Modern Hybriding by Arijana Gadzijev

by: Abigail Doan

Free-spirited Slovenian textile designer and illustrator Arijana Gadzijev is blurring the already soft boundaries between haute couture and ready-to-wear with her latest Hybriding collection. Botanicals and repeat patterns (echoing the digital print innovation of Mary Katrantzou) reference a vividly imaginative realm of densely forested worlds and urban legends. Gadžijev, who studied fashion and textile design at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Ljubljana, confesses that she combines elements of nature and fairytales to create an art fashion landscape that is both magically transporting and infused with a mythical vibe.

The modern combination of soft silks and sportswear fabrics allows for versatile use, bold prints, and construction detailing that suits active lifestyles as art/fashion wearables. Even WILDER, the designer admits that her time “living nearby the forest” deeply influenced her eye for such creative details. Known as someone who works fluently between art and fashion projects in both Slovenia and Paris, Gadzijev flirts with illustration as a way to push the digital print medium as both an narrative tool and stylistic medium.

The Hybriding collection is easy-to-care for, i.e. dries quickly and is super packable for globe trotting types. We love that left-over ink used in the digital print process is also recycled for the designer’s stylish packaging. More proof that the next generation of designers in Central and Eastern Europe are covering all the bases in terms of smart innovation and resourceful use of materials.

Hybriding 2012 is currently on view as part of the Bio 23 Ljubljana exhibition under the category of Globalization/Smart Solutions.