Fashion world of Matija Cop

Matija Cop is a fashion designer from Croatia. He is talented, creative and professional so we are sure there is a bright future for him in the fashion world. He is interested in shapes, changes and experiments which makes his work intriguing. He is still in the process of finishing his studies in Croatia and Sweden, but that doesn’t stop him from participating in different exhibitions, runways and competitions. It was nothing but a pleasure for us to see his work and talk with him so we hope you will enjoy it too. Here’s what Matija shared with us.

• Tell us a bit more about yourself…

I am student of fashion design at the Faculty of Textile Technology, University of Zagreb. At the moment I am studying at the University of Boras, Swedish School of Textiles. In my work I use interdisciplinary approach. The main theme of my works is identity of the body in the space.

• How did you first become interested in fashion? And if you didn’t choose fashion (or if the fashion didn’t choose you) what do you think you would be doing?

Actually at first I was studying at the Faculty of Philosophy, but i couldn’t express myself entirely. I was looking for something that is connected with the visual interpretation of body and space. I was preparing myself to enroll into architecture and in the meantime going for interior design, but at the end I enrolled into fashion design. Now I know that this is something that I want.

• What is it that usually inspires you? What is the visual stimulation that triggers your imagination?

It depends on the project on which I’m working at the moment. But mostly it is body and shapes forming the body.

• We see a lot of architectural shapes in your collections. Is that maybe inspired by your diploma in product design?

I think this architectural shapes are some kind of beginning of my understanding of the clothes. It maybe can be part of my previous education, but it is more correct to say that my way of thinking of body is something that produces «architectural» shapes.

• We also read that you use some eco-friendly fabrics in your work. How important is it for you to stay on nature’s good side? Do you think that in the future of fashion industry bigger brands and houses will be going green?

Yes, in one project I used only eco-friendly biodegradable fabrics, but I want to show how the garment have their own life. I support sustainable way of thinking but I am now in experimental faze and I don’t think about sustainability in every project. Its important to me as an experiment of possibilities.

• Tell us a bit more about the story behind your OBJECT 12-1 collection?

In this collection I wanted to find a new way of constructing the garment, without sewing or gluing it. At the end I found one technique and developed it. So every piece in collection are made without using glue or sew. Every piece of the garment can be transformed and can change shape. This similar technique I found in Gothic – renaissance cathedral in Croatia.

• We know you won lots of awards and had some amazing critics but is there one moment in your career so far that you would say is your favorite?

I am very thankful that someone recognized my work and that gives me responsibility to continue to work on high level. But moments that somehow I found very important to me are the ones when I communicate with the public. When I see this kind of respond of public on my work – those moments I appreciate the most.

• As someone who is very educated how do you react to this new phenomenon in fashion (and world in general) of people becoming famous because of their outfits or blogs? It feels like they are more wanted than the real professionals, so to say.

I am not occupied by thinking about this phenomenon. For me it is not such a big thing – who is wanted and who is not. I see myself trough my work – that is the most important thing for me at the moment.

• Do you have any designers that you admire, someone whose work you deeply respect?

Mostly, I am in a constant change about that – it depends on what I am working on at that time. But I really like young contemporary artists.

• What is your motto in life?

Change.

• What are your plans for the future and how do you see yourself in five years from now?

I am still in school and I have exhibitions all around, and some shows too. I see myself just doing it – dealing with this images of body, shapes and fabrics. Plans are in constant change and they depend on my state of mind in that given time.