Growing up in Zagreb and Central Europe, Zoran was surrounded and obsessed by Jungendstil and Wiener Werkstatte. In his work, he often goes back to Emilie Floge’s visionary “reformkleid” and Klimt and Schiele’s art for inspiration, color, and pattern.

 

This, in combination with the strangely related Serge Lutens exotic 80’s ads, was the starting point for the Fall ‘21 collection. The designer states: “Perhaps travel ban just makes me think of these things more, and allows for an escape through art and design”.

 

The collection features laser cutting, intricate hand made pleating in taffeta and twill, and placement sublimation printing on bonded jersey and taffeta created in collaboration with the research team at Toronto’s Fashion Exchange (FX). The FX fosters innovative, ethical, and environmentally and socially sustainable production and assists women gain entrance and employment in the fashion industry, which really resonates with Zoran.

 

Each dress took many hours to create. Zoran created the collages by hand and digitally manipulated them for sublimation printing. Garment pattern shapes were digitized in order to generate accurate print placements and eliminate waste. Pleating folds were meticulously stitched by hand and heat set. A lot of research and experimentation went into discovering various pleating techniques. Original laser cutting artwork was created from scratch in Adobe software, and each piece was laser cut individually. All items were sustainably and ethically made in Canada.

​

Look Book Credits:

 

Photography: Brian P. H. Lau  @still_alive.bry

Model: Xiao Wei  @wei_xiao___

Art direction: Stephen Severn  @stephensevern

Hair and makeup: Joy Campbell-Smith  @joycampbellsmith

Millinery: Maria Curcic @hatgoddess

Production and technical research: @fashionexchangefx

 

Special thanks to:

 

Fashion Exchange director Marilyn McNeil-Morin @3mmcneil 

and the FX research team:

Marysol Kim @ateliermarysolkim 

Claudia Gordilho @claudiagordilho

Mariana Custodio @_macustudio_