I was lost in LA when lockdown began. I decided to stay a while.

I was lost in LA when lockdown began. I decided to stay a while. I was getting lost in Huntington Beach, eating burgers (responsibly), driving to Starbucks in my loungewear and ordering coffee in silly voices. Watching What We Do In the Shadows, eating ice cream sketching like crazy, filling two sketchbooks with weird and wonderful ideas. I thought of what I loved, remembered the 90-ties, longed. Made big decisions. When I eventually made it back to Europe, I fell on love with a trippy California desert that Liberty London had done.It was exquisite. You go to the desert to escape and I was trying to do the same. And I did. This lead me to re-examine the value of former travel. I returned to my native North Macedonia after 32 years of living abroad. I took with me a huge amount of travel memorabilia. Hand cut paper cards from Miami, tea cups from Paris, porcelain from London, a Rix Island Wear shirt from Hawaii and of course, my Golden Girls fridge magnets from LA. I started exploring my old home town and came up with the idea of a nostalgic staycation, revisiting old haunts and places linked to my childhood memories. I roamed the zoo and the abandoned swimming pool with brutalist diving boards I used to go to as a child (Whoever saw the MOMA exhibit on ex Yugoslav modernism knows what this might look like). What was staggering is the fact that at this point I realized I had designed something entirely wearable both inside and outside, not like a long line bra to be worn under a Le Smoking, but a new breed of sexy, modern, comfortable clothing that merges loungewear, athleisure, cycle shorts and unitards, given a new lease of life by the use of exquisite fabrics from Liberty London and Colombo Antonio laces. The new sexy that I believe I came up with is casual, not done up, not boudoir (though nothing wrong with that) and full of joie de vivre. Liberty print pajamas are cut very loose for that extra chill vibe. Unitards are using narrow lace pieced together, taking the direction of stretch into account to use the beauty of conceptual lace to create ready to wear cross over pieces. Comfort is at the forefront of what we do nowadays, working from home, but so is the need to look good on an impromptu zoom call or to pop to the store. Omni utilitarian pieces that remain feminine, super comfortable and very fashion forward, whilst being wearable. Definitely a hybrid.