White City

by Karl Jorssen Editor-In-Chief

The soft-spoken Director of Click modeling agency and producer of Belgrade Fashion Week brings a refreshing and effective management style to the Belgrade fashion show.

It’s 8:00 a.m. on the first day of Belgrade Fashion Week, which this year goes by the moniker MTS Fashion Week Powered By Sony Ericsson.  Nenad Radujević is doing a live interview with Studio B at Nikola Pašić Square.  This would be the first of several interviews for Nenad this day in what was to be one of several long days.  I would ask him later that evening what time was his last interview to which he replies 1:00 a.m. While the last interview was at 1:00 a.m., it was actually an hour long interview that took place at the studios of Pink TV and it ended at 2:00 a.m. Just a typical 18 hour day for Nenad, one that would be repeated for the duration of Belgrade Fashion Week.  But seeing him it’s not that obvious that the days are long or that the obligations of his and his team is work.  It is work, it’s just that he does it in such a way that it doesn’t seem like work.

Later that afternoon I arrive unannounced at the Click modeling agency, the agency which he heads and produces the twice-yearly Belgrade Fashion Week.  I ask to speak with Nataša Višnjić, officially the person responsible for PR at Click and Belgrade Fashion Week.  Unofficially Nataša is responsible for everything from logistics to administration to protocol.  Nataša asks me to wait. Of course she has little time for unannounced visits hours before the first show, but she accommodates me as they accommodate everyone that wants time with Nenad or anyone in this small but cohesive team that pulls off one of the premier events in Belgrade.

Nataša downplays the significance of her role with Click and Belgrade Fashion Week.  “It’s a little bit pretentious to say that I am responsible [for so much], there are a lot of people responsible for many things for Nenad.” Nataša came to Click 9 years ago after working for Armani in Athens.  As the story goes, she promised her parents she would return to Serbia when the previous government was no longer in power.  Of course that day came sooner than anticipated and she made good on her promise to come home.  Things have changed a lot since the early days of Click.  “I remember we were in a smaller office with no internet connection and one phone, things are easier [now] because you can work more relaxed.  I have assistants to help me, years ago I was managing everything myself,” she says.

It may not be fair nor accurate to describe Nataša as a tough woman, but she is strong and is cautious when dealing with not-so-well known media like this one.  What is accurate is to say that she, like the other members of Nenad’s team, is fiercely loyal, capable and doesn’t suffer fools gladly.  Rather than the usual temperament of a strong woman she’s warm and engaging and responds to what probably seems like unnecessary questions with interest as she gently tugs on my shirt sleeve eagerly waiting for the opportunity to answer.

I mention that I’ll be attending ‘Fashion Week with a friend and was issued only one accreditation.  “That’s ok,” she replies. “And don’t worry, we’ll try to seat everyone in a good place,” her thoughts a couple of steps ahead of this writer.  The significance of her response would become obvious five hours later when figuring out where in the Belgrade food-chain you belong, as front row seats are a precious resource during Belgrade Fashion Week.

Just then Nenad, on his way out, comes from his office at the back and mentions to some assistants the two or three errands he’ll be running before they all re-group at Expo later.  Nataša looks up at him, they make eye contact without saying anything and he leaves looking – as always – totally relaxed.  Nenad’s demeanor is more of someone leaving the office early before a long weekend rather than someone whose day is really just beginning.  And although my visit was unannounced, he’s not surprised to see me.  I’ve been there for all of ten minutes and he probably knows exactly when I arrived and what is the nature of my visit.  That’s the thing about Nenad; he’s very sharp and always knows what’s going on.

