(35mm cover image:  Claires, NYC)

What follows is a translation of a printed newspaper article published by Novi List, Croatia, July 30th, 2019 about the Mendrilla “Time” collection:

Title: “The First Fashion Collection Designed With a Revolutionary Invention”

Collection TIME, created by Mandali Mendrilla, a Rijeka born designer based in Belgium, was designed with the help of a new technology in the field of energy called TimeWaver, developed in Germany, which harmonises the human information field with quantum physics. Atelier Mendrilla used the technology along with the designer’s intuitive process to achieve the topmost feeling a garment can offer the human body.

Helsinki Fashion Week is the only and the first 100% sustainable fashion week in the world. The Mandali Mendrilla label showed their collection amongst the best sustainable designers and brands curated from all over the world, who recently displayed their S/S 2020. collections made of eco friendly materials at the fashion week.

The award winning designer and multidisciplinary artist with a successful international career, Mandali Mendrilla, had first founded her atelier in 1995, in the city of Rijeka, where she was born.

Mandali Mendrilla is one of the world’s first vegetarian luxury fashion labels, best known for its unique sculptural designs called Yantra Couture, created in harmony with nature. Their »sculptural couture atelier«, based in Belgium, aims to inspire a holistic approach to fashion and to life. 

In their latest collection named “TIME”, presented in Helsinki, the brand reflects and rethinks the cyclic nature of time by exploring, in the process of designing, the ancient Vedic science of architecture called Vastu and its intuitive application to designing sculptural garments.

Vastu Architecture

The new collection by the Mandali Mendrilla label is also unique in it being the first ever fashion collection designed using the revolutionary invention TimeWaver, a new energy technology developed in Germany which harmonises the human information field using quantum physics. Atelier Mendrilla used the technology along with their intuitive process to achieve the topmost feeling a garment can offer a human body.

— The TimeWaver company recognised my work with and explorations in Vastu architecture and its application to designing garments so we decided to experiment for the first time using TimeWaver technology in designing a sculptural gown called “Padma” with which the Atelier closed the “Fairytale of the Sun and Moon” show at Fashion Week Zagreb. I really loved the way the technology refined and streamlined my intuitive process and decided to extend our collaboration to a whole new collection and offer the possibility of ordering one of a kind garments for clients using the TimeWaver technology, said the designer.

Each of the pieces in the collection is a sculpture in itself. Some of the items as well as the scarves made in highest quality genuine ahimsa silk (peace silk that is carefully produced with silkworms that emerge freely from their cocoon and are not killed in the process) also contain Biocrystal dust, an invention by the BC TECH company based in Rijeka. Biocrystal dust enhances the flow of energy in the body and is composed of 16 crystals, silver and gold.

The Show at the Palace of Nobility

– With Madhu Van Paare (business developement manager) and me, creative director and designer, in our team in Helsinki there was London based stylist Reena Lakhani, artist Shobhita, photographer and videographer Filip Gour from Rijeka and Neven Mendrila, also a photographer and videographer from Rijeka. Hair and makeup for the show was designed and executed by famous stylist Tom Schevelin, inspired by a »moodboard« created by Belgian make up artist Vrindi Barriball. The choreography for the show was created by the very well known choreographer Alyona Grinchenko, said Mendrilla and added:

– After the show, held at the Palace of Nobility, which was open to the public for the first time for the occasion, the audience clapped enthusiastically and the founder of the event, Evelyn Mora announced one of the very interesting panel talks about sustainable fashion and the future of our planet which happened after the show, called »Connecting Fashion Waste and Architecture«, saying that she had never cried at a fashion show before.

A Secret of the Atelier:

Mandali Mendrilla has successfully achieved to connect scuience and fashion in her work. As she says herself, science helps her refine the intuitive process of creation. Since 1995 til today, the label grew together with her. As she, in her design process, was discovering more and more about the world and its dimensions, her label reflected these findings.

Mandali told us a bit about the way Yantra Couture garments are created:

— The details of creation of the garments in the Yantra Couture opus will remain a well guarded secret of the atelier. What I can reveal is that the creation of garments starts with writing a piece of poetry written specifically for the garment, and the process is continued by composing a “moodboard” which usually contains colours, shapes, references from history and literature, inspirational thoughts about a client, sounds, fragrances, times of day etc. as well as one or more of specific Yantra diagrams used in Vastu architecture (also known as Mandalas), symmetrical energy harmonising patterns. The pattern of the garment is based on the shapes found in the Yantra, the inspirations collected in the moodboard and the designer’s intuitive processes. The process of Yantra Couture is a refined method designed to offer the client then highest energetic pleasure of experiencing an especially personal designer item which enhances and harmonises the human body and the space around it.

Mandali’s work was exhibited in museums worldwide and she is currently working on new projects:

— Our sculpture called “Bhumi Mandala” is currently on its way to the exhibition spaces of the official New York, Paris, London and Milan fashion weeks with the exhibition on sustainable fashion organised by the Helsinki Fashion Week. Some of our other words are traveling as well and we are currently planning exhibitions in New York and Geneva where we are working on a secret (for now) art project with one of the most highly regarded classical musicians and musical innovators of today, said Mandali.

Mandali visits native Rijeka once a year and commented it would be very nice to someday exhibit in Rijeka again.

Click here for to view a digital version in Croatian.