tourist agenda, which adds a charming and con temporary not to its image.

However, there is an additional reason for emphasizing its Belgrade provenance. This year Belgrade celebrates 600 years since it became the capital of the Serbian state during the reign of Despot Stefan Lazarevic. In a way, this historic fact speaks not only of its duration, but also of its tenacious and vital spirit. A great number of professionals from various domains are creating, conceptualizing and organizing various events together that will take place during “Days of Belgrade”, whose slogan is “CENTURIES to be remembered, VISIONS – to be created. The City of Belgrade will celebrate this special date in Serbian history from 16 th till 19 th April. Fashion Studio Click will give its contribution as well. Belgrade is the main motif in the campaign of 15 th fashion Week. The ornaments from the Old Belgrade are incorporated in the official photograph announcing and following the Fashion Week. Some additional programme segments at the Fashion Week will be carried out in collaboration with several relevant cultural city institution (the Museum of Applied Art – an exhibition of International Jewellery Workshop “Majdan Art”, lecture on contemporary jewellery design by Beatriz Würsch). y

Besides the “Belgrade story”, the collections by several prominent and distinguished designer names on our fashion scene, such as Verica Rakocevic, Zoran Stanic, Maja Nedeljkovic Davidovac, Vladimir Stojanovic, etc, will certainly mark the programme of 15 th Fashion Week. Designers, such as Iva Stefanovic, Bata Spasojevic, Darko Kostic, Boris Nikolic, Valentina Obradovic, Bojan Milisavljevic, Bogomir Doringer, who started and built their careers at the very Fashion Week, are renowned names in the fashion world now. It is certain that the public and fashion professionals look forward to seeing their author collections, or ones they have created for some fashion house, because these extraordinary designers always bring a touch of individuality and uniqueness to this fashion event.

The presentations of world brands have found their place at the Fashion Week again. Foreign collections enable the Belgrade public to have a good insight into the current fashion trends on the European market. This year our guest comes from France. Veronique Leroy will present her author collection at this year’s Fashion Week.

In the additional programme at the 15 th Fashion Week, which seems to be ampler this year, the traditional exhibition of accessories, as well as a photo exhibition of jewellery designed by Gordana Perencevic and photographed by a Brazilian artist Natalie Mansano, will undoubtedly attract a great deal of attention.

Thanks to the long lasting collaboration between the Fashion Week and the Faculty of Applied Arts, the public will have an opportunity to see students collection again. Final year students under the tutelage of Prof Doda Komad will present their work at the 15 th Fashion Week.

Ideals and sensibility of some “new lions”, who our domestic fashion scene impatiently waits for, so they could join it on that infinite mission of turning dreams into reality, will be presented in the scope of an exciting programme segment called “New tendencies”.

Verica Rakočević

Mexx

Irena Misovic, Trend Report, magazine Gloria
We have had some interesting suprises in the Fashion Week as well, new promising names, such as Marija Kadelburg. I find her work very interesting with a tough of underground fashion clubbing style.
The exceptional collection of Bata Spasojevic is something not to forget ever and remember as one of the highest achievements of this Fashion Week.
Bogomir Doringer keeps surprisingus, of course. In my opinion, the studies of sociology make his attitude towards fashion particularly specific. His story and this fashion show are definitely the best, both as the performance and the collection. It was exiting to see Veroniqye Leroy. Unfortunately, she is not widely known to our public in spite of the fact that she represents the establishment in Paris. Even eight years ago, she was a “name”…Together with Channel, Saint Laurent. I would like to point out: she has not been widely known over here because she does not make commercial fashion like Dior, Givenchy. Even in the forthcoming ten to twenty years Veronique Leroy’s work shall instigate new impulses and channel the new trends in fashion. All those experiments with materials and cuts are fascinating. Simply, the real small masterpieces. In this connection, I have to congratulate the organization people, for it is not simple to bring such a Paris fashion star to Belgrade.
In my final summary, I must confess that I have an impression of an excessively uniformed style of the participating fashion house in the Fashion Week. They should turn much more to the younger public. The fashion houses throughout the world, the successful ones, that prospered financially, are the ones drawing on the younger generations between 15 and 30 years old.
Darko Kostic presented simply charming art design, but had nothing to do with fashion. In my opinion, he has to make his mind either to make costumes for a variety show or to make fashion.
Oktan was very good, and I think this brand was a bright spot. They comprehend that we have designers, young people, which I keep repeating, who understand much better what a trendy alternative is. Young designers, like Bojan Milisavljevic, have even a good anticipating feeling what will be in trend from the street fashion. It always pays off to engage the right team, to think straight and, like Bogomir, feel the breath of the world.

