Vesna Filipovic, Master in e-Business, art director, founder and editor-in-chief of Fashionela has spent six years reinventing the way we see fashion trough online media. She talked with us about her fashion portal, personal style, social media influence, and future projects.

When was the first time that got you interested in fashion?

I think I was five when I started drawing beautiful long gowns, something you can see at the runway of Elie Saab. Later on, as I was 12 I started to read fashion magazines that my best friend’s dad brought us from his trips through France and Italy. I was watching FTV 24/7, and fashion became my true love and everlasting inspiration.

How did you decide to start your fashion portal fashionela.net?

First, I studied information technologies and after information systems at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences. I was interested in everything online and intrigued with the Internet from 2000 so I wanted to know how all that works, from networks, transfer of data, to online business. I always knew I would somehow connect fashion with my education. After my Master’s degree and final work “Strategies of promotion of an online magazine”, I created my very own fashion portal.

How would you describe your personal style? Where do you get your inspiration from?

I dress feminine, love dresses. Lately, I wear black and white. I love minimal and clean design and sometimes a bit edgy with cuts. I am in love with a work of Anthony Vaccarello and Dion Lee.

Photo: Andrija Rancic

We have also seen that you really bet on accessories. Which one is never out of fashion for you?

Saint Laurent cuffs and bangles. Lately, I love 90s style choker necklace.

Any advice you would like to give women about what to wear this season?

Spring’s most sensual proposition bohemian dresses – lacey, transparent fabrics and romantic pleats. Your shoulders should be a chic new way to show a little skin while leaving plenty up to the imagination.

Can you name some of your most favorite fashion brands?

My favorite fashion brands are Chanel, Dior, Saint Laurent… I love Dior and the aesthetic of Raf Simons while he was working as a creative director. I can see beauty and creativity in different styles. In that way I respected Alexander McQeen for his complex designs and Gareth Pugh for his theatrical forms. I love innovation in fashion, it’s exciting. I can’t wait to see what will Anthony Vaccarello present for Saint Laurent.

What is the most valuable thing in your closet?

The dress I designed for myself. I wish I could do it more often.

Who are your fashion icons? Tell us about the most fashionable people you know.

Carine Roitfeld and her daughter Julia Restoin Roitfeld. They are so unpretentiously chic. Recently I did interview with a muse of Jean Paul Gaultier, french model and actress Marie Meyer. She is a modern version of Bianca Jagger, beautiful and intelligent. I love how she sees fashion and how she expresses herself as an artist.

What has been your favorite work so far?

I love the series of menswear editorials that we did with Vukota Brajovic in Budapest in Corinthia hotel and Buddha Bar, and I am proud of the most recent interviews we did with a painter Chaz Guest, photographer Frederic Auerbach, models Bernard Fouquet and Marie Mayer.

Who would you like to work with in the future?

Well, I would love to have more shootings in some interesting locations like Les Bains Douches in Paris. Some day, I would love to do editorial with photographer Frederic Auerbach and Francesco Carrozzini.

What’s the biggest misconception about the fashion industry? Is it as glamorous as it seems?

Glamour is one part of the fashion industry. But, in my opinion, fashion should be individual expression of one’s identity, I see it as our code. It’s not only related to design, I see it as a lifestyle, the way we see and do things, but it’s the same way how we carry ourselves. It can say a lot about personality and artists in this industry.

Photo: Andrija Rancic

How do you balance your personal life and your career?

Since having a fashion portal is 24/7 work, it is difficult to find time to simply not do anything related to work. But I love doing what I do. It gives me positive energy and keeps me going through life. I am very passionate about it and there is always more that I want to achieve and that I plan to do.

What do you like to do when you have time off?

I like to watch movies and to read some biography. Most recently I read “Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger” about Mick Jagger, one of the dominant cultural figures of our time. Music is also big part of my life so there is always something new on my playlist.

What do you do to stay in shape?

I love to do yoga. I skate rollerblade and run.

What’s your favorite music at the moment?

At the moment I like to listen to Lenny Kravitz. “The Pleasure and the pain” is on the repeat these days.

Can you tell us something about your future projects?

Right now I am organizing shooting for one menswear editorial, and I am planning one project related to the Cannes Film Festival.

You are present on social media, on twitter, Instagram, etc. What do you think about it and its influence? What deserves to go on your Instagram?

I think we had major influence of facebook, then twitter and now Instagram. In some way I love the idea that every person can express their own thoughts and creativity, they have their own public voice and they can interact with the whole world. I love the impact and the speed of all. It’s advanced. But, on the contrary of all, we become more self-centered. On my Instagram are always things related to fashion, my personal style, some style icons that impacted our culture and places that I got the chance to visit.

Danijela Stankovic for Fashionela

Share This

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

About the author

admin

Related Posts

The 78th Festival de Cannes Winners list

The Jury of the 78th Festival de Cannes, chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche, surrounded by American actress and filmmaker Halle Berry, Indian director and screenwriter Payal Kapadia, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher,...

Juliette Binoche to preside over the Jury of the 78th Festival de Cannes

The burst of an all-pervading laughter, an ideal of commitment to her art and her times —Juliette Binoche has won over audiences and critics alike, bringing together today's greatest filmmakers in her world-class filmography....

Greta Gerwig named the Jury President of the 77th Festival de Cannes

Following a year in which she beat every record with her film Barbie, the American director, screenwriter, and actress Greta Gerwig is to preside over the Jury of the 77th Festival de Cannes, which takes place May 14-25...