Designer Clothing Is One of the Best-Kept Secrets in Yugoslavia
Private enterprise is thriving throughout Yugoslavia.
Zagreb, Yugoslavia’s second-largest city, has about 600 independently owned shops (compared to about 1,000 collective, state-run shops), and about 300 of them belong to fashion designers who sell their own distinctive lines of ready-to-wear to fashion-conscious Yugoslavs and foreign visitors.
Zagreb’s designer clothes are quite inexpensive and the dollar is still strong in Yugoslavia.
Most designer boutiques preview two collections annually at gala fashion shows in the Hotel Inter-Continental ballroom and other venues around town. Styles range from well-cut and handsomely detailed traditional suits for men and elegant dresses for women to tastefully trendy and innovative outfits.
Usually the boutiques make limited numbers of each style, so buyers are guaranteed an individualized look. Some shops custom-make clothes for regular clients.
The boutiques are licensed under Yugoslav law as tailor shops. Designers have passed state-controlled tailoring examinations. Each atelier/boutique is allowed to employ up to 10 seamstresses and/or clerks.
Zagreb designers can’t always get materials they want, so they improvise, mixing fabrics and patterns. They don’t complain about this “make-do” situation. They call it creativity.
Shop to Shop by Cab
Designer boutiques are located throughout Zagreb, some in clusters. The most efficient way to make the rounds is to take a cab from shop to shop. You can negotiate with the driver to wait for you at each boutique.
You may begin with designer Branimir Hundic, commonly acknowledged to have initiated Yugoslavia’s private enterprise boutique movement 20 years ago. Hundic was educated as an architect, worked as a theater and film designer and created collections for Paco Rabanne before setting up his own boutique at Vlaska 41. He creates high-style collections for men and women and has many foreign clients.
Hundic prefers natural fabrics--including fine wools, linens, and cottons--and pays careful attention to selection of linings, buttons and trim. Classically cut, beautifully tailored double-breasted women’s linen jackets with broad shoulders are made with contrasting linings: black with brown, beige or olive drab with black (about $75). Other black linen womens’ jackets, featuring charming tuxedo fronts, are finished with striped lining and are worn with matching striped trousers.
There are a beautiful green silk suit with a skinny skirt and tight-waisted, full peplum jacket ($200) and a black velvet suit with a broad satin collar ($160). Pretty dresses with wrap tops and slightly flared skirts are about $138. For summer, sleeveless halter-top dresses cost about $38, and straw hats in matching colors are about $20. Finely tailored men’s two-piece suits cost about $175.
Natasa (Vlaska 31), owned by Vesna and Drago Muhic, features cotton-ribbed knit dresses ($38), skirts that hug the hips and then flare fully ($28), and handsome skirt and shirt ensembles in navy blue and white with jackets vertically striped and skirts horizontally striped ($50).
Trendy Suits
At Vlaska 66, Tradate’s spare gray and white interior is an ideal showplace for trendy men’s white linen suits ($100) and women’s green or rose-colored skinny rib-knit dresses with snaps all the way down the back ($55) and charming plaid blazers ($60).
Don’t miss Katarina Balogh (Radiceva 22), who has beautiful black and white paisley print dresses with partially pleated skirts, uneven hems and designer black and white buttons ($160). She also has raw-silk suits with short multicolored striped jackets and white short skirts ($120), gray silk blouses in which several floral prints are used ($53), white linen sleeveless dresses with matching jackets ($180), and oversize cotton shirts with thick, uneven black and white stripes ($145). Trust Balogh to capture attention with unusual buttons and unexpected details.
Matei (Prolaz Sestara Bakovic 3) is considered among Zagreb’s most fashionable boutiques. Designer Velmir Matei details clothes discreetly. There are black skirts with slightly tucked fronts ($38), classically cut women’s suits of white linen flecked with yellow or pink ($77), and black cotton skirts that zip all the way up the back seam ($37).
A casual outfit of yellow cotton-knit top and slacks costs $20. A gray sateen suit has a narrow skirt ($30) and a jacket with a double column of mother-of-pearl buttons, cinched waist, and two-tiered peplum ($77). Accessories include three-inch-wide elastic belts with leather ends that fasten in a row of tiny hooks and eyes ($11).
Four boutiques on Gunduliceva are of particular interest. Vera (No. 9) offers both dressy and casual fashions designed with style and sophistication by owner Vera Mandic, who has been in business for 17 years. A navy silk dress has buttons down the left front and thickly gathered long sleeves ($160).
A beige silk spaghetti-string camisole is neatly covered with a red silk big shirt and matching harem trousers with an unusual overskirt and huge side pockets ($250 for the ensemble). A black silk suit, with blazer, matching pleated skirt and red silk shirt, sells for $280. A red linen suit has a tuxedo top and loose trousers ($115), and a gray silk formal gown has a strapless top that resembles a tulip ($330).
Next door, Boutique Duda sells leather accessories, including large basket-like handbags ($55) and others shaped like doctors’ bags and made of ostrich ($95), as well as wide belts textured with pony hair ($16) and others with one wide end and one narrow end that wrap around the waist and fasten in interesting ways ($6). There are also unusual leather watchbands.
Mali Ducan (Gunduliceva 11) has children’s clothes designed by artist Gurgia Zelmanovic-Kraljevic, including corduroy overalls ($25), dresses with amusing buttons ($16), hand-knit sweaters ($39), straw hats with colorful ribbons ($5), and hand-knit booties ($4).
Ana (Gunduliceva 13) features interesting tops, including white cotton blouses with lacy fronts or eyelet collars ($22) that can be worn with black cotton full skirts that fasten down the front with little buttons ($15), and covered with white wool double-breasted blazers ($55).
Nikola, at Mesnicka 4, has trendy men’s trousers in khaki and corduroy ($26 to $32), tailored shirts in a multitude of stripes ($26) and wool tweed and subtle plaid jackets ($52 to $65). Everything in this shop is fashionably current.
There are four good shops on Masarykova. Torbice Frankovic (No. 6) has handmade handbags of quilted leather, including stylish pouches with fastenings in the shape of hands or birds ($40 and up). Stjepan Belosa (No. 11) makes wonderful shoes, including vibrantly colored suede loafers ($47) with fringe, tassels and other details. Special orders take a week to make, and cost the same as ready to wear.
Victory (No. 12) offers well-cut linen blazers ($25), jersey knit dresses that drape diagonally across the front ($53), layered-look blouses in cream-colored silk ($45), and fitted lizard-print tops to be worn with hip-hugging short black skirts (about $60). Madlen (No. 15) features more conservative women’s suits (about $60 and up).
