Terézia Feňovčíková is already known on the Slovak fashion scene for her creation of men's fashion, but her models are often purchased by women as well. In 2021, she won our competition for designers and co-created the Spring/Summer 2022 collection, which she worked on in parallel with the creation of her own collection f5 Prodigious. This allowed her to compare working on ready-to-wear fashion and creating a designer collection. How she creates, what inspires her, how she codes the names of her collections and models, and what she immediately used in her collection from her internship with us, you can find out in the interview.
When did you realize that fashion was the path you wanted to take in your life? Has it been a passion of yours since you were a child?
I didn't sew for dolls, but as a little girl I drew fashion diaries, characters with full outfits, accessories, hairstyles... When I was deciding on a high school, I wanted to follow the path of what I enjoyed. I started preparing for clothing design, modeling, and fashion design. I wanted to do something creative, artistic, but in a tangible way.
You continued your professional education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. Did this study of fashion design meet your expectations?
The transition from high school to university wasn't that easy. I only got into the Academy of Fine Arts on my third attempt, in the meantime I went to Comenius University, specifically to study art. Looking back, it was right that the admission wasn't automatic. I needed to mature more in certain things, it benefited me personally and it certainly benefited my subsequent studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. I was lucky that during my studies I met really qualified experts. I'm the type who really wants to make the most of my studies. To attend all the lectures, to use their potential. I still draw from them. The way they taught us to think creatively is actually the root of how I think now in my work. Like every school, this one wasn't perfect, but I believe that if you lack something in school, you have to find it somewhere else.
You design men's clothing, which is much less common among designers than women's clothing. Why did you choose this path?
During my studies, as I was creating my own style, I realized that in a way I was still drawing from men's wardrobe, that it was much closer to me. Before, I created mainly and exclusively women's things, because I tried it on myself, the whole process was easier, but I discovered that my women's creations were probably not entirely suitable for Slovak women. Because men's fashion helped me to relax, I discovered that this was the right way to relax in men's wardrobe as I perceive it. The aforementioned diploma collection was also men's.
When creating, you are mainly inspired by cinematography and films. Why are they so fascinating to you?
As I mentioned, that personal fascination is paramount for me and drives me. When I set up a concept for a collection, it is in a way difficult, complex, and when I want to tell it simply, I look for a connection in films. It is then much easier to understand it through something that a person already knows, which may or may not be close to them. I am mainly inspired by films from the horror and sci-fi genres, my favorites.
What does your creative process look like? Do you need silence or do you turn on, for example, the soundtrack from a movie that inspired you?
The film is always at the beginning, when the idea is born, when I'm writing down what the concept will be about, how it should relate to the film. Then comes the music, which is not entirely related to the film, but rather to the atmosphere that I want to convey to people through the collection. For example, for the latest collection, Frankenstein was my inspiration, but the music was not about Frankenstein, but the 90s and grunge. Of course, it also happens to me that I need complete silence, especially when I have to concentrate, when the execution is more technically demanding, and I have to think more about what to do with what and how.
How would you compare working for a brand that creates ready-to-wear fashion with your work under the freier brand?
My work is based in a way on some spontaneity. First of all, it is the creation of a collection, then there is interest from specific customers, often those customers are loyal who come back to me, and I actually tailor the model to them. The customer leaves the overall creativity (even in the case of any adjustments) completely up to me. When it comes to ready-made clothing, we have to take all the standards and understand them globally, nationwide. At the same time, the brand has to think about who its customer is, what the parameters are... Some complexity, which I eliminate by working with a specific customer. This is the fundamental difference. I haven't thought about it until now, but the internship at Alain Delon forced me to think about my work more comprehensively. It also helps me in my other work, because I have never thought about what kind of man it will be suitable for, what sizes I will sew it in, and why. These are the nuances of various technical details that I haven't had the chance to address in my work, and that's the fundamental difference that is a great benefit to me.
Do you have ideas for the next collection?
It's still very fresh, but I already have some ideas for how I would like to realize the next collection. But I still have to find the head and the tail. Once I set a concept, I draw from it all year. Even when I make those seasonal T-shirts or shorts, shirts, I draw from the concept of the current collection. And the same thing awaits me now, so I have to think about the concept.
Photo: Martin Mondok, Martin Tomecko, Tomáš Gál, Jarka Črepová
Speaking of coding, the names of your collections also carry a hidden meaning, right?
I built the brand identity together with graphic designer David Kalat and we agreed on a dynamic logo, or rather we change it numerically according to the order of the collection, since we did not want to go with the traditional form. The current collection is the fifth and the logo changes to the form f5. I also use letters and numbers when coding clothes. For example, pants are marked with the letter M, jackets with the letter G, etc., because they resemble the shapes of the clothes themselves. The marking from 1/4 to 4/4 represents the length of the clothing. For example, the full clothing code is f4 M 4/4 019 # lv-426 tailored pants.
How would you characterize your work? What are some of your hallmarks?
I don't try to do fashion in the first plan, but in several distributed plans. When I choose a concept, I set my own inspiration for it. I usually start from some light-hearted experiences, where there is an atmosphere that I want to achieve. This is characteristic of my work. While I like to work with personal fascinations, I want to maintain the street character there. If I had to reflect it technically, it is clearly in the cuts.
For example, after visiting a shirt factory in Trnava, where I saw how Alain Delon shirts are sewn from a technological point of view, I was able to compare the procedures with how I work. I saw a difference there, which I was then able to try out, and the "aha moment" came when I saw what was better. So I was practically inspired right away. We designers like to see how things are sewn, how they are made, how something is processed technologically, and there is something to look at here.
At the same time, I try to capture moments of that emotion in the collection, editorial or lookbook photography. My collection is not about standardized clothing in ready-to-wear sizes. I want to feel the story there and I want to push the idea of what I have built there, and for it to be felt in the photography as well.
Terézia Feňovčíková creates mainly men's models under the Freier brand. She regularly presents her work at Bratislava's Fashion Live and Košice Fashion Week, but you could also see her in Prague, Kiev or London. She has several awards to her credit - Fresh designer Fashion Live, Discovery of the Year during Bratislava Design Week or a nomination for the National Design Award. In 2021, she also won our Designer Competition and co-created the Spring/Summer 2022 collection.
