MANDALI MENDRILLA: EVERY PIECE OF CLOTHING CAN BE A WORK OF ART
Mandali Mendrilla presented herself at the Zagreb Fashion week with an interesting and unusual collection called Mandali and Me. Croatian born designer lives between Rijeka Mumbai and New York. In the interview given to the Cromoda.com fashion portal she reveals her fashion philosophy, speaks of impressions from the Wella Fashion week, analyses the Croatian fashion scene and reveals some of her business plans.
'THE ZAGREB FASHION WEEK SAVED MY LIFE'
Are you especially inclined to the Wella Fashion Week, do you like its concept of showing Croatian fashion?- When I received the invitation from the Fashion Week Zagreb to show my collection as one of the special guests I took it as an honor. I love to show in places where I feel that people who come to the show will really enjoy what I have to share and where I can connect to talented designers and exchange opinions. Fashion Week Zagreb gave me a warm welcome, hospitality and respect and that is the main reason why I decided to delay my trip to Mumbai for a few weeks and show there.
I like the fact that Fashion Week Zagreb is trying to connect the show on an international level, that it gives special attention to inviting established foreign designers that it tries to show the humanitarian aspect of fashion and I especially like that the manifestation is going on without envy to the rest of the world fashion scene, but it glorifies whatever is beautiful and good wherever it might be. That is a good way to learn, advance and exchange.
I must say that this year's Wella Fashion Week might have saved my life because my husband and I were supposed to be in Mumbai in the very neighborhood where the bombings took place.
At the Fashion Week that just ended, you presented your collection in an unusual way, the models were carrying the collection in their hands. Why did you decide to break the standard form of showing?
- I imagined my show as an exhibition of paintings. I wanted the greatest emphasis to be put on paintings that I painted on classically cut indian kurtas that served as classic rectangular canvas. Those paintings were a study for those that will appear on limited edition silkscreened art t-shirts and kurtas to appear in stores in the USa in the spring 2009. The Images were inspired by my travels to Puri in the Indian state Orissa, by the aesthetics of that city during the annual chariot festival and the way the yogis strive for simplicity and lightness of being, but also with the playfulness and joking mood of pop art.
In the atelier collection that I showed at the Fashion week are 22 unique pieces that will be exhibited and offered for sale in several USA galleries and part of the revenue will be donated to the Food For Life charity.
It is important to mention that the kurtas were made by the Mumbai establishment founded by Mahatma Gandhi and that they were all made from a special cloth called khadi, India's famous handspun and handwowen cloth, a symbol of India's independence and uniqueness.
The layer of the show in the background was the introduction of the world trend of uncut and unsewn clothing, a style that I leaned from brahmana priests that dress deities in south Indian temples as well as from Chantal Boulanger, the late founder of the Institute for Draped Clothing in London.
I dedicated a part of my life to studying the wisdom and art in India. Draped clothing is part of Indian daily life and a very comfortable tradition and I am so delighted by it that I've been wearing draped clothing for years. This year it is one of the world trends thanks to the yoga scene and Armani.
Which moment of the Wella Fashion Week do you remember most?- Ivana Kujundzic's collection and our meeting.
"MANDALI AND ME IS A SYMBIOSIS OF THE INDIAN KURTA AND THE AMERICAN T-SHIRT"
When making the collection, what was your train of thought? Would you kindly elaborate so we would fully understand your expression?
- Since I'v spend most of the time in the last few years between America and India, this year I decided to be inspired by the relationship between the T-shirt and the Indian kurta. Both belong to everyday clothing but can also be exclusive. The basic classic cut of neither of them has changed in years and they are equally ever present and popular both in their countries of origin and in the world.
Mandali and Me is a symbiosis of the indian kurta and the american T-shirt in the way that I used classic indian kurta cuts as canvasses for paintings made on travels between two continents that are a mixture of modern western art, especially a trace of pop art that we often find in T-shirts as well as traditional Patachitra style of painting I learned in india.
L
ooking at the Croatian Fashion scene, do you see anyone as a role model or perhaps a challenge?
To me personally most inspiring are designers for whom I feel that they have really achieved world class level in their work namely - Branka Donassy, Goran Lelas and Katarina Balogh. I am not familiar with the personal work of Mr. Tonci Vladislavic, but I appreciate very much the fact that he has been cultivating generations and generations of designers with a well known flavor of the TTF. Of the young designers I love Katarina Kozic, Ivana Popovic, Ivana Kujundzic and a few years ago I saw the collection made by Hrvoje Kozul which I thought had very refined lines with a great emphasis on perfection of form and carefully chosen details. All in all I can say that I like the esthetics of the croatian stylists. Perhaps because it reminds me of my roots.
What is, in your opinion the malady of the croatian design and designers?- My opinion is that croatian fashion design has a few characteristic guidelines that repeat themselves from season to season and those guidelines are aesthetically praiseworthy because they send out vibes of the local mood and are different from the rest of the world fashion. I feel that the strength of croatian fashion is in exclusive boutiques and small artistic collections. I feel we know how to connect fashion and art well and that that should be the emphasis with which we present ourselves to the world - and that is already happening.
I don't like to judge anyone's taste without being asked to because I feel every person has the right to express their taste without subtle violence. Certainly we will point out some of the tastes as achievements of human civilization and we will like something more than something else, but to publicly put down or despise someone else's taste is in my opinion mental abuse - unless the person specifically asked for it. Even then it is done best behind closed doors.
"IN MY WORLD EVERYTHING IS PERSONAL"
Where can we purchase your clothing?- My clothing was, till now, available only in personal contact with me because it was all unique pieces or clothes made to measure. In the website www.mendrilla.com you can find the editorial of the latest collection and contact me personally.
What are you planning to do in the future?
- Recently I have taken the advice of senior colleague and decided to take a step in the world of everyday, completely wearable fashion and design a collection for some of the world markets, but that is a business secret for now.
What makes you unique amongst other designers?- I feel that no designer can say they have achieved absolute uniqueness because all forms, colors and patterns that are available to the human mind are present in the nature we live in. My opinion is that everyone's uniqueness is reflected in the way in which each person according to their energy, combines those impulses and forms. In the world there are many designers that think similarly as the many of the world famous designers that became famous either by their talent or media games, thus there are certainly designers who think like me, but none of us are completely the same. My uniqueness is in being a unique living being, and in combining impressions and opinions from daily life into my design in my own way. I love clean lines, basic colors, natural handwoven cloth, I see fashion as art and think that every piece of clothing can be a piece of art and very personal.
The special feature of my fashion philosophy is that I try to inspire my clients and people around me to awaken, maintain and expand their own sense of aesthetics and to show their personality by combining clothes in their own way instead of trying to have them accept my aesthetics. My life philosophy is extreme personalism and in my world everything is personal, full of diversity, possibilities and opulence. Everyone is potentially a talented designer and all is possible.
