DEJAN DESPOTOVIC, FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE

AT JUST 23 YEARS OF AGE, DEJAN DESPOTOVIC HAS MANAGED TO CRAM A BEYOND-IMPRESSIVE AMOUNT OF ACHIEVEMENTS INTO HIS RELATIVELY SHORT LIFE. HAVING HIS OWN ACCLAIMED DESIGNER COLLECTIONS, A SUCCESSFUL STINT WORKING AS A STYLIST ON THE SERBIAN EDITION OF ELLE, WINNING NUMEROUS INDUSTRY AWARDS AND INTERNING AT GARETH PUGH AND BIBA ARE JUST A FEW OF THE THINGS THE SERBIAN DESIGNER CAN ADD TO HIS CV. NOT BAD AT ALL FOR SOMEONE WITH ONLY FOUR YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE BEHIND HIM.

But for a man whose success has been mostly down to his menswear collections, it comes as something of a surprise that Despotovic started out designing womenswear. “Well, I started with designing for women, but with time I started doing men’s clothes. It’s very interesting, and it’s not harder to be more innovative with men’s clothes. It’s very inspiring for me, because you can have your vision within it and it can be very, very avant-garde and progressive, more so than with women’s clothes.”

The fashion industry quickly began to take note of Despotovic’s creative talents. At the Nokia Awards, he scooped first prize for the Young Designers category and this was quickly followed by winning the Black and White competition at the opening of Belgrade Fashion Week in 2007. In 2006 and 2007, he was nominated for Best Young Designer at the Pantene Beauty Awards.

Despotovic’s passion for clothing is evident, and it’s clear he takes his work seriously, speaking enthusiastically about his designs. “In designing menswear, I really like to play with cuttings and forms, and to put some story into the clothes. It can get you into another world and it can look like some kind of movie scene. For me, it’s always about something romantic, but also dark and mystic.”

“Men are more fashion-conscious now than, say, five years ago,” he continues. “They started taking risks in clothing and being more adventurous which is very good, because there are a lot of designers who started doing these incredibly alternative yet wearable clothes, and men are freer to look at it and to take some elements of those designs and combine them with their own style to create something new. In the next few years I think that men will take all of these designs and wear them without saying, “Is someone going to say something bad about my style?”

But does he really think that men would be brave enough to lift looks straight from the catwalk and wear them on the streets? Is this not just a fashion car-crash waiting to happen? “Today nothing is a mistake,” he insists, “but there is a way of dressing for certain occasions. And men do know what rules there are.” Like what? “Like never wear boots that cut off under the knee. I once saw a man wearing a trench coat with sportswear too, which was little bit odd,” he recalls.

His fledgling fashion career began nine years ago, when as a textiles student, he began styling and designing for local shows which culminated in his first award, a Silver Doe at the Belgrade Fashion Fair in 2003. In 2005, he enrolled at the College for Design, Textile and Management in Belgrade to study fashion design, with his debut individual collection presented a year later in both Berlin and Belgrade.

But studying in Serbia hasn’t been without its problems, as Despotovic himself can confirm. Despite the admission that Belgrade’s fashion schools are “quite good,” lack of money and the inability to get scholarships abroad hampered his chances of trying his luck elsewhere. But he has no regrets about the way in which his career has developed: “The fashion scene (in Belgrade) is great, we have a lot of fabulous, pure fashion designers.

“I’m glad that designers from Eastern Europe have started presenting their work outside their own territories, and that they’ve started becoming really respected in the fashion world. It is harder for us, it’s true, but I believe that our talent will be seen and it has to be, because there are a lot of very talented designers and every time we present something in Paris, London or somewhere else, people are really wowed.”

Despotovic’s own designs are a mix of classic elegance and smart tailoring, complete with gothic undertones. Black is a mainstay in his collections for men and women, along with unusual cuts. Despite working with some of the biggest names in fashion- including the London-based, Austrian model-of-the-moment Florian Pessenteiner, who modelled Despotovic’s SS 09 collection- he has remained low on the fashion radar. At the time of writing, he has no official website (though one is on its way, he reassures us) and no press rep. But perhaps his imminent move to London will change things.

“My plan is to base my work in London and start showing at London Fashion Week. It will happen soon, either at the end of this year or the start of the next. I’m working on it. I’m glad I started presenting my collections in other countries though. Every collection I make is a personal success, because it’s very hard for young designers to find financial support for the collections. It’s hard, but with enough work, you can get what you want.”

Conversation turns to the fashion industry, and the recent scandals which have rocked it- starting with Mark Fast’s decision to use size 14 models in his catwalk shows last year. Would he ever send a plus-size, or even an average-size, model down the runway? “No!” is his emphatic response. “I would not. On the catwalk, never, but it’s a very brave and fantastic idea. In my designs you will always see something oversize, a sleeve or a skirt.” Does he think that weight is as much an issue for men as it is for women in the fashion industry? “Of course! That is a problem, but I think that there are a lot of shops and stores which sell XXL or bigger clothes. Fashion for slim people is changing all the time, and I don’t think that now is the right time to start changing plus-sized clothing, but there will be time…”

Just days before Despotovic is interviewed by AGENT2, news breaks of the untimely and tragic death of Alexander Lee McQueen, one of the most influential and creatively gifted designers in history. It seems only fitting to ask how Despotovic has taken the news. “I really loved Lee and he will remain the only designer who could do something which could take people’s breath away every single time…that’s real fashion. I hope that there will be someone who will keep the Alexander McQueen label the way it was before Lee died.”

Is it possible that the pressures of working in the fashion industry got too much? “When you’re such a genius like he was, it is hard to make something spectacular two times in year. It’s a very big pressure, but I think that we must be strong and creativity is something which you live, and another world, and lot of people think that fashion is just beautiful; a very nice job and way of living, but they don’t know how much pressure we have as designers. It isn’t easy to swim in a sea full of sharks, especially when you’re young designer, and today everyone wants to be designer. I think that you’ll agree with me.”

It’s certainly true that everyone wants to be a designer. Fortunately for Dejan Despotovic, he is living the dream.

dejandespotovic.com

myspace.com/dekyd

Words Kay Weston thefashionistahasspoken.blogspot.com