Distinguished fashion designer and costume designer, Milena Đurđić, completed her studies at the Accademia di costume e di moda, Department of Fashion Design in Rome, Faculty of Design, Department of Fashion Design, Union University in Belgrade, and at the Callegari Institute, Accademia del Lusso, Milan, department Belgrade, in the class of professor Lidija Jovanović, she completed her specialization - fashion stylist.
In her rich career, she received the Exclusive Awards 2023 - Award for contribution to the promotion of the Montenegrin fashion scene, Montenegro Fashion Week - Excellence in Fashion and at Montenegro Fashion Week - for the collection "Rough Weather" she received a special award for the best collection in the last 10 years.
Milena Đurđić was the representative of Italy (Italian fashion design, as a student of Rome's Accademia di costume e di moda) in the framework of the Week of the Italian language in the world, which was held under the name "Italian and creativity - brands and clothes, fashion and design", with an exhibition "La moda a modo mio - Fashion stories of Milena Đurđić", held in Podgorica, October 2016.
In June 2011, Milena Đurđić had her first solo fashion show from the "Skarlet" collection in Podgorica. In the same year, in November, with the collection "Krug 21", I, spring/summer, she was a guest at the regional Fashion Week, in Belgrade, as well as at the "Maestral" hotel, in Budva. In December of the same year, she participated in the regional Fashion Week held at the "Budo Tomović" KIC in Podgorica.
Then, in 2012, she shined with the collection "For a better day", autumn-winter, presented in Budva, and in May 2013, the collection "For a better day", parts I and II, had the opportunity to be seen by the audience at the Montenegrin National Theater in Podgorica.
This was followed by the collections "Govor tišine" (2014), "Džordžija" (2015), the collection "Deutsch Kafe" (2016) inspired by the characters of the TV series of the same name, on which Đurđićeva worked as a costume designer. In October 2017, she organized the exhibition "Diary of a Bell" at the Days of Science, organized by the Ministry of Science, in Podgorica.
The collection "To Tesla's code" (2018), "Amazonia" (2019), as well as the collection "Grubo vrijeme" (2021) inspired by the covid-19 pandemic earned her a lot of attention from the public.
In December 2021, Milena Đurđić released a mini collection in cooperation with the Confucius Institute of the University of Montenegro.
In 2022, she participated with her fashion collection in the exclusive event "Smile Traim charity", which was held in Dubai, with the presence of members of the royal family and world-famous VIP personalities.
Milena's professional career has been accompanied by work in the theater from the very beginning. In June 2010, she was the costume designer's assistant in the theater play "More than therapy", directed by Alisa Stojanović, City Theater Podgorica, as well as in the play "Fishermen's Quarrels", directed by Ana Vukotić, "Gada Teatra", Budva.
As a costume designer, she marked the plays "Pinocchio", directed by Snežana Trišić, of the City Theater from Podgorica, the multiple award-winning film "Umir krvi", directed by Senad Šahmanović, as well as all three seasons of the TV series "Deutsch Kafe".
In 2015, Milena Đurđić designed the first thematic dress of the Telekom Electronic Beats festival, which was also its trademark, and she was also the stylist for the official advertisement of Montenegrin Telecom, Podgorica. She also created the dress of the presenter of Montevizia, the Eurovision Song Contest (RTCG) 2018, as well as the design of the stage costume for the Montenegrin representative at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Milena Đurđić received great attention from the public and a large number of praises for designing and styling the President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović and the first lady, Milena Milatović, during the inauguration, for the ceremonial reception and the Statehood Day of Montenegro.
What do you do now at your current job?
In addition to regular and intensive work on designing and making elegant, unique clothes and stage costumes for special occasions, we are currently focusing special attention and energy on two projects that should mark the autumn.
The first is the opening of a store in an exclusive location in Podgorica, in the immediate vicinity of the Atlas capital center. It is a contemporary designed retail store of clothing produced in my studio, which, as the name "Everyday by Milena" suggests, will be intended for both women and men, for everyday occasions. The line is a mix of classic forms of simple lines and urban things, practical, functional, something that is popular and characterizes all major European and world cities, but completely original and authentic for our climate, our way of life, work or free time.
The intention is to show that affordable prices and commercial does not have to be profane, without inventiveness and creativity, but also meaningful, creative, interesting, special and authentic.
The second project with the name »OOOO« so far, my biggest authorial undertaking of a multimedia nature, is a combination of fashion design, acting, music and dance. An interdisciplinary artistic performance implies the presentation of a themed fashion collection - along with a musical, dance and dramatic performance.
The project consists of three thematic units that, through models and an interdisciplinary artistic performance, will bring a story about searching, losing, finding, reconciling (with yourself and with others) and optimism as the eternal driver of all of us and the unit of measure that sustains us and drives us forward. In this way, the project activities try to send a strong message not only about the need to preserve peace, but also about the need for each of us to find ourselves in the busy everyday life, unwaveringly step forward, into a new beginning. The main message of this project is, in fact, the necessity of moving forward, always and again towards a new beginning, a better and more beautiful world, the joy of living, entrepreneurship and activism, to create and live better and more truly. A new civilization. Purgatory where the new is born. This new thing is accentuated by the symbolic name of the project »0000«, where »0« (zero) is actually a circle, a symbol of infinity; at the end of one cycle we return to zero, our source, our new beginning, a new cycle and so on forever. The number "0" is alpha (the beginning) and omega (the highest), because there is no end, everything is infinite.
