Serbian fashion designer Irena Grahovac closed the fashion show part of this year's spring edition of Montenegrin Fashion Week with her latest collection called "Adrenaline".
Although the models at first glance resembled Native Americans, the name of the collection was inspired by social events in her country, namely the student protests that have been going on for months. Grahovac spoke more about this, the collection itself, and the models in an interview with "Vijesti".
At the beginning of the conversation, the fashion designer shared her impressions after the closing of Montenegro Fashion Week.
"It was a great pleasure for me to participate in Montenegrin Fashion Week. This season I will not be able to show the collection in Serbia, our fashion events have been canceled in support of students, so my audience will not have the opportunity to see it. I hope to show the entire collection in September and only then will I be able to hear the audience's reactions," Grahovac believes, adding that "the line she showed does not have a seasonal designation, so it is only an inspiration for autumn-winter 2025/26."
"The Montenegrin audience is very demanding, and therefore it is a greater pleasure to receive applause," she points out when it comes to her impressions of Montenegro Fashion Week, and then looks back at what it is like for a designer to have the opportunity to be the last to present their collection at an event.
"Yes, the last in the series was my show and I'm glad about that. I probably had the honor of closing the last evening of individual shows as a guest. The audience always remembers the first and last model, and the same goes for collections," says Grahovac, for whom this was the first time that her models shared the runway with the works of other designers during the evening.
"It was my first time participating in a group show and it was a new experience for me. It was a lot of fun backstage, lots of my wonderful colleagues, models, makeup artists, hairdressers - an unusual and cheerful crowd," she shared.
When it comes to the name of the collection "Adrenaline", Grahovac also reveals its symbolism.
"The name of this collection is 'Adrenaline'. I prepared it in a state of great mental tension due to the daily events in my country. Maybe the idea came from the subconscious, I remembered the words of my best friend who was hit by a sound cannon. She described it as a terrifying rush of adrenaline when every nerve in your body is firing at 1000 parts per thousand," she recounts.
"Since the collection was created during that period, I had the impression that my creation was an escape from a reality in which our body is ready to defend itself, adrenaline defends us. Adrenaline was my state of mind, so the collection had to be named that," the interviewee of "Vijesti" points out.
However, the models from the collection are most reminiscent of modernized Native American clothing, which was partly Grahovac's inspiration.
"My inspiration was an escape from reality, a return to the uncorrupted man and his habitus. I went back in time by analyzing various tribal communities. There are multiple influences that can be seen in the collection - from cavemen, to African tribes and Native Americans...", the designer lists.
"This collection represents my rebellion against the contemporary social order and a reminder of some elementary human values unburdened by the flaws of the current world. It is also a philosophical movement - New Primitivism," says Grahovac.
The presentation of her collection was accompanied by a song Vindret Berginsdottir - “Savage Daughter”, and the designer also reflects on how important the choice of music is when presenting works.
"I chose the music myself based on my feelings. When I work, I listen to music of various styles and wait for something to move me, to coincide with what I am creating and to create a whole, to complete the story I want to tell," she claims.
"The visual experience is enhanced by sound, and thus the true impression of a stage performance is obtained - image and tone. The manner of presentation and the music that accompanies the visual expression are an indispensable part of a fashion show. This time it was the song 'Savage Daughter'," adds Grahovac, who also reveals more about the materials she used in the creation of this collection.
"The models are made of lamb fur and leather. In line with the trend of sustainable fashion, the materials themselves have undergone only one stage of technological processing - lamb fur in the crust version, i.e. tanned leather that has not undergone subsequent processing stages using heavy chemicals - dyes and varnishes, and has remained in the so-called white version," she explained the work process.
"The material design was done specifically for this collection - a stylized animal print was applied separately to each tailored part, so you could say that everything is handmade. Avoiding modern techniques in model making, everything is mostly reduced to primitive ways of fastening and assembling the garment, and modern haberdashery elements made of metal (zippers, rivets, rings...) are used as ornaments," describes Grahovac.
"I have tended to leave the leather in its natural form, not only to get closer to primitive cultures in a traditional and artistic sense, but also to express all the beauty of the raw material relieved by modern methods of tailoring and assembling models," adds the fashion designer.
"Essentially, this collection represents an emotion connected to a cultural attitude, more than an artistic style," she concludes, emphasizing that she would like to show the collection sometime after Montenegrin Fashion Week.
"I would like to show the entire collection to the audience. At Montenegrin Fashion Week, I showed only part of the collection, 16 outfits. I think my idea would be better understood if I showed the entire line," Grahovac believes.
Given that she presented her collection on the third evening, at the very end, the Serbian fashion designer had time to look at the other shows, so she shared her impressions.
"Montenegro should be proud of its fashion scene and fashion designers. I saw the work of my colleagues and I liked everything. It was a festival of lavish talent," says Grahovac.
Bonus video:
