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W ith her unusual exhibi- tion “From the sails under which I’ve voyaged,”Tonka Alujević has told an excit- ing fashion and life story about oceans, seas, waves, winds and salt. She told her own unique story in Belgrade’s prestig- ious Singidunum Gallery... “With my then sailing partner in 2001, I set out to sail to the Caribbean and back under the sail that has now been trans- formed into dresses. That voyage lasted nine months and covered seventy thou- sand miles. I’ve been sailing for 15 years on various boats and sometimes it seems to me that I wasn’t even me. They say that a day at sea is like three on land. Those are many facts, happenings, craziness, dan- gers, happiness and sadness, experiences. In short, at sea the sea happens,”saysTonka. This native of Dalmatia is easiest to present as a multimedia artist, because what else could someone be who lms doc- umentaries, publishes books, writes short stories, deals with performance, performs a mono-drama she wrote herself, creates mosaics, shoots photography, presented theTV show“Nemiren duh”[Restless Spir- it], in which she sought out beauty in na- ture and people... She says that she’d nev- er present herself as a fashion designer, because she doesn’t know about or fol- low fashion. When asked how, then, her restless spirit dealt with dresses and fash- ion, she responds in her own style, with a short story. “I’ve traversed many miles at sea, whether oceanic, Mediterranean or Adri- atic. I have one fault, though some say it’s a virtue – I have a maniacal love of resolv- ing things I don’t use. That’s why I wanted to throw away that old sail under which I crossed the Atlantic, the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. Luckily, it remained hidden away in the tavern and awaited the mo- ment when I was invited to design some- thing for Montura, a fashion festival in Split.” She remembered the mainsail that had been spent and weathered by the sea miles and transformed it into precisely ten dress- es. She was drawn in by the authentic sto- ry of her own sail, and not a borrowed one, and a time lled with adventure. Just as voyaging the seas had been an adventure, the making of the dresses was no less so. “The collection emerged in one breath. I wrote all the sketches with a pen on my palm. The needles and threads broke, the correctness of the tailor’s craft was respect- ed, but the sail led the dance. Working with my friends Gordana Radnić and Maja Buk- tenica, with whom I went through every prick of needle, every ring and rope, was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.
Setila se glavnog jedra koje su morske milje potrošile i umorile i pretvorila ga u tačno deset halji- na. Povukla ju je autentična priča njenog, a ne pozajmljenog jedra i jednog vremena punog avantura. Kao što su putovanja morima bila avantura, ništa manja bila je izra- da haljina. – Kolekcija je nastala u dahu. Sve skice sam crtala hemijskom olovkom na dlanu. Pucale su igle i konci, pošto- vale se zakonitosti krojačkog zanata, ali jedro je vodilo igru. Rad sa prijate- ljicama Gordanom Radnić i Manjom Buktenicom, s kojima sam prošla sva- ki ubod šilom, svaku alku i konop, bio je jedno od najlepših iskustava u ži- votu. Neke komade smo čak krotile pištoljem! Onim sa silikonskim lep- kom. Bez mnogo reči, pustile smo da nas jedro vodi. Da bi modeli bili au- tentični, odlučile smo da na haljina- ma ostanu rđa, so, bure, lahori i ne- vere – priča Tonka. Kad su je pitali želi li da proda dve haljine, samo se nasmešila i re- kla da to ne dolazi u obzir jer ne može da razbija priču na komade. Objasni- la je nesuđenom kupcu da te haljine jedna bez druge ne mogu i da samo zajedno mogu da ispričaju sve bure i avanture. Elegantna, elokventna, od- merena i tiha, Tonka pojavom ne oda- je utisak avanturistkinje. Kaže da se uvek trudila da u svim životnim si- tuacijama bude dama, što nikako ne znači da nije uspevala da se izbori
sa nedaćama uzbudljivih putovanja. – Meni nije bio dovoljan adrena- lin, pa sam smislila svoj autentični hormon „nadrealin“. Kombinaciju na- drealnog u umetnosti i adrenalinskog u meni. E, tu dozu mog „nadrealina“ tražim u svemu što radim. Prvi eksperiment s modom ima- la je pre 29 godina, i to u Beogradu. Iz čiste dosade je crtala skice haljina. To je video Dragoljub Golubović Pi- žon, čuveni novinar i čovek od sti- la. Pitao ju je da li bi htela da napra- vi modnu reviju za žene diplomata i ambasadora bivše države. – Onako mlada i blesava, rekla sam da bih, iako o modi nisam znala ništa, a ni danas ne pratim trendove. Kolekcija se zvala Ne ličite na druge i ljudima se dopala. Međutim, kada su novinari tražili da posavetujem Jugo- slovenke za predstojeću sezonu pro- leće/leto, rekla sam da po meni svako treba da nosi šta hoće i to je bio kraj mojih modnih saveta. A onda je do- šao rat i više nije bilo mode.
When they asked her to sell two dresses, she said there was no way, because she couldn’t break the story into pieces Kad su je pitali želi li da proda dve haljine, rekla je da to ne dolazi u obzir jer ne može da razbija priču na komade
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