Nenad founded his Click modeling agency in 1991 quietly, like many of the successful firms in Serbia, and started the twice-annual Belgrade Fashion Week in 1996 that has since become one of the major events in Belgrade.  “In the last few years it is the event, maybe one of the greatest events in Serbia,” says TV host Irina Kruška.  And Radujević is responsible for the success of Belgrade Fashion Week more than anyone else.  He was able to put together a very competent team over the years, a team whose membership has changed little.  He and his team were the first to put Belgrade on the map as a fashion centre.  While those of us who reside here are aware that Serbia has always been a place of style, this isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for foreigners when thinking of Belgrade.  Radujević has done much to change this perception.  “Nenad is basically, maybe the most important guy at the moment because he is doing something to connect Serbian fashion and the Serbian fashion business with the world,” said Kruška.  “And as far as I can see he has managed to do it – I don’t know how – but he is doing it,” adds the well known journalist.

Radujević for his part is modest while acknowledging his efforts to promote Serbian design.  “I’m taking care of our idea, our mission to promote Serbian designers, serious fashion houses and of course brands that are serious in our market such as Hugo Boss that is very important.  But mainly I think it’s very important to take care of our designers and our fashion brands. We want to develop that part of our fashion market,” he says, preferring to punctuate his comments with “we” and “our,” instead of a ‘me’ and ‘my.’

Igor Vidović is part of Radujević’s core team.  There are actually over 200 staff involved in the production of Belgrade Fashion Week but Nenad has a core team of about six people who have significantly more responsibility than others.  Vidović is responsible for the content of the daily newsletter that is distributed at all of the shows.  It’s basically a roundup of the previous night’s events and highlights the designs of the previous show. The newsletter also includes photographs of public figures who attended the previous night’s shows.  It’s a well designed, well written and well edited publication.  It’s good for the show, good for the sponsors and good for those attending and it’s the combination of these kinds of ideas and the staff that Radujević has recruited that make Belgrade Fashion Week such a high level production. Vidović spends most nights at Belgrade Fashion Week scanning the crowd for interesting or well known public figures to comment for stories he puts together for Bilten, as the newsletter is named.  You can normally see him between shows with a hand-held recorder interviewing some well-known personality.  With most shows starting at 19:00, he shows up around 18:00 and is still doing interviews at midnight.  Vidović and a few others put the completed texts together with the edited images overnight.  “The show starts at 19:00 so that means that it has to be delivered by 15:00 or 16:00 the next day,” says Vidović.  “I don’t sleep.”  That’s a turnaround from the printer in something like 10 hours, normally impossible in this publishing market.  Vidović, like most of his colleagues, does actually get some sleep during Belgrade Fashion Week, but he gets his sleep between this and a regular full time job he works during the day.

Opening Show

Click decided to go with the same venue they used previously and chose the Expo center in New Belgrade as the main venue for Belgrade Fashion Week. Even though it’s outside of town, it’s in a convenient location, is ideal for the size of the crowd that the shows attract and offers very good acoustics in their hall.  There are four areas – a main sort of lobby area, one larger hall that is separated into two halls where separate shows are staged, and a VIP area in the middle.  The way it’s set up, you get the perception of being in different rooms when it’s actually just one large hall divided by black curtains.  You enter into the first area where some of the advertisers have booths set up and they never come empty handed so there’s always something extra to add to the gift bags that are waiting for those in the better seats.  There’s a bar towards the left but this season Tikveš Wines are giving out drinks at their booth towards the other end so there’s really no need to spend money on alcohol.  Better options are available in the VIP area, and even if you don’t have a VIP pass, they’ll let you in if you know someone who does.  The lighting in the first area is slightly dimmed, not bright and it gets darker as you enter one of the two halls with runways – the White Room or the Black Room at either side.

A line up usually starts about 10 minutes before the show with the entrance to the particular room a bottle neck of people.  But the bottleneck is there for a reason, as the narrow entrance is an effective way of controlling the amount of light coming in from the main hall.  There’s one or two well-dressed guys checking for invitations, but they know who you are after one of two shows so entering is quick after you’ve been to the first show.  Just don’t come late, they hate it if you come late and you’ll hear about it if you do.  Inside the room is set up with eight rows on each side of the runway, with room for about 50 seats across.  The last few rows are raised in theatre seating style which ensures a good view from almost every seat.  There are an additional four rows on the floor at the end of the runway, with the production stand for sound and light boards behind these rows raised about half a meter off the floor.  With standing room, each show has an audience of about 800-850 people with most people attending all of the evening’s shows they’ll have a total attendance of about 2,000 people each night.

