The man behind Feeric Fashion Days in an exclusive interview for Casino Life & Business Magazine
My personal life overlaps with my professional one…..
Who is Mitichi?
Dumitru Preda aka Mitichi is a man of a great ambition who lives his life believing and working for colossal things. I wish to accomplish something in my life that will be useful to many people, beyond the time and space frontiers. After a childhood in the communist era where my only worry was to explore the hills and the trenches in my village, I went to Sibiu, studied and let my imagination go wild. I entered new worlds, continued to explore and find myself in a rich environment, full of new possibilities. I started working in the advertising sector – this is how I took up on photography – and modelling, television, fashion came afterwards, in a quite natural way.
What made you go for photography, to choose this niche in fashion?
As I said, everything came naturally. In the advertising, my creativity got a boost while I was doing advertising messages and image strategies for various clients. Locally, my services were requested by clients in the fashion world where I started taking photos. I have always taught myself things, and have done everything on my own so far. The results matched the expectations of my clients and this made me switch to fashion photography, to discover models that I have later introduced to media productions; I got involved in directing, television production, event directing. In 2008, I put all these together, giving them the right meaning in the Feeric Fashion Days.
How did you think of the Feeric Fashion Days festival?
I was doing fashion shows for the downtown mall and thought of doing something more. To develop ideas –but, unluckily, the budgets were limited and I was afraid I could reach the plateau. One evening, while I was hanging out with my friends in a restaurant garden in Piata Mica in Sibiu, I imagined how beautiful it would be to have a catwalk there. It would be original and spectacular to have the entire show under the lights of the square, under the sky – the whole thing could only be Feeric (fairy-like, n.tr.)
What was new about the Feeric Fashion Days compared to similar events in Romania?
The word ‚Feeric’ caught some substance 3 years ago. FEERIC means Fashion as Enhancive Experience for Romanian and International Creators. In Sibiu, we have 50 designers, artists, bloggers, fashion personalities coming from over 12 countries. The ‚recipe’ that is applied to this festival is of a fashion week, real and true, like in any other fashion great city. We are trying to keep the core of such event and highlight the designer collections. This is the reason why every show takes place in spaces that are meant to harmonize with the clothing lines or to contrast with them.
What are your plans for your career?
My professional plans are closely linked to Feeric and I wish that, in the near or not-so-near future, to put this festival on the map of the most significant ones in the world. After that happens, or if I have sufficient resources – or in parallel maybe – I would like to produce a movie. I do not have the details yet, but this is my desire and my ambition.
What strategy do you have for the festival’s edition of this year?
In 2014, I want to bring to Feeric a few elite fashion people who will sit in judgment about the festival. I need to strenghten its image as the greatest fashion event in south-eastern Europe. Besides, we have some special and original show scenarios ready for this year.
How did the people in Sibiu react to the first editions? What about the others?
Their feedback has been wonderful since the first edition. I am lucky that I have started this affair in Sibiu as the public there is very receptive and this is exactly what encouraged me to keep going with my project in this city. I have received many offers to develop the projects in Bucharest, but the interest of the public and the way it has been exposed and thus educated by the other cultural events made me stay in Sibiu. At this moment, the audience includes not only the locals but also tourists coming here for the Feeric. The more events, the more people. For the next edition, our estimations go up to 20,000 participants.
What do the authorities think about this event?
Starting with the fourth edition, the project has benefitted from financing from the City Hall of Sibiu Municipality. Now, for the seventh edition, other institutions and sponsors joined us. Even though the budget is not enough to match our ideas, the financing from the City Hall and the Local Council is the most important and the one that helped our project go forward at such high speed.
Do you have a ranking of the events in terms of the quality of show-iness?
All the events are special. The festival may have attracted the attention by the innovative spaces and the variety of the events. The names of the protagonists, their portfolios, the nature of the event and the locations – all these build the brand. I cannot give you a classification – my ranking can depend on how much effort is put in the events. There cannot have only one, but more ranks. Every person involved or attending the events will hierarchize them in dependence on what interests them: collection, show, news, experience, trendiness. For me, the non-conventional ones take the best positions. Excepting the uniqueness of the suspended catwalk in Piata Mica during the gala nights, Feeric has brought innovation into the fashion world by its distinguished locations. We had a moving tramway, churches, museums, along a river shore, in an engine depot and even in an emptied swimming pool.
Should you to characterize the festival in one word, what would that be?
When I called the festival FEERIC, that was my best choice and still is. Should I have to select another one, it would be SPECTACOL (show). More arts are joining hands at Feeric Fashion Days. Every day of those six, the audience can see fashion, exhibitions, concerts, dancing shows, plays, video projections or minirecitals and will be given the opportunity to live a different experience beside the models, designers, photographers and everyone in the backstage of the project. Feeric is an experience that deserves to be lived even by the fashion novices, just for the beauty and the spectacular of the presentations.
Any time left for your private time?
My personal life overlaps with my professional one. Feeric is my number one priority and, hence, all my attention and energy are going into this project. Once one edition ends, I start working on the next one – and this work is just draining me up. When I have some time off, I like to spend it with my friends in the same Piata Mica of Sibiu, to cook. And when I have more time – which does not happen very often – I love travelling. Actually, I am invited to Milan Fashion Week this fall, for several fashion shows which I hope to be able to attend.
What other plans or projects do you have?
After Feeric, ‚M calendar’ is my project as a photographer. I started it in the same year with Feeric and it had a nice development. Every year, I initiate a topic that I implement with the help of the same committed and talented team in all my projects. In 2014, ‚M calendar’ is a tribute to the fashion slogans in all times and the protagonists were 12 of the best known female fashion bloggers in Romania.
How does the local media reflect the event? What about the national one?
For many years, I have cooperating with the local media for various projects and we are still best partners. I am glad to have the attention of everyone in Sibiu, because we are home here and help one another. The national media is quite interested in the originality of my projects and I would love to thank everyone, including Casino Lifestyle & Business Magazine for keeping so close to Feeric. Apart from the national and local media, I see that there are international publications writing about what we are doing here.
A few words for the readers of Casino Life & Business Magazine?
I truly believe that your readers are people concerned with the important events going on around them. So, I wish everyone to enjoy the spectacular experiences that will bring them more information and good quality entertainment. I would love more of your readers come to Feeric because I already know that the festival public reads this magazine. And to come back to the nature of this publication, good luck to all the players!
