Five Minutes with Irena Jusufovic

Tell us about your background?
I was born in Bosnia; my whole family is from Bosnia actually. We moved when I was about three, we travelled a little bit through Europe and settled in New Zealand. I moved to Australia when I was eighteen so three years ago now.

How come you came to Australia?
My family came here before I did and I thought I’d do the ‘grow up on my own’ thing and stayed in New Zealand for an extra year but then I came over for a holiday in summer and decided to stay.

What were you like as a teenager?
I was definitely into music. I sort of feel like everyone’s into music but fashion is definitely something I’ve wanted to do for sort of a long time.

Why did you get into fashion? Was there any particular motivation?
I can’t really remember; it would have started somewhere young. I guess every girl sort of makes doll clothes. Mum used to take me to the Versace exhibitions when I was really young and I know mum always wanted to be a fashion designer as well but she took the money road because she was told she couldn’t do it. I tried doing other things in design like interior design or graphics but I could tell that this was where I was going.

What would you say your major influences are?
Well in this collection I definitely got a lot of influence from Helmut Newton. He focused a lot on the female figure – he does a lot of nude work. I think it was around the 1920s. It was when all the girls were very curvy and that’s what I wanted to focus on – the Marilyn Monroe sort of figure.

Your colour palette is only Black? Why so?
I definitely got a lot of influence from Black and White, I only wear black and I got told I should stay away from that and try other things. I did a lot of market research to see what other people want rather than what I want and Brisbane really is missing that little black dress. I mean everyone’s got the little black dress but I thought I’d do a whole collection based around it. I know when I go shopping usually I’ll be after a simple cocktail dress and it’s either too boring or it’s not what I’m after – I just can’t find anything.

Will you continue to use that same colour palette?
Yeah, it’s definitely going to be based on mainly black. I’ll have most of it available in white but later on I’ll probably bring in a crazy, really stand out colour. This collection I was supposed to bring in a pink but it didn’t end up fitting in with everything so I took it out. My goal is to bring in one colour that will stand out.

Which designers inspire you?
I always love Chanel, its where that whole idea of the little black dress came from. And Dion Lee actually, I really like the way he looks at it differently. He’s thinking outside the basic silhouette of a dress. He does a lot of glass accessories and a lot of crazy big shouldered pieces and it’s really based on architecture.

What do you think of the Brisbane Fashion industry?
I think it’s lacking, I think there’s a lot of designers but I don’t see anyone really doing anything with their stuff. You see all these students that finish but they don’t really seem to do anything afterwards. They’ll pull out one collection and they show it everywhere and they’ll do the same thing in one or two year’s time sort of thing. This is the sort of industry where once you start you can’t stop and every six months you’re supposed to have a new collection sort of thing. If you’re going to launch a label you can’t be showing the same one again.

What is your ultimate goal?
I see myself overseas in a few years time because I want to get bigger. I want to take my stuff all over the world, its more like an achievement I guess. That’s what I’m in it for, it’s my goal really and I’m out to achieve it and you know obviously everyone is out there to make a living but that’s not what I’m doing.