It’s a good set up using the two spaces at the one venue, as it allows for the subsequent show to be ready before the preceding show is over.  With the faster turnaround Radujević and his team are able to squeeze in four, sometimes five full shows in one night.  The lighting around the catwalk prior the show is perfect, another small but important detail that may not be obvious but adds so much to the show.  The light is just enough for you to find your seat and perhaps allow for some people watching without taking away from the overall atmosphere and theme of the show.

The 20 minutes between the time when they open the room and the start of the show is an interesting time.  Seating is assigned in a certain hierarchy, depending – presumably – on where you are in Belgrade’s pecking order.  There are three groupings for media; Media I, Media II and Media III which indicates which row the particular media group is assigned to (White City was included in the Media III group).  As well seats are assigned for advertisers, some are reserved for the particular show’s designers and other seats are reserved for public figures that are usually provided seating on the front row.  The pecking order seems to be public figures; seats reserved for the designer; advertisers; then Media I, Media II and Media III.  The best seats are towards the end of the catwalk and these front row seats are almost always occupied by some well known artist.  Although there’s a limited amount of seating on the first few rows, some of the assigned seats are not always taken so one can normally get bumped up to a better seat in a row closer to the front.  If you arrive late to one of the smaller shows, they may even seat you on the front row as the last thing a show wants is an empty seat on the floor.

Prior to the start of a show, Radujević can be seen wearing the headphones he uses to communicate with backstage.  This way he can remain on the floor and still keep on top of things in other areas.  “When there’s a big space you have to have some control,” he says.  Before the show is the time when Radujević can do what he does best – working the room.  Seeing the guy work the room is like watching art in action.  Radujević is somewhat philosophical when explaining his approachable style and in explaining what seems to be his trademark of greeting those people attending.  “I feel that I’m working as a personal host and I like to say hello to everybody and I appreciate that they [are here] and want to spend time with the designers, with our project.”  He greets well-wishers, friends, and clients and will never refuse a request for a photograph – and during the course of an evening he may get his photograph taken literally hundreds of times.  Whenever there’s a famous actor, writer or musician he’ll be asked for a photo.  He’ll be in a scrum with six or seven photographers all wanting a different shot, all wanting to take four or five shots of him and whoever.  And he always obliges – at the convenience of both the person he’s in the frame with and the photographers who are requesting the shot.  Radujević is a rare breed amongst those dealing with the media in Belgrade; it doesn’t matter which media, small or large, significant or not, friendly or hostile he gives them all the same access.  Same goes for those requesting interviews, something he’s also doing before shows. Of course this makes good publicity for his project, but Radujević sees it more technically. “This is also a part of my business and I like to give the right information.  This is very important for me and my clients,” he says.  So within a four minute period he may pose for photographs individually with three different people, do two interviews and greet several “guests” – the term he uses to refer to those attending – at either side of the catwalk.  And it’s all done so seamlessly and all done while he’s busy managing staff and the production preparations of the next show.  He does it all calmly and relaxed, always calm and always relaxed.

It may look easy, but things in Serbia things are not always what they appear to be and the fashion show is no exception.  “A lot of people think it’s easy, but it’s not easy you know, and an original is original and a copy is a copy,” he says wryly.  His comment may seem like a jab at the other Belgrade fashion show, and if it wasn’t Radujević making these comments they could be considered as much.  But Radujević is too diplomatic for such talk and really has no reason to be taking shots at competing shows.  The reality is both Click and Radujević have been generous with the competition, allowing his own models to work at Jacobs Fashion Selection and ensuring people associated with this other show are his guests at his Belgrade Fashion Week.  For Belgrade Fashion Week, for a production at this level, in this market he’s by himself.  Until someone else comes around with the experience and team that he has, there really is no competition.  The importance of having the right people is not lost on Radujević.  “We’ve been running Belgrade Fashion Week for 15 years.  It’s the 25th edition (of the show) and my team is very experienced and every time we have some new challenges and we want to improve our organization and improve our work and we want to follow what’s going on outside of the country, especially fashion centers like Paris, London, Milan and New York,” he says, comparing his productions with those productions abroad rather than less-established domestic shows whom, still have some institutional knowledge to acquire.

