I don't consider myself someone who "makes clothes." I use clothing as a medium. A medium for expression, translation, sometimes transformation. Upcycling, in my work, is neither a trendy environmental argument nor a simple exercise in style. It's a way of working with what already exists, with what has already lived, and inscribing something new within it.
Every piece comes with a story, even when it's not visible. My job is to listen to what it can become.
When I create for someone, I don't start with a decorative idea. I start with a person. With their energy, what they exude, what they're sometimes going through. I try to understand what lies behind the image, behind the message. I don't try to illustrate a story literally, but to offer a sensitive, portable, open interpretation. A piece in which the person can recognize themselves without being confined to a fixed narrative.
Il m’arrive aussi de créer sans destinataire précis. Dans ces moments-là, le point de départ peut être très variable: une référence à l’art de rue, une esthétique des années 2000, une matière, une chanson, une atmosphère, ou simplement une émotion qui cherche une issue. Ce ne sont pas des créations conceptuelles au sens strict, mais elles ne sont jamais gratuites non plus. Elles répondent toujours à une nécessité intérieure, même si celle-ci n’est pas toujours formulable au départ.
I am a sensitive person, and this sensitivity is central to my work. But it always goes hand in hand with a very clear set of requirements. I know what I want to explore, and above all, what I don't want to produce. I'm not interested in smooth, neutral, featureless pieces. I need a garment to have a certain density, a tension, sometimes even a form of contradiction. It is in this complexity that I recognize myself and that my creations find their true meaning.
I don't create to meet expectations or to seduce in the commercial sense. I create because it's a way for me to bring order, to give form, to circulate something. And if my pieces can, in turn, allow others to feel freer, more assertive, more themselves, then the work is complete.
I don't see my clothes as armor, nor as disguises. I see them more as revealers. Objects that accompany a person instead of masking them.
In a world saturated with fleeting images, ephemeral trends, and interchangeable clothing, my intention is different. I seek pieces that take time, that carry a story, that are not immediately consumed and then forgotten.
Wearing one of my creations is not simply adopting a style. It is choosing to wear something that has a presence, a texture, a meaning.
If you're looking for a smooth, flawless garment, you probably won't find what you're looking for here. But if you're after a piece that tells a story, even subtly, then perhaps we speak the same language.
Marija Stoja.