“Courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of our poetry.” – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, founder of Futurism
On February 20th, 1909 Le Figaro publishes the manifesto of the movement that had made its explosive appearance on the European art scene a short time before. It is an epochal passage, a declared moment of breakage with the past: a motionless, ataraxic past, sublimated in a (mendacious) condition of stability.
Also, fashion catches Futurist principle by making it an instrument of provocation, denunciation, avant-garde (with seesawing, more or less credible results).
So, Futurism becomes the expression of a martial and nonconformist self like that of our designer (Macedonian, based in London), Teodora Mitrovska.
T MITROVSKA is a brand that efficiently loads the street-culture with higher relevance and with no in-between.
Her (genderless) garments are dramatic, exasperated, politically incorrect.
Her aesthetics is personal, a conscious vehicle for a courageous message.
We met Teodora some weeks ago and that’s what she told us.
Hello Teodora! When and how did your interest in fashion start?
Hi guys, you alright? I cannot pinpoint a moment when I started getting into fashion, it was always there. I remember having my first ‘fashion sketchbook’ at the kindergarten. When I was in 1st grade we had an assignment: to answer the question ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’. I still have a piece of paper where, with wobbly writing, I wrote ‘fashion designer’ and next to it there is a drawing of me on the sewing machine.
Nothing has changed since then.
What is T MITROVSKA? How was it born?
T MITROVSKA is me, literally! But also conceptually. I am completely immersed in my brand and it is part of me and my life. Hence, there wasn’t any birth point, but rather a development of what eventually got the title T MITROVSKA. At some point, people started borrowing the garments that I was making for uni projects. I started presenting my graduate collection at fashion weeks around Europe, so I thought I should have got with the program and given my work a structure and a name. But all it really is, is a pile of cool shit I make.
T MITROVSKA is a unisex brand designing futuristic streetwear. Heavily influenced by the 90s’ high fashion scene it aims to design for the queer millennial child of Alexander McQueen’s woman. Tell us something more about your concept.
I like telling stories. That is the one thing that ties all my work together. I have always been interested in socio-political issues and believe that if I produce more clothes on this planet, at least I can do it to draw attention to important topics and matters and do so by creating a captivating narrative.
Aesthetically, I am very much drawn to futuristic, restrictive shapes and materials, like Alexander McQueen, but queered-up.
You are interested in raising awareness of socio-political issues through gender-bending garments, using unconventional materials that complement the industrial aesthetics of the brand. Who is your top customer?
Without sounding too pretentious, theoretically, I don’t think there is one in particular. My main goal is to convey a message and a mood with my work and that is all that matters to me right now. I don’t tend to focus on appealing to a certain audience. I think that the beauty of being at the beginning of my career is that I can freely explore.
But in reality, as well, it is quite interesting to see all the different types of people that respond positively to my work. I guess the only rule is you have to be a bit mental to enjoy it.
Today, what is the winning compromise between fashion, business, and art?
To sell an idea.
And what is the future of fashion?
I just hope there is one.
The new collection and its key piece.
The new collection is titled 20.18. It is dedicated to my two amazing grandfathers who both passed away in 2018, on the 20th and the 18th of the month, hence the title. It is the first piece of work I have made, that is quite personal. In this sense, my goal with the collection and its presentation was to evoke strong emotions with the audience.
A lot of Macedonian narratives, whether it is films, plays, books, music have this very powerful impact and a very uneasy dramatic, but nostalgic feel to them. I wanted to recreate that. As I had mentioned before, fashion to me is not just about ‘lit garms’ n stuff, so I wanted to make sure that it was an entire experience. I wanted people to leave the show and be like “What the fuck did just happen?” From what I’ve heard, it worked. 😀
What I would say the social message of the collection was, was to shine a light on my cultural background and also a historical period marked by the existence of Yugoslavia and its socialist system, which cared about the working class unlike any other.
Since I was going to show it back in Macedonia I thought it would be great to put all the guys in skirts and dresses because, despite it being super attractive, I wanted to also poke the deeply-seeded gender-normativity of the Balkans (note: I had a model leave the fitting because he refused to wear the garments) It’s incredible how you can still scandalize people through clothes.
It’s difficult to pick one piece that stood out, as they collectively create the narrative of the collection. I guess as garments, shirts, and polos, as well as all the ‘титовка’ (titovka, coming from Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslavian president) hats were the main elements of the collection.
As always, our last question… According to you, what is really FUCKING YOUNG!?
To do whatever the fuck you want.
Photos by Luca Condorelli in exclusive for Fucking Young!
