A pair of pants was the trigger. She went out one day to buy a palazo at the stores in her city. Of all She was scared by the price she had to pay for something that didn’t have even the slightest detail worth it. He bought a few meters of fabric, borrowed a sewing machinewithout knowing how to use it, and made that garment that he wanted and had in his mind.
In that act of absolute daring, “Titita Merelito”an artisan enterprise that shows its designs at the China Muerta fair since 2015. But it’s not just that. Dinka Bezic, from a Croatian family, militates against the tyranny of sizes and gender stereotypes.
This woman, who during For 15 years he was a primary school teacher and who defines himself as “team buckler”, because when his children asked him to fix an arena heThe metal hooks were his weapon of “mom solves”, one day in her life she discovered that “things were going the other way”.
“With the idea of making my pants, I put the fabric on the table and with the greatest common sense, I cut, I sat down at the machine, threaded as best I could and started. From that moment on I never stopped again,” Dinka said.
A friend saw her dressed and asked her for pants like that. The budding clothing designer told her: “No way, it’s one thing to make one for me, but she insisted and I went to buy the fabric and I sewed the first pair of pants for her and there it started. They asked me for several and one day I found myself doing un showroom at Luli’s house, my friend. It was a one-way trip. I went daring to more things and even manage to dedicate myself only to this”, he said.
After the pants, the divers arrived, the shirts and the infinite opportunities that opened up between threads and scraps. One day she found herself having a holiday in San Martín de los Andes and El Bolsón. “I ran out of cloth, I even sold the hangers. With all that money I canceled the mortgage loan on my house and on February 12 I entered my Industrial Park school to resign from my position as owner. Imagine what a blow that was. One month after The pandemic arrived and they left us inside. I faced him with a billion questions, but then I realized it was a trial by fire. and here I am undefeated and absolutely grateful of the impulse I took because it is a 180 degree turn in my life”said the artisan.
Dinka Bizec is a designer, seamstress and creator of a brand with her own style. Photo: courtesy.
Of course, to remain in this profession, as in any other, it is necessary to strengthen a distinctive mark, a seal that is not repeated anywhere. And Dinka found it in his own abilities. Any dressmaker or couturier uses the molding as a starting point. Not Dinka.
The designer thinks what she wants to do and then throw the canvas on the table and cut and he sews and leaves his mark on it. The thing is that, he has always fought against the tyranny of sizes and against that damned definition of hegemonic bodies.
“The day I have that using molding I stopped sewing because If I have to be subject to the molding I am subject to the sizes, which is something that bothers me in a super important way. The thought that a person tells me you give me a size S diver makes me uncomfortable. What is a size S?”Dinka reflected.
Faced with that, he has a strategy. “How do you want your clothes to fit? is the question I always ask. Do you want it loose, do you want it attached to the body, do you want it long? is the question I ask. I’m looking for you Try the garment, make sure it fits you comfortably and coolly. as you want and that is the garment you wear. Size or fit doesn’t matter that says you have to have it,” he explained.
“We think of a hegemonic body, of a body that should be dressed in this or that way or that certain bodies, in order to be pretty, should be that size. That worries me and I don’t want it in my job,” she added.
And the He fights every day. “At my place there are women who maintain that they will not find anything for themselves there. I take the time and ask them to walk around the booth,” she said. “You walked past and took away the chance to see if there is anything in this cloth for you. Here there are clothes for larger bodies, thinner, with more hips, with less bust, thinner. When they find something and take it, I think that I am working for all bodies without the horrible tyranny of sizes. That’s my job. How much violence they have exerted on our bodies just with clothes. Imagine yourself from other places,” she pointed out.
“That is a militancy that I have, ending the tyranny of the bodies,” he insisted.
In that sense, Dinka learned and made it his own thatuse gender in their productions. And from “the other side of the counter,” he found an immediate response. “It happened to me in San Martín de los Andes that a man came and bought me a little dress and left with the garment worn as if he were a diver. The idea is that everyone can find something they want to wear. There is no gender here. Breaking in with that seems wonderful to me that it happens,” she reflected.
After the pants, His next challenge was “to solve the wind that hits you in the face and prevents you from enjoying walking outside in autumn and winter.” The diver was already there, he just needed a hood. “But since I never used molding, I don’t know how to make hoods. “So I thought that if I sewed an infinite collar it could serve as both,” the artisan added. Today it is the most sought after and sold product at its China Muerta stall.
Their designs are not repeated. They were inspired by the hand of a plastic artist. Photo: courtesy.
Once the garment is made, it is time to add that very personal touch that will show the rest of the world an exclusive Titita Merelito.
The designer began “timidly” by placing squares or circles taken from scraps that were left. Until one day she crossed paths with Paula Pergollini, a plastic artist from Neuquén. “She came to China Muerta often and she learned about my entire creative process. She encouraged me to encourage myself embroider different compositions on the fabrics with scraps, different textures, but I did not encourage doing it directly on the garment, I put it together in a scrap and then glued it to the fabric. She was the one encouraged to take a leap further and start composing directly on the garment,” he recalled. His compositions are inspired by the natural landscape of the farm where he lives.