The first show on opening night is entitled Dreams of 1001 Nights.  Radujević partnered with Katarina Rebraca’s charity to raise money for breast cancer.  This show featured public figures – actors, musicians, well known journalists and others – modeling designs by Serbia’s best known designers.  One can only imagine the potential complications of puling this off.  Imagine, 20 odd public figures – public personalities – competing for publicity, competing for the best dress, the best position on the runway, competing for the attention.  It probably shouldn’t be possible to make an idea like this work in Belgrade, but Radujević is able to pull it off.  One of the women who agreed to model for this show was the well-known actress Katarina Radivojević.  She has nothing but good things to say about the experience which she acknowledged could have been problematic.  “It was very interesting, 24 women, very strong women and different.  But we didn’t have any conflicts, any problems,” says Radivojević.  And according to her, Radujević can work a room backstage just as good as he can out in front.  “He’s always in a good mood, relaxing everyone and connecting people,” she says, referring to this innate ability he has of making introductions and getting people together.  Radujević is very connected, everyone knows Nenad and everyone wants to be seen at his show.

Just before the show is about to start, Nataša can be seen working the front row.  She’s the one who ensures the right people are sitting in their appropriate seats.  She’s assisted by Bojan Sašić who, officially, is also responsible for logistics and PR but like Nataša, unofficially is also responsible for anything that may come up during the course of the evening.  Of course there’s always someone who wants that front row seat who was assigned a seat further from the catwalk.  Sometimes the guest will move when requested, sometimes Nataša has to be more persuasive.  At those times when more persuasion is required Nataša and Bojan are able to free up the seat diplomatically and without any drama, not the easiest task in this market.  When everyone has taken their seats and Radujević is informed that they’re ready backstage, the show will start.  Normally the show will start 20 to 30 minutes after the scheduled time, but this being Belgrade one could assume they schedule a 20:00 show at 19:30 just to make sure people show up on time.  In Belgrade, people like to arrive fashionably late.  And don’t try and leave the hall for whatever reason just before the show is about to start.  Should you do so you’ll get a ‘Where are you going?’ or ‘The show is about to start, you can’t leave now.’ from the man himself.  Radujević hates it when you get up before the show starts.  Nataša and Bojan will normally take their seats at the end of the first row while Radujević prefers to watch from the production area where most of the photographers are set up.  It’s the perfect vantage point to see everything that’s happening on the floor.  And he always standing, you’ll never find Radujević sitting at one of his shows.

During the show Radujević is even more relaxed, it’s obvious looking at him.  If he was wearing a jacket prior to the show he’ll take it off during the show.  On the one night he arrived wearing a long-sleeved shirt with no jacket, during the show he took it off exposing a simple black T-shirt.  He’ll still be wearing the headphones, but most of his job is already done so he’s talking to the six or seven production staff working the sound or light boards and he doesn’t look so much as a manager talking to his staff but more like someone hanging out with friends as he laughs and shares jokes with them.  On the table in front of them are the sound and light boards, a few laptops and an assortment of half-empty drink bottles.  Some of the guys working the production are a little older than the audience, some are within this same demographic.  But Radujević recruits people that are a lot like himself; sharp, competent, reliable – people that know what they are doing, people that can work independently who are self-motivated.  Even some of his models notice.  “He has a team he relies on and the team is very hard working, so I think he doesn’t just sit there and watch them…he trusts them and they trust him,” says Marina Djordjević, a successful model working Belgrade Fashion Week and someone whose career Radujević supported.  “He has the best models and the best organization,” she says, having left a previous agency to come work for Click.

