(images via sfw)
ata omerbašić is a young designer from bosnia & herzegovina who lived in sarajevo during the bosnian war in the nineties. recently she collaborated with photographer henry jacobson and a few other fashion designers, juxaposing clothes against the backdrops of war-scarred urban decay.
her design philosophy informs us, “The ATA fashion line is intended for those who uses [sic] clothes not only to cover their body and protect it, but to express individualism and feelings toward environment surrounding them. Depending on intended use, the selection of fabric and cuts are harmonized with the machine and hand sawing techniques, and are unique to each piece of garment.”
perhaps it is just knowing what i do now, but to me her clothes evoke a sort of wartime mentality, as if they’ve been constructed using whatever was available at the time and worn in response to extremes life or the environment has thrown at the person…kind of like the pictures of soldiers draping scrap fabric over their heads to ward off the sun.
and in the beauty of the clothes, there is angst. it’s certainly not a j.l.sark ‘let me just grab a diamond ring before lunch’ mentality intended to drown customers’ worries in fur and champagne. instead, there’s a sort of struggle to get here, that the looks have a lot more behind them than just blatant luxury or letting everyone else know how much money one has. and though many infinitely prefer the former in designer wear, this feels more an artwork with a story than just a conspicuous consumption piece.
her choices of cuts are consistently interesting, not least because for the oddness, they’re still wearable. probably in “regular life” one would want to soften these looks with the addition of bright color or something less statement-y to pair them with, but they’re beautiful and fantastic on the runway, too. this is a young designer to watch.
oneporktaco 