Bojan Milisavljevic

Vladimir Stojanovic

Zoran Bosanac, fashion consultant from Paris
Exceptionally good organization of the whole manifestation, just as usual.The fashion designer, Veronique Leroy, whose guest performance in this Fashion Week I helped a little, and her entire team liked it here so much that they were reluctant to leave Belgrade. Unfortunately enough, we have not had much opportunity to see more fashion shows of home designers. The ones we have seen, including this evening fashion show of the Nicola’s Fashion House, is very interesting. Veronique Leroy made contacts with two domestic production firms and hopes to cooperate with them, if no bureaucratic problems appear due to the fact that they are not within the European Community.
To my opinion, the most important is that such a fashion scene exists in Belgrade. Alive, abounding in ideas. I regret not having had the opportunity to see the work of the young authors, the new talents.
I would like to point out the exceptional professionalism of our journalists and the flawless organization of the Fashion Week in Belgrade, and now by Veronique Leroy.

Veronique Leroy, fashion designer from Paris
As a person loving the fashion, I love all the manifestations in which it is “happening”. It is always nice, and for me personally a little touching, when people who sincerely love fashion meet and do something for the fashion. I am very glad to have taken part in this manifestation and I hope that my small participation had made the Belgrade Fashion Week even better. I was pleasantly impressed by the organization. All the people who took part in the organization of my fashion show were very professional and very motivated. And when somebody is motivated, everything functions fine! It is a fact, and at the end, I took photos with all the backstage people! Belgrade was an excellent host and I want to return to your city as soon as possible.

Ašok Murti, stylist
I think, the most important thing is that the Fashion Week has become the standard. At this moment, it is a fantastic achievement. I like it very much that the Fashion Week fosters the author’s line, but I think that it is inevitable for it to become, in one of its segments, also commercial.
The largest success of the Fashion Week is, however, to have introduced to the Belgrade public a very prominent author from abroad - Veronique Leroy. It gave us opportunity to see what European standard looks like, and to use it for comparison and conclusion where we are in the whole story. With this in mind, the last fashion show seen during this spring season, the fashion show of the House Nicola’s, is supporting all those standards, and that is the most important at this moment.
I am very satisfied that our authors have convinced me to go side - by – side with the world. With regard to the styling seen in the show and presentations, I must tell everybody who does not know that it is an exceptionally demanding job under our circumstances. To find sufficient numbers of shoes for one show is really cumbersome. I am very glad to see that people are able to find their ways in this job and that styling in the show has become more consequent, all – comprising and that it pays attention to the clothes it styles.

Flavia Liz De Paulo, art manager from Brazil
Beside the Fashion Week in Sao Paolo, this is the first FAshion Wek, which I have visited, but it does not mean that I am not competent for, I watch Fashion Tv very often. I am so glad that this Fashion Week looks just like all the others in the world.. It is well prepared, organiyed and carried out that the impressions is really nice. I am very proud of Nenad and his team from Click who staged the fashion in SCG in the place it deserves. It is very hard for me to single out any of the shows, but any way I shall single out Nicola`s, Bata Spasojevic and the young sweet author who brought pigs to the scene, and who`s name is much to difficult for me to pronounce (laughter). Of course, Veronique took me on the jorney of fabulous imagination, and when I lunched with her and Nenad next day, I liked her even more. Here I met many beautiful and interesting people and I hope to meet them again