It would be inaccurate to describe Radujević as a micro-manager.  Sure, he’s aware of everything that’s going on at one of his shows, but he’s more a detail person than anything else.  And he notices everything.  “A very important part of my business is my eye…and you have to have a good eye,” he says.  “I just follow my instinct, follow my eyes.”  And his ears too.  Often at a fashion show the music will be too loud or not loud enough.   At a Click-produced show the music is at just the right volume with the speakers placed in each corner of the two rooms on tripods two meters off the floor.  You don’t experience the drowning bass or distortion that you would in a room of that size.  It all ads up to that perfect semblance of music and fashion, without one overpowering the other.  At the end of a show during the model parade they’ll increase the volume ever so slightly, just to ensure the music is heard over the applause – another small detail that goes unnoticed by most of the audience but one of the many small details which, combined, makes Belgrade Fashion Week the standard for a fashion show in Belgrade.

White City got a chance to interview Radujević towards the end of Belgrade Fashion Week at one of the last shows that took place at the Hugo Boss store in town.  Radujević arrives a little before the 20:00 scheduled start.  But this is the only show on this night so they can afford to be running a little past the start time.  Radujević is wearing black jeans, a black shirt, a black jacket and black shoes - he’s usually wearing some combination of black or gray. Nataša and Bojan arrived a half hour prior.  Radujević, of course, is looking relaxed as always.  As this is one of the last days of the show, the long hours are starting to take its toll on some of his staff who are beginning to show signs of fatigue.  Not so for Radujević.  There are no bags under his eyes, no dark circles formed as a result of the continuous 18 or 20 hour days.  If he’s starting to get tired, it’s not showing.  He looks totally refreshed, he always looks like he’s had 12 hours sleep.  When he arrives there is no noticeable hush from his staff, no heads-up ‘Nenad’s here,’ no effort to make it more obvious that they are working.  It doesn’t matter if he’s present, the people that are on his team are working just as hard whether he is there or not.  He surveys the set-up of the venue without exchanging words with Nataša, they’ve obviously been in contact before he arrived.  That’s one of the things you notice; he is rarely seen speaking with his staff before a show.  But when you have the right people who’ve proven their reliability previously, everyone knows what’s expected of them.  Nataša eventually shares a few words with him (very few), presumably briefing him on the preparations of the show.  He chats with the production staff about the technical details and greets guests and well-wishers, thanking them for coming.  And of course the media, he’ll drop whatever he’s doing for a media request.  But most of the interviews are done after the show, including ours.

It seems to work on a first-come-first-served basis, Radujević doesn’t schedule his interviews.  He is standing with his left hand in his jacket pocket and his right hand is holding a glass of champagne which was served by the caterer some 30 minutes earlier.  He’s had that glass in his hand since then yet he’s barely taken a sip.  Radujević isn’t a very big drinker but he is a gracious host and he wouldn’t think of offering cocktails to his guests without having a drink himself.  During the interview the thing you notice most is not how articulate he is, or how thoughtfully he answers questions, or how charming he is and he is all these things.  The thing you notice more than anything else is just how considerate, patient and, well, just how polite he is.  Our intended two minute interview has now morphed into something nearing ten minutes.  But there’s no looking at his watch, no checking his phone, no glances towards his staff.  He gives you his undivided attention regardless of how long the interview or how repetitive the questions.  During the interview there are no prepared one-liners extolling the virtues of Click, or Belgrade Fashion Week or whatever.  He just simply answers the question as directly as it is asked, and does it calmly and relaxed.

And so he was asked about his always-cool demeanor.  “This is my attitude,” he says.  “I’m an optimist and I don’t want to allow some kind of bad energy to be inside of me I just want to be positive.  I’m actually satisfied because everything is going so well, I’m very satisfied with all my people around me,” Radujević says.  And he should be satisfied, it’s a very good team.  And if you want to put on a well-run, well-executed and professional fashion show in Belgrade, nobody is able to do it better than Nenad Radujević and his team.