SLADANA KRSTIC: Every garment begins with tradition but finds its identity through innovation.

QueenMood Couture sits at the intersection of classical tailoring and pop-art boldness — two worlds that rarely coexist so deliberately. How did you first arrive at that tension, and why does it still feel necessary to you?

The fusion of classical tailoring and Pop Art is a creative necessity, a way to break conventions and introduce a contemporary vision. Rome is a constant source of inspiration: the timeless elegance of Via Sistina, where my two ateliers are located, continuously dialogues with the city’s vibrant and chaotic energy. Eveningwear and Pop-inspired pieces are not designed for two different women, but rather represent two sides of the same woman, one who appreciates timeless beauty and another who is fearless in expressing herself boldly. A haute couture garment is not merely clothing, but true wearable art, created to transcend fleeting trends.

Your fabrics are designed and produced entirely in-house, which is rare even within haute couture. What does that level of creative control over material mean for the garments you ultimately build around them?

Designing and producing our fabrics in-house is a philosophical choice before it is a commercial one. It allows for complete creative control, giving life to materials that become an extension of the brand’s identity. Pure silk, both precious and steeped in history, demands profound respect. It requires understanding the past in order to deconstruct and reinvent it. Preserving the atelier model, especially in an era dominated by mass industrial production, is essential to safeguarding exclusivity, craftsmanship, and the authentic luxury of Made in Italy.

Rome is not just a backdrop for QueenMood — it's embedded in how the brand exists in the world, from Via Sistina to the rhythm of Alta Roma. How does the city shape your creative decisions, consciously or otherwise?

From its ateliers located in the heart of Rome, at Via Sistina 94 and Via Francesco Crispi 53, QueenMood breathes in the creative energy generated by the capital’s major cultural and fashion events. This environment inspires the brand to reinterpret the concept of Haute Couture, creating a style that constantly balances classical elegance and contemporary trends.

Haute couture eveningwear and bold pop-art pieces require very different emotional registers from the woman who wears them. Do you think of these as two distinct customers, or two sides of the same one?

Evening gowns and Pop Art-inspired creations are not intended for two distinct clients, but rather for two complementary facets of the same woman: multifaceted, self-aware, and capable of adapting her emotional expression to different contexts, moving effortlessly from refined sartorial elegance to the bold energy of contemporary fashion.

Pure silk remains central to your material vocabulary. What does working with such a historically loaded fabric demand of you as a designer — and what does it allow?

Working with pure silk requires listening to the material itself. It is not simply a matter of sewing; it is about understanding its historical memory and its inherent fluidity.

Being featured consistently in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Moevir Paris places you in constant dialogue with international editorial standards. How do you maintain your own visual language when the gaze of the industry is that close?

Reconciling a strong sartorial identity with the standards of publications such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Malvie and Moevir Paris requires a clear and focused vision. Within this dialogue, the brand merges Italian tradition with a contemporary allure. Attention to detail, uncompromising luxury, and artistic inspiration remain at the heart of every collection I create.

The pop-art dimension of your work carries a particular kind of fearlessness. Where does that confidence in color, pattern, and excess come from — and has it ever felt like a risk?

Every runway becomes a different frame for the same work of art. On a more traditional stage, the garment creates a striking visual contrast. Before the cosmopolitan and industry-savvy audiences of Milan or Rome, it is celebrated as a pure expression of avant-garde creativity.

Showing at Roma Fashion Week, Milan, and Alta Roma in Town gives your work exposure across multiple contexts and audiences. Does a garment ever change meaning depending on the stage it walks?

Presenting collections in prestigious settings such as Milan Fashion Week or AltaRoma highlights the garment’s chameleon-like nature. A haute couture piece infused with strong Pop influences does not change its essence. Instead, it amplifies its message depending on the perspective of the viewer.

The atelier model — particularly one built around in-house textile innovation — is as much a philosophy as a business. What does it mean to you to protect that structure in a landscape increasingly driven by scale?

It means preserving identity, craftsmanship, and the soul of each garment. In a market driven by quantity, investing in in-house textile innovation makes it possible to create unique and unrepeatable fabrics while ensuring exclusivity and ethical production. It also means educating clients about the value of time, meticulous attention to detail, and bespoke tailoring, qualities that never go out of style.

Your work is described as a continuous dialogue between classical refinement and contemporary expression. At what point in your process does a piece tell you which direction it wants to go?

For me as a designer, fashion is an ongoing dialogue rather than a simple imposition of ideas. A garment reveals its true direction during the pattern-making and draping process on the mannequin or on the person. It is at that moment that the fabric responds, suggesting whether it wishes to be more fluid, structured, or asymmetrical, transforming the initial concept into a tangible work of art.

Fashion has a complicated relationship with art — borrowing its language while often resisting its permanence. How do you think about the long life of a couture piece: is it wearable art, or something else entirely?

For my brand, QueenMood, a haute couture creation is not intended to be ephemeral. It is a work of art that comes to life only when worn. Its permanence is not defined by the static rigidity of a painting or sculpture, but by the emotions it evokes over time, celebrating the identity of the person who chooses it. The garment becomes a tangible expression of craftsmanship and conceptual design, uniting elegance with a distinctive Pop sensibility.

Looking at where QueenMood is now — the atelier, the stores, the international presence — what remains unresolved for you creatively? What does the next chapter feel like?

Despite having two well-established ateliers in Rome, between Via Sistina and Via Francesco Crispi, and an international presence that brings Made in Italy to cities such as New York and Hong Kong, the unresolved creative challenge remains the ongoing pursuit of a balance between avant-garde innovation and wearability. I have always been fascinated by underground culture and by combining elements that initially appear incompatible. The next chapter will push even further toward the hybridization of materials and visual languages, moving beyond the boundaries of traditional tailoring to explore new interpretations of femininity.