“Nellista” Nelly Murariu: Fashion Designer in Bucharest

This girl has mad talent!  An idea I decided to flirt with but never pursued was manipulating drawings in photoshop.  It enhances your croquis’ and brings it to a whole other level.  I am so glad to see this successfully done and has greatly inspired me.  Her portfolio is spectacular, and designs, original and so creative!  I think she could design wardrobe for a Star Wars movie easily, like those elaborate Queen Amidala outfits.  I hope to see her go big places because this is talent.

Where did you study ? Do you have a degree?
I studied fashion design and foreign languages for three years. Graduated both colleges in 2001 with „Fashion Designer” and „Assistant Manager” degrees.

Where are you from?
I am from Bucharest, Romania.

Where do you live now?
I live in a small town called Pantelimon which is very close to the capital, Bucharest.

What inspires you as a designer?
Oh….well…where should I begin? My inspiration works in a very strange way. Years ago, when I was at the beginning, I used to dream my fashion design ideas and I would actually wake up instantly in order to draw a quick sketch on a notebook that I was always keeping by the bed. Nowadays I just close my eyes, literally, and….they simply pop up in my mind. But other times I get inspired by outside sources, like nature, architecture, food, patterns, simple shapes and colours, sometimes even feelings……!

Are you in fashion design or graphic design?
When I first started fashion design I didn’t know anything about graphic design. Then, as years went by, I got drawn by this amazing field and after a few years I started to do Photomanipulation and Illustration as well. Presently I am actually having the most fun combining the two.

Where did you learn photoshop?
I am self taught in Photoshop, I actually learned everything on my own from the very beginning. Thank God for the internet and the nice artists who share their experience in order to help people like me. That’s how I ended up watching tons of video tutorials online and reading lots of „How to’s” which were really really helpful.

So you combine your manual sketchings with photoshop or draw directly from the tablet? Where did you learn that technique? That is something I am totally in to.
Sometimes I use an already drawn sketch, sometimes I draw directly on the tablet. After learning a fair amount of things that I can do in Photoshop, I had the idea of using this advantage to create „digital” fashion sketches: I instantly fell in love with the results! I love this technique because it gives me so many options to use my classical croquis as a base in combination with actual photos of textures and prints which will make the sketches look so much more realistic. In digital drawing the range of colours is also pretty astonishing and all the filters and blending modes make the whole process so much easier and with absolutely amazing results. Of course I look up to the artists who still use traditional drawing but I would definitely recommend any aspiring fashion designer to try this combination, they will feel totally reborn and will find so much more inspiration in the most unexpected places!

What designer would you like to see your clothes on?
First, I would like to see some of my clothes on…..me….! Then, I would be ecstatic to see them on my friends! Eventually, I would love to be able to recognize them on people in the streets, but I guess the ultimate wish would be to see them worn by famous singers and actors. Lady GaGa would definitely be my very first choice! And even though I suppose every designer likes to wear his/her own fashion, it would be a real honour if great designers like Jean Paul Gaultier or Vivienne Westwood liked my outfits that much that they would actually wear them!

If you could design for any designer who would it be?
It would definitely be Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood or Givenchy.

What are your favorite things to design?
I am mostly drawn towards avant garde fashion, so whether it is something ready-to-wear or haute-couture I always try to think outside the box and add that „wow” bold detail which would make my designs stand out. I like designing pants, leggings, jackets, leotards and unitards, tops, sometimes skirts and dresses and my fabrics of choice would be leather, organza, nets, lurex, spandex, silver or gold metal substitutes, reptile skin and feather substitutes, silks, scales.

What is ur style? Gamine? Ingenue? Classic? Dramatic? Punk? Pop? Rock? Hip Hop? etc.
I’ll have to go with futuristic, even though I don’t try to anticipate the fashion of the future, but more like to go where nobody has gone before by suggesting and hopefully establishing new trends that people can adopt once they have acknowledged that there is a high desire for bold fashion inside themselves.

What other hobbies do you have?
I also love photography, photomanipulation, traditional glass icon painting, sometimes I flirt with writing and I also collect tea cups, souvenir magnets, plush toys and boxes.

Dream job?
Oh well, without a doubt my dream job would be to work as a fashion designer for my own fashion house.

Previous gigs/events?
After I finished fashion design I did participate in a few national fashion design contests but was told by the experts that I was too young to start a career in this field….! Soon after that I got dissapointed and moved on with other career plans in my life. Since I have restarted to create again for sometime now, I do most of my stuff at home on the internet and I participate in lots of online contests whether they involve photomanipulation, fashion design or photography.

Upcoming gigs/events?
I am participating in a contest on „Talenthouse.com”, to create a stage outfit for Florence Welch. Once the voting time will be opened anybody interested can access: [link] and support me by voting my design. Thank you!
I am also trying my chances on „Garmz.com” hoping to get enough votes on my designs so that they will actually get produced. You’re more than welcome to vote if you like what you see: [link]
I am also currently working on a fashion design illustration commission for one of my clients and I have also finished a collaboration with a friend on Deviantart for some outfits that he needed for a videoclip to promote his new book.
In the meantime I am continuously updating my portfolio, hoping that one day I will get that once-in-a-lifetime chance to see my fashion designer dream come to life!

Facebook
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Website
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Blog (under construction)
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Online Portfolios
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Online Fashion Design Contests
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