Designers Association BFW DESIGN COLLECTIVE / WHITE DAY

Inspiration:
Interpretation of the non-material cultural heritage of Serbia through a modern fashion (applied) artistic expression. All four of fashion designers continue to occupy themselves with the elements of Serbian cultural heritage, which lies within their personal preferences, and to ponder over fashion design as means of communication with our common background. In terms of creativity, it is also a complex and challenging task because it compels these fashion designers, being limited to the use of just one (none) colour, to look for forms, silhouettes and details that would depict decorative opulence of our heritage effectively as possible.

Materials and techniques:
Various materials and techniques. WHITE DAY gathers up contemporary expressions which enfold the narrative of traditions, customs, beliefs and knowledge and it also sublimates the ideas that were and are part of our identity, thus creating a bridge between the personal (creator) experience and the collective (public) one.

Designers’ collections:

Nevena Ivanović
The collection Mokoshneo is inspired by the White Bee, the first ancestor in every female lineage according to the Ancient Slavs. The White Bee was a sacred animal of the goddess Mokoš (Mokosh), the Great Mother, the protector of women, spinning and handicrafts, associated with Sudjaje – who control the threads of destiny. The garment pieces from this collection were created by intertwining multiplying and repeating threads, then forming textures where the thread, now highly intangible, becomes three-dimensional, textural and “alive”.

Sonja Krstić
The metaphorical nature of language idioms served the designer as inspiration to transform several widespread Serbian idiomatic expressions such as Kriva Drina (literally: the crooked Drina / approximate equivalent in English: Pushing water uphill with a rake), Mirna Bačka (peaceful Bačka / Now you have a cootie shot), Ravno do Kosova (flat straight to Kosovo / I don’t give a fig or It’s smooth sailing) and Kao kiša oko Kragujevca (Raining around Kragujevac / Don’t beat around the bush) visually into fashion forms because they illustrate the cultural and geographical features of certain regions in Serbia brilliantly. The designer transposed these expressions into luxurious garment pieces in terms of volumes, textures and structures, by means of intertwining some original handicraft techniques and atypical use of fabrics.

Ana Trošić Trajković
The collection Between the sky and the earth… (Ni na nebu ni na zemlji, no na grani od oblaka) tries to interpret and to embody a vision of Fairies – mythical creatures from Serbian folk poetry in a modern way because their dancing is imbedded even today in the Serbian customs and rituals that are performed during and before various holidays. The image of a fairy in the collective memory always implies beauty and supernatural powers; her role is to aid and protect heroes and women. Therefore, these mythical beings bear a kind of universal feminist mark we can spot in streets of the twenty-first century Belgrade.

Aleksandra Lalić
Collection – I’ll sit by the fire is inspired by Bezdan’s silk damask. Artistic weaver János Smith brought the technique of weaving on Jacquard loom to Bezdan in 1871 where it is still in use in its original form. The importance of Bezdan’s silk damask, despite its quality and exclusivity, is nominal because it is merely a subject of museum strategies, focused on its protection and preservation. This collection focuses on two key issues: What is the role of a designer in the process of preserving national heritage? Does a traditional form of production always and necessarily require the final product to be in its traditional form?

Creator: Nevena Ivanović

Creator: Aleksandra Lalić

Creator: Ana Trošić Trajković

Creator: Sonja Krstić

Creator: Nevena Ivanović

Creator: Nevena Ivanović

Creator: Nevena Ivanović

Creator: Nevena Ivanović

Creator: Sonja Krstić

Creator: Sonja Krstić

Creator: Sonja Krstić

Creator: Sonja Krstić

Creator: Aleksandra Lalić

Creator: Aleksandra Lalić

Creator: Aleksandra Lalić

Creator: Ana Trošić Trajković

Creator: Ana Trošić Trajković

Creator: Ana Trošić Trajković

Creator: Ana Trošić Trajković