Cumicevo Sokace Street became fashion center again - Choomich design district gathered more than twenty authors

(Bojan Milisavljevic and Marko Nenadic)

From November 1st, Cumicevo Sokace Street is, once again, a gathering place of designers, buyers and lovers of fashion. More than twenty authors will be exhibiting in Choomich design district, which is modeled after the quarters that exist in all big fashion metropolises.

The western goods in the famous shopping mall of the 1990's have been replaced by empty shop windows over the last decade. Now the citizens and guests of Belgrade can here find domestic designer clothing and footwear, broad assortment of accessories and things for the house.

Although the idea of a common retail space of designers exists for several years now, Punkuffer fashion tandem Bojan Milisavljevic and Marko Nenadic have decided to turn that idea into Choomich this year.

- We have made the decision to gather different generations of designers in this space in the city center, which has been forgotten for a long time by both citizens and designers. We have come to an idea to revive Cumicevo Sokace Street and to take as a model the parts of the cities around the world where we spent some time and saw similar concepts, one of which is Barcelona. That city has a district named Barigotic, which was first quite neglected and then it livened up and became a tourist destination when the city allocated that space to designers. Unfortunately, we have not received any assistance from the city – designer Bojan Milisavljevic explains for eKapija.

Milisavljevic says that the biggest problem was to find and connect the owners of private outlets in Cumicevo Sokace Street with designers.

(Verica Rakocevic)

- The beauty of the whole story lies in the fact that this district is not going to gather only fashion designers, but also interior designers, architects, sculptors, set designers, antiquarians. This is an opportunity for the people who are interested in fashion over the whole year, and not only during the fashion weeks, to see different approaches to design and what's new in the world of designers at one place – says Milisavljevic.

There are 15 stores on the ground floor where between 1 and 5 authors exhibit their designs and, as our interlocutor said, almost all stores on the first floor are occupied.

From yesterday, Choomich is richer for the following stores: No Brothers No Sisters with designers Tijana Pavlov and the Stevancevic sisters, Deerspotter - the store owned by Ana Ljubinkovic and Remake team consisting of Jovana Bozovic and Antea Arizanovic Mutaovic, Atelje Alternativa - Daniela Gisic and Ivana Ristic and Ljubica Cvejic, Punkuffer - Bojan Milisavljevic and Marko Nenadic, Fundus - Sonja Krstic, Jelisaveta Tatic, Dijana Mihajlovic, Prototip interior design - Milivoje Stojanovic and Miroslav Stojanovic.

Among those who exhibit their designs in the design district are also: Verica Rakocevic, Pedja Neric, Ivana Rabrenovic, Dejana Momcilovic, Natascha Plum, Aleksandra Ziravac, Emilija Petrovic, Dejan Despotovic, Vladimir Stojanovic, Bogdan Vukosavljevic, Hristina Petrovic, Teodora Drakulovic, Antea Tosic, Tamara Marjanovic, Marija Banjac, Vesna Kratanovic, Aleksandra Lalic.

- Such concept is based on my idea that is two years old. However, my initial idea was different because I did not see myself in that concept. Instead, I wanted the city to agree with young designers and give them an opportunity to have their own retail space. I think this will be interesting to foreigners because such designer districts can be found all around the world. I only came here to back the whole project with my experience, career and position – fashion creator Verica Rakocevic told eKapija.

She points out that her store is, first of all, an exhibition space and that visitors will be able to get familiar with her articles that can also be found in other stores of this creator.

Ana Ljubinkovic, a representative of a younger generation of designers, says that she has accepted this idea of a common retail space as soon as she has heard it.

- Although our goods are not commercial, I hope that we will attract a large number of visitors by being at one place. I cannot single out a target group of people who will be coming to Choomich because the profile of buyers of the clothing I design always surprises me – designer Ana Ljubinkovic told eKapija.

S.O.