INTERVIEW with Katarina Matijević - Parisian based fashion designer
Hi everyone!
I am so glad to introduce the new part of the blog: Interviews. Last year, I did and interview with Katarina, and now I would love to continue with this section. So it only seemed right to interview her again as the first one this year. We both got to the conclusion that it’s very interesting to see how the answers changed, and a year can change a person :)
I hope you enjoy this one, and if you have missed the one from last year, here is the link for you:
Q: Last year you described yourself as: “balance of constancy and change.” Would you still describe yourself in the same way or has something changed?
A: Still changing, still trying to balance it out with some everyday routine. In a way, this year has been full of changes, but one thing remained constant for me - work.
Q: Favourite book?
A: “The Trial” by Kafka
Q: Favourite colour?
A: Navy
Q: Favourite city?
A: I guess it’s still New York, even if I would never choose to live there for a longer period of time. I feel like when the city is constantly changing, you stay the same. You go round and about the same things. But if the city is the same all the time, you have this extremely deep urge to change.
Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?
A: Being a singer stuck with me the most. Do laugh.
Q: Famous person you would like to have a chat with? (dead or alive)
A: Albert Elbaz and Slavimir Stojanović Futro.
Q: Did your country or culture inspire your work?
A: Aesthetically - no. But the culture may have affected my approach to work.
“To make something out of nothing” as one of my professors in Serbia used to say.
Q: How has living in Paris changed you?
A: I started to appreciate time more. Mine and others’. And also the time I get to spend with my friends. It made me more aware of the “separated worlds” everyone lives in. Especially if you compare Serbian culture to French. In other words - it made me feel more alienated.
Q: Is it important to you that people understand your work?
A: It is of high importance how you communicate your work. It’s not enough to show something if it doesn’t come with a strong background story to it. After all, fashion is not explicitly Art, it is a way of communicating with people in the industry, but also with the audience.
Q: What do you wish to change in the fashion industry?
A: The way of working and treating young people from the creative industry. I consider sustainability to be a part of this problem and a solution. It will make people slow down, analyse and re-group. The fashion community needs to wake up and realise that this is not working anymore. Not for the planet, environment, nor for the customers mentality. It will crash one day I am looking forward to it. On that day I hope everyone will finally realize that we are all in this together and that we need to work together for a brighter tomorrow. In a better looking scenario it would happen before the big crash. But knowing society and history, things need to go very south before they head north.
Q: How do you see the fashion world changing in the future regarding sustainability?
A: Sustainability is a word everyone is using nowadays and when talking about it they are referring to just one part of it that fits their needs or needs of their brand. This word is already overused and it has quickly lost its meaning. We need to find a meaning to it again and incorporate it into the process of making, delivering and communicating a collection. It has to be one word that has one meaning and one process. Today, everyone is into sustainability, but every brand for themselves, doing it their own way - trying to find the best balance between the input and output. Between what they invest and what they earn at the end of the day. Fashion is still a business more than art - I understand people need to earn money, but I also understand that people are very greedy when it comes to money. If they can earn more, they will produce more, therefore they will sell more because the mentality of todays customer is to buy more. Do we really need that kind of money? To put greed before well being of the planet and ourselves? I don’t think it is necessary nor that it ever was. We need to go back to the «old-school» way of making things which will essentially offer more time to do research and finding the good way of being sustainable. Slow fashion will make people appreciate the product itself, its value and quality more. We see small brands making the effort, why can’t the big brands (who produce, earn and pollute the most) quit their old habits?
People, it’s just cigarettes.. You replace the smoke with water. Although, you will need some will.
Q: How do you see the fashion industry changing after 2020?
A: Honestly, I don’t see it changing that much. Fashion industry is stubborn as hell. The fashion shows kept going in September this year, in the middle of a global pandemic. I guess this pandemic wasn’t THE big crash I was hoping for. But if it does change - I hope the answer to this question lays in my previous answer - slow fashion.
Q: How did this year and the global pandemic affect your work?
A: Except for being unable to go to the studio - it didn’t change that much.
The process of working stayed the same and everyone just tried to keep up with the usual rhythm.
Q: How do you keep yourself busy during the lockdown?
A: Currently we are working from the studio, so I am able to go out for work and exercise.
I do yoga almost every morning and in my free time I try to run and draw as much as possible.
Q: Goals for the next year?
A: I’m not the type of person who sets goals that follow yearly calendar. I like knowing what I want and working towards it. Things usually tend to come in their own time. That being said, I would like to continue working and learning at Chloé. I consider myself very lucky to work with people who are motivated to pass their knowledge to new people and include them in the process from A to Z. On a more personal note, I would like to feel «settled down» with work and just life.. in one place.
With this we are finishing this interview and I will highly recommend to visit Katarina’s pages to see more of her work:
https://www.notjustalabel.com/tvvvin?
https://www.instagram.com/tvvvin/
I hope you liked it, and see you soon :)
Ena <3
