Скачать или смотреть BOSNIA: SARAJEVO: ONCE PROUD FASHION INDUSTRY COMING BACK TO LIFE

(17 Feb 1997) Serbo-Croat/Nat

Sarajevo's once-proud fashion industry is coming back to life as Bosnia slowly recovers from civil war.

Models are back on the catwalks in this formerly stylish and cosmopolitan city and some Bosnians even find the cash to buy the latest creations.

APTV visited the workshop of one of Bosnia's leading designers, who's rebuilding his career after losing everything in the war.

They may not be supermodels... and the clothes may lack the panache of those paraded on the catwalks of London or Paris.

But the mere fact that fashion is making a reappearance in this war-torn city is a sign of how far Sarajevo has come in the 15 months since the Dayton peace accord.

During almost four years of war, the Bosnian capital was pounded by Serb guns in the hills around it.

Sarajevo's traumatised inhabitants were too busy staying alive - and burying their dead - to worry about haute couture.

After just over a year of - albeit uneasy - peace, the first green shoots of Sarajevo's resurgent fashion industry are beginning to appear.

This workshop in the suburbs of the city employs six people.

On these ancient sewing machines the seamstresses are turning out the kind of fashionable clothing that hasn't been seen in Bosnian shops since before the war.

The humble workshop is an attempt by one of Bosnia's leading fashion designers to re- establishing himself after losing everything during the war.

SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"I have been doing this for almost forty years. I was successful before the war and now I am starting from the beginning."
SUPER CAPTION: Dzemil Sarajlic, Bosnian fashion designer

Sarajlic thought he would never return to his profession.

But a trip to Italy last April proved to be a turning point in his life.

Inspired by the colours and styles he saw during his visit, he started designing again and scraped together the money to open his own fashion house.

SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"We are making a spring/summer collection now, and we have finished the winter one. That one was well accepted on the market and now we are preparing for summer."
SUPER CAPTION: Dzemil Sarajlