Mihaela Markovic is an emerging Croatian fashion designer who got in touch with us to share her wonderful collection. This collection, entitled Clothes My Mother Wore, is the inaugural collection for Mihaela post-graduation with her MA in Knitwear Design from Nottingham Trent University in the UK. For this collection, Mihaela Markovic looked back to her personal history and explored the concept of clothes as family heirlooms, garments of memories of the past and "forever" pieces we create emotional bonds with through the process of wearing. When you look back at family photos, you often tend to become nostalgic and the clothes in those photos are part of those memories. The items in this collection were designed with a high level of quality as they are meant to be loved longer, taken care of and passed down through generations, helping daughters continue their mothers' stories.
For this collection, the highest quality fabrics were chosen to ensure the garments would last beyond a lifetime. The yarn is all from an Italian company with not only a long tradition but also have an approved "Going Green" badge, meaning all of their production is led in an ethically conscious manner. They are fine merino blends for the jumpers and baby alpaca blended with silk for the coats. The accents are created with either metallic yarns, a mixture of viscose and metallic polyester. The production methods are sustainable and "zero waste" as the panels are knitted to pattern then put together to create the final product. While modern technology allows us to use machines to knit the garments, Mihaela Markovic decided that, for some of the pieces, hand-knitting works better to preserve traditional skills and craftsmanship.
We also love that on her page, Mihaela embraces the slow fashion model. Her model understands that so much of the clothes we buy end up in landfills due to the fact that they are made from substandard material and were not meant to last. The entire ethos of this collection was to be passed down, and for that, we congratulate Mihaela!
If you want to keep up with Mihaela Markovic, you can follow her on Instagram.