already held her first solo exhibition. She was well accepted by the public there. Presuming that the upcoming war would prevent her from return- ing to Europe anytime soon, she started to seek a regular source of income. She began painting portraits of members of high society and soon re- ceived a permanent engagement as a fashion il- lustrator at magazine‘Vogue’. This further paved the way for her to collaborate with other prom- inent publications, such as ‘Harper’s Bazaar’, ‘Die Dame’(The Lady),‘Life’and‘Town & Country’.This was followed by advertising campaigns for textile and cosmetics companies like Revlon. “Milena played with trends, creating eclectic hybridity as a characteristic of her fashion identi- ty and poetics as a fashion illustrator and paint- er, approaching the aesthetics of Elsa Schiapa- relli, Jean Patou, Cristóbal Balenciaga and many other fashion creators, whilst always remaining unique,” Zarić tells us. He stresses that during his research he came across the fact that, in all the capital cities where she lived and worked, Milena first dealt with fash- ion and only then turned to painting. “Her first oil on canvas, inspired by Hollywood fashion and Hollywood costumes, is a representa- tion of Hollywood icon Rudolph Valentino. This fact is omitted from most monographs devot- ed to her painting, and is perhaps done so con- sciously in order to avoid damaging her reputa- tion or that of her beautiful works of painted art towards the end of her life. It is very important to note that Milena Pavlović Barili was the only Ser- bian artist who, beside fine art, also transcribed her art in terms of fashion - not in terms of cloth- ing as a necessity of the human phenomenon or current trends, but rather fashion as an aesthet- ic phenomenon that serves as a purpose for the creation of works of art,” emphasises Žarić, be- fore mentioning that Milena’s work more firm- ly positions the country’s national art within the scope of international artistic heritage and justi- fiably opens a new chapter in the history of fash- ion that is worthy of further research. Although most theorists consider that Milena felt compelled to engage in applied art due to fac- tors of material security, the prevailing opinion in more recent times is that she followed the route of the world-famous writers, painters and artists who preceded her in working for print publications. It is enough to look at her caricature, the fash- ion illustration of Queen Maria, which the young researcher singles out as one of his favourite Ba- rili creations, in which one sees the importance to Serbian culture of this artist’s fashion works. “The famous Cartier diamond was replaced by Milena with a hair band, while she dyed the Queen’s hair blond and modelled her head on the example of Modigliani’s busts. By liberating the queen from the burden of the past, the artist tells us not only what women should be like, but also what art and fashion should be like: bold, tena- cious, and above all freed from the shackles that stifle creativity,” concludes Žarić.
T hisisalsosupportedbythefactthatshe is the only Serbian artist to have ever illustrated famous magazine‘Vogue’. When reviewing the life, work and personality of Milena Pavlović Barili, who was born in Požarevac on 5 th November 1909, one notices her almost fateful predestination to deal with fashion. This fact was recognised by young art historian Stefan Zarić, who wanted to correct the kind of injustice dealt to this art- ist through the unfair overlooking of her con- tribution to the history of fashion. Specifically, Žarić organised an exhibition of her fashion illustrations entitled“Maison Ba- rilli: Belgrade / New York”, based on his Master’s work“FashionillustrationsofMilenaPavlovićBa- rili (1926-1945)”, and in cooperation with Mile- na’shomelandfoundation–TheGalleryofMile- na Pavlović Barili – from Požarevac. “Raised by highly educated parents – Ser- bian Danica Pavlović and Italian Bruno Barili - it could be said that Milena had an innate dispo- sition for fine arts and poetry. Growing up be- tween Serbia and Italy, and travelling around southwest Europe, Milena still shows the high- est affinity towards fashion, as the new messen- ger of the modernity which she herself strived for as an artist,”explains Žarić, who co-authored the exhibition along with Violeta Tomić.
Žarić adds that Milena’s earliest childhood works, which preceded any formal education in art, featured ladies dressed in the latest fash- ion, according to the style of Paul Poiret, France’s leading fashion designer in the first decades of the 20 th century. “Already in her earliest days, Milena showed boldness towards fashion experimentation and the affirmation of femininity, but also androg- ynous qualities through fashion, by dressing in different costumes, from a boy dressed as a girl, to a guitarist, a horse rider, or a Spaniard as a girl. In public Milena wore simply cut dresses, most- ly black, sometimes sporting a pearl necklace, while her hair was almost always tied up in a casual bun. These are all fashion emblems that adorned the likes of Coco Chanel, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, and many women around the world, emblems that Milena very skilfully incor- porated into both the private and public spheres of her existence, and with that to the core of her creativity, depending on the environment in which she found herself,”says our interlocutor. Milena studied fine art in Belgrade and Mu- nich, while her life unfolded in London, Paris, Rome, and, finally, New York, where she died tragically in 1945 aged just 37, following a horse riding accident. She’d arrived there by ship in the August of 1939, and by the following March had
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