How has the community in San Francisco impacted your business?
I really counted on San Francisco, especially in the beginning. I always tell people, “start locally, even if you're online.” You can tap into your community to support you, I don't think we would have been as successful if we didn't initially engage with our community here first. It’s important to be connected with where you are.
We did a pop-up a month or two after we launched, in March 2015, at an art gallery in SF. We put a ton of time and energy into making it work and it was actually one of our best pop-ups to date. I reached out to local press first, emailing everyone in SF that I thought could be involved with the brand and it got a lot of press in the beginning, which was great. Then we did a pop-up every quarter for the first couple of years. So I think we did build that community.
How does starting a fashion business in SF differ from one that's focused in LA or New York?
It feels a bit more removed out here because you're not surrounded by it, and I think that can create this new energy for testing things out. It’s such an incubator for new ideas out here, too. There's not as much talent in the bay for fashion, people don't flock here for that, so you just have to be more creative. Our models were just people we found, I had to be the photographer, and it just worked out that people liked that unedited, raw kind of imagery.

You’ve lived in New York and London, what made you chose LA next?

I wanted to either move back to New York or LA, to be closer to family. I ended up choosing LA because it was more of a long-term city that matches my personal lifestyle. I love hiking, outdoor activities and the California vibe. Plus - how could I pass up the opportunity to finally live in sunshine after a year in London where it never seems to stop raining? I realized over the last two years that doing this job takes a lot of work, so you need to make sure you're doing things outside of it to make yourself happy. If you're not happy outside of work you can’t be happy inside of work.

I also want to shift my career and do less high fashion imagery and more lifestyle imagery. For example, I would love to work for Nike, Levi’s, and companies like that.

What is the fashion scene in LA like for up-and-coming designers?

I used to say, "I can't wait until I can move back to Europe where I belong." I still want to, but I wouldn't be ashamed to say that I'm from LA now either. I think we have a lot of amazing talent here, and what makes LA fashion so interesting is that a lot of people come here to study art: fine art, or sculpture, or painting. When that's transferred into fashion, it brings with it an interesting perspective. There is more of a “crafted” touch to the clothing people make here. We also have loads of factories and production houses available, so designers are able to get a lot of things done.

You're based between New York and London. What are the main differences between the cities in terms of working in the industry?

I love working in both. I’m from New York, so I'm passionately always going to love New York.

Cheers.

But I really love working in London creatively. I love doing editorials in London because people are not afraid to push it all the way if it calls for it. It’s free-thinking, in the sense that everyone throws out ideas, and everyone wants to create a good image. Whereas in New York, it’s often more commerce based thinking like, “wait, we can't do that, because it won’t sell,” you know?

What's the best part about working in Paris?

I love all of the opportunities that we have because we can do so many things in Paris that we can't do anywhere else. Paris is the city of fashion.

I want to know more about being in Beirut particularly. Is there a supportive, creative environment there? Looking back now would you say it’s a good place for you to be?

The problem with Lebanon is that because we have a dysfunctional government, we don't get things such as free education. If there's a problem as an individual, you have to take action, so for me it was like, "Okay, there's a problem here. There are so many talented people who want to be designers but their voices are not heard." Tuition is so expensive nowadays, it's only the very few elite that have access to education. Just because you're rich, it doesn't mean you're talented. We had so much support from the local community in terms of the designers, photographers, filmmakers, and volunteers. The creative community in Lebanon is growing. There are more designers that are starting to launch their career in the ready to wear field. Before it was, and even now a lot of couture, but you see a lot of young designers starting to pursue Ready to Wear, so that's exciting. I would say there is a creative community that is starting to come together and it's really beautiful to watch.

Do you think there’s a strong community of young photographers in London or Paris?

No, not really.

What influences your photography?

I like to be a bit distanced from the “big city” because I believe that every environment influences your work and your style. The things that you feel and what you see everyday are reflected in your work, subconsciously or otherwise. I like being away from fashion sometimes as it doesn't really exist in Croatia, at least the fashion here is nothing like the fashion from London or Paris. It’s so different here. I like the combination of going between a small town and a big city, and I love to live in Croatia because that’s where I’m from, my family is here, and we have great weather. The quality of life is great, it’s a nice contrast from the city, but I like going back and forth between both environments.

You grew up in London and then you came to New York, did living between the two cities influence your work or give you a different perspective?

Perhaps. One of the most noticeable things it that London is more, in some respects, authentic but I knew that it would be harder to actually maintain myself and be able to pay for living in London. Even the few jobs I was doing in London were just -– I don’t know how I was supposed to survive. Definitely moving to New York allowed me to be self-sufficient. It was like a fresh start. New experiences, new city, new things. In that respect it was very inspiring because I was surrounded by all this newness.

Is there a supportive community for young designers in London?