What was the path you had to go through to get to the position of a regionally and internationally known designer?
Of course, presence on the foreign market remains my strategic orientation, so, in addition to individual orders from valued clients from the Balkan region, some European countries (Germany, France), then the UAE, Kuwait, the USA, it should also take on a new, different form. Namely, I have an invitation to exhibit again in Dubai and preliminary discussions about the possibility of a sales point, as well as the interest of a world-famous concept store in Brooklyn, New York, with world brands, to be part of their store.
Fashion is not your hobby but the profession for which you were educated. At what point and why did you decide to take that path?
After high school, I entered and completed the first year at the Faculty of Law and soon realized that it was not my field of interest. Since my brother was studying in Rome, I went to his place and enrolled in an Italian language course, in order to enroll in journalism or fashion design the following year.
A stay in the "eternal city", one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a world cultural and historical center, fascinating architectural landmarks, Renaissance-decorated fountains, baroque columns, beautiful squares, staircases, cathedrals and churches with frescoes - masterpieces, additionally and strongly aroused interest. , motivation, creative elan and enthusiasm and sharpened the sense of aesthetics and beauty. There was no more dilemma - the art academy of applied arts was my definitive choice. I was fortunate to study at the prestigious Accademia di costime e di moda, with great professors and representatives of the world-renowned and recognizable Italian school of design and fashion style, and later in Belgrade at the Faculty of Fashion Design, where I graduated and completed specialist studies at the Italian Institute for Caligari fashion - department in Belgrade, in the class of professor Lidija Jovanović.
A fashion designer who is not part of a large corporation but runs her own business is an entrepreneur. How do you manage in that role? How big is your team and how much have you mastered in managerial skills in addition to the creative ones that you undoubtedly possess?
Art is the undisputed driving force behind design creation, but it all has no purpose if our pieces, our creations, do not find their way to the customer. Help in this should be provided by a well-designed presentation, aesthetically exposed and packaged models, therefore, good marketing and branding, which is essentially part of managerial activities - planning, organizing and controlling. It all takes a certain amount of time, but I think I've pretty much mastered management skills as well.
By the way, my atelier, now transformed into the Milena Fashion House, has 12-14 employees. The organizational and management part is handled by my father as the director, I, as the creative director, also actively participate in that segment, I have a great PR and assistant Sofia, a top constructor/modeller Eji (who is also the head of production), 8-10 seamstresses/ tailor, and in the complementary relationship of graphic designer and photographer.
Due to the nature of your job, you are also a woman in business because all those creations need to be presented to the public and clientele. What is the most challenging part of your job?
They say that art, especially fashion design and business, are friends and one does not exclude the other. Therefore, to the question, artist or businessman, I answer - both. Because today a successful artist must also have the knowledge to sell that creativity. I think that, in addition to some, I guess, talent that I have, I have perfected my design skills enough, and now to complete my professional story, I devote myself to fashion entrepreneurship - business. That's exactly my new challenge!
Where does the current leader of the fashion industry in our country see herself in 10 years?
I hope that my energy, willpower, ambition, research spirit will continue to follow me, and that after the next decade I will have qualitatively and quantitatively increased production, both with the number of workers and the quantity and variety of products, and will have more sales points in the country and abroad , significant online sales... and a few more, which for now remain my intimate, but certainly for the benefit of the development of the fashion and creative textile industry, the educational improvement of young designers.
Do business women, the leaders to whom we dedicate this magazine, ask you for fashion advice for business wardrobe and how important is it for a successful leader to be styled in accordance with her social role and the status she has fought for, even in her private moments?
I think it is very important that my clientele consists of a large number of very successful, professionally accomplished women in business and other fields of work, therefore, styling for different business occasions is indispensable. Business attire, especially for women in important, leadership positions, also requires certain rules when it comes to wardrobe. Women, leaders, champions in their work, should dress according to high aesthetic rules, to look as beautiful, elegant, but also business-like.
As for the pieces, dresses, skirts, pants, blouses and shirts, jackets and blazers can be elegant, with the emphasis being on good cut, quality material and, of course, the woman's figure. Special attention must be paid to the color of the clothes, keeping in mind the daily work agenda - office, work meeting in the company or business meeting in another place, some symposium, ceremony and various events.
Depending on the occasion, we will sometimes recommend neutral and pastel shades, so that the clothes do not attract too much attention during the meeting, and the focus is on elaborating and demonstrating your own work-related skills and knowledge. Sometimes, again, we will recommend darker colors, in combination with light, or calming, neutral grays, also with light combinations.
Are there any rules and recommendations you would like to share with our audience? Is the recognizable style of a leader and professionally managed styling one of the links in building a career that can leave a mark?
I have already answered the first part of the question to some extent, these are some general rules. Certainly, for each special occasion/situation, more precise advice can be recommended, regarding each piece of clothing individually, which requires more space.
As a successful woman builds her professional career, she simultaneously builds and nurtures her style, which is recognizable and original. Style is something that defines her visually, which is part of her identity. We say, style is an extended character. Our second – me! The leader builds her own authentic, autonomous style, it originates in her and therefore belongs only to her. He is her individuality, diversity, self-confidence, security. It is impossible to imagine a successful woman, a leader, without a built, recognizable style!
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