Lovro Lukić crafts Yugoslavian blankets into couture pieces

What Croatian-Slovenian designer Lovro Lukić calls ‘resourcefulness’, is rather a pragmatic and cunningly creative spirit. His first and closing looks to go down the runway at the Central Saint Martins MA Fashion show, were made of old Yugoslavian blankets that he sourced for free every time he’d pay a visit to his family in Slovenia. A sensible decision, considering the amount of technique involved in each of Lovro’s pieces, which required an equal amount of materials to experiment with in the first place. For his first dress silhouette, the acrylic fabric of the blanket had to be heat-pressed in order to melt and hold the curved shape he envisioned. His philosophy is quite simple: “There is nothing appealing in something that can be attained by financial means. I don’t care about your expensive, gorgeous embroidery.” Creativity for Lovro is really about making the most of your resources. After all, “when you’ve been given the opportunity to study at Central Saint Martins, lack of money should never be an excuse.”

CSM was always the plan for Lovro, even at the time of his BA in Fashion and Textile Design at the University of Ljubljana. The course, being part of the technology faculty, was very academic. In three years, Lovro studied forty different subjects including colour theory, theory of weaving, knitting and dyeing, leaving little time to the actual making of clothes. “It really goes down to how much you want to push yourself further, beyond what you’re taught.” Specific knowledge is what the course lacked, and what he managed to source independently: during the final year of his BA, Lovro took up a job at a fabric wholesale company. That’s where he developed a shrewd eye for materials. “I am a collector. I take a lot of pride and great pleasure in selecting my fabrics. It’s one of my biggest strengths: I have a rough idea of what I’m looking for, but the fun part is not knowing what I’ll find.”

The cost for Yutopia, his BA final collection, awarded as the best student collection at Ljubljana Fashion Week, was close to zero. It was made entirely of old blankets, the type he would find at his grandmother’s Yugoslavian socialist apartment, with geometrical floral motifs in brown, orange and pink. With only one vintage object, imbued with a tactile memory, Lovro dissected the ‘second-hand nostalgia’ which was passed down to his generation about a country that had ceased to exist before he was even born. References in the collection have one common denominator: “Popular culture was what kept Yugoslavia together. When the country fell apart, people stopped listening to the music and watching the movies produced in the new rival countries.” Himself divided between his Slovenian and Croatian origins, and coping with an inherited feeling of demise, Lovro found in the works of Yugoslavian artists a source of inspiration and a personal way of reassessing the past.

After all classes had ended, Lovro dedicated a whole year to the completion of his BA collection. By the time he enrolled at Central Saint Martins, the designer had already made himself accustomed to the practical methods of the MA and was off to a smooth start: “I thought I’d at least have some imposter syndrome, especially coming from a small Slovenian university, but I picked up very quickly that everyone around me had their flaws.” The fashion school, with its aura of inaccessibility and rigorous design-focused approach, turned out to be just fine. “Tutors were tough and had high expectations, but I was used to much worse criticism in Slovenia and I remember thinking: ‘If people here get offended, they’re too soft.’”

Lovro’s MA final collection, which ascended to the echelons of fashion with a dress featured in the June issue of British Vogue, was developed around a piece of his pre-collection: a long gown made of an old blanket. Although he admits he was bored of the material at that point, his tutors liked it, and that was enough to dissuade him from giving it up. For Lovro, the idea of newness should always be considered with caution: “As designers, the thought of doing something different haunts us. And in this search for difference, we lose ourselves. We should all be more confident about our signature,” he says.

In light of this awareness, his MA collection is a continuation of the themes explored in Yutopia. As the variety of colours and textures got richer and more diversified, his work became more nuanced with darker undertones. To the blanket looks, reminiscent of the comforting feeling of being tucked in, the designer paired elements of butcher’s apparel, like the UV printed chainmail corset. “It’s for the butchery of Yugoslavian arts,” he points out promptly, with no political innuendo intended: “I’m not looking at Yugoslavia as a country, but rather at the good things that happened in the arts back then. I want my work to be personal, not to create controversy.”

For instance, the feathers embroidered on a belted dress are a quote from Aleksandar Petrović’s movie I Even Met Happy Gypsies, about the miserable life of a feather dealer. The wounded motif is likewise hand-beaded onto a silk taffeta peplum.

Shock value is not contemplated: in Lovro’s glamorous designs, grotesque references are transformed into decoration. “I don’t want to make clothes if they’re not elegant,” he affirms. And yet, what he seeks in a look is precisely the frisson of something off: all six outfits of the collection feature layered ensembles of dresses, skirts and capes inspired by the mid-century couture pieces of Pierre Cardin and Cristóbal Balenciaga. “I want a silhouette to be interesting and weird at the same time, even the ones from that period.” Synthetic fur in vivid colours complements collars and hems, a tongue-in-cheek, high-fashion rendition of the Balkan aesthetic.

The plan to stick to his signature still stands: Lovro is now looking for a part-time job, while he’d also welcome the idea of an internship in London or anywhere else he could be offered a good opportunity. But, what happens after you end up among “Britain’s brightest fashion graduates” in British Vogue? It’s a question one rarely gets to ask, and the answer, in Lovro’s case, would still be: nothing. “I didn’t have the naive thinking of being flooded by requests. I am thankful for the experience, but with CSM’s high turnover of fashion graduates, it’s all just up to me, my persistence and the work I am willing to put in.” The cost of living crisis and competitive job market are not a deterrent, Lovro will figure it out on his own.

Words: Eleonora Dal Bosco