Yes yes yes. London’s great for that!

I definitely have given and received lots of help/advice/support from my peers. I love that about being a London based designer. I don’t think I could be a designer anywhere else.

Yeah just giving yourself time to breathe first is so important. After you realized that you wanted to go into fashion, why did you choose to stay in Amsterdam?

I'm not going to rule out the fact that I'll ever go to Paris or New York.

Of course but just for now.

I think the quality of living here is pretty high compared to other major cities. There’s a lot of green space, and it’s such a nice city to live in.

What’s it like starting a career in the fashion industry in London?

There are pros and cons, but one of the pros is the immense energy and the acceptance of youth. I’ve always felt self-conscious about how young I was, so moving here, I’ve really appreciated the acceptance of youth.

How old are you now?

Twenty-two.

You're one year older than me!

People are so open to young people here. They're almost like, "You're young. You know what's cool. Tell me." I love that. And there're so many creative people working in the industry here, so there are good vibes. But you have to work really hard to make it, because if you don't someone else will.

But it’s also an exhausting place, and I think it ages you a lot. I think the major downside of London is the cost which makes it difficult to lead a healthy lifestyle, because you're overworked, underpaid, paying too much for rent, the air is polluted… But, I'm happy to sacrifice that while I'm here, at least for a while.

I think London and New York are the same in that sense, but I feel like London celebrates youth a little bit more.

I think it’s more creative here too. I feel like sometimes the general opinion about NYFW is that it's very corporate and business-y and there’s a lot of money. Whereas in London because of CSM and London College of Fashion, there are so many young designers that are not making any money but still make new amazing collections just because they want to show it to everyone.

Do you get the sense that there's a supportive community here for the young people coming into the fashion industry?

Definitely. The schools here are amazing and they do well with supporting new talent.

Also, it's incredible how much exposure the graduate collections get. They get put right on Style.com or whatever it is now. The editors too are always looking at the graduate collections, so you’ll see them featured in AnOther Magazine and Vogue and all of the others.

The internship thing is a bit tricky though because basically no one pays their interns in London. I generally think that it's a supportive community though. People want to help each other and even though London is a huge city with so many people in it, it's a pretty small industry. Everyone kind of knows everyone.

Why did you choose to start your career in London versus other cities?

I visited quite a few times when I was younger, and I liked the energy. I had read a lot about Central Saint Martins. I used to get the airfreight issues of British Vogue and i-D when I was in Australia and the images of Boombox and the whole scene and designers at the time just looked so exciting.

The best thing about London is that there are so many people from all over the world. They’re all here doing their thing and all are trying to make it work, and it’s quite an inspiring community. Everyone needs to work really hard, and everyone needs to help each other because it’s such a struggle to get by as a small fish in a massive pond.

Have you seen the fashion scene change in London over the past couple of years?

Yeah, completely. I just read an article the other day; it was about how one of Alexander McQueen’s final shows before he died, changed the whole of fashion forever. I was lucky enough to somehow sneak into the show in Paris. It was the one with the armadillo shoes and amphibian silhouettes, “Plato’s Atlantis.” I used to just have no shame and just go and try my luck to get in! It was quite an important moment because it was the first show they streamed live for everyone to access and be a part of, the first time people realized they could reach millions of people, not just 200 fashion people. It opened fashion up to be accessible and democratic, although now most complain that it’s lost its exclusivity and aspiration. Burberry was one of the first big houses to do that; streaming the show live in Piccadilly Circus as well as online, and it had all of the big celebrities in attendance for the social media images. They were also one of the first companies to pick up the “see-now-buy-now” concept too. Everyone can see everything immediately and come up with their own opinion. You don’t have to wait for a journalist to feed it to you, which is great in a way but does also devalue our jobs and experience a bit.

Many designers burn out because now to keep people interested in your brand you have to produce 4 collections a year and constantly produce new content and interest. The speed of things has killed a lot of creativity, excitement and also the desire. When I moved here, it was all about Gareth Pugh and Christopher Kane and doing really fun really crazy stuff, but it’s not about that anymore. I think people have to be a lot more realistic; there’s a lot less money around today and people can’t take the risks that they used to.

Designers find it hard to get by. There are maybe two stores in London that sell the work of young designers. It’s Machine A, and then there’s Dover Street Market, but apart from that... when I arrived ten years ago, everyone was dressing up and getting into it. Obviously, retail is suffering as well because the convenience of e-commerce has stopped people from making an occasion and experience of going shopping.

Are there any specific reasons as to why you chose to start your career in Paris?

I thought about going to London, but I was too late to apply to schools there. I’m really happy that I ended up here though because I love what’s going on in Paris at the moment.

Wow, what is?

There are a lot of young creatives here that are sending new ideas into the industry. I also just love Paris.

It’s beautiful. I can understand why people come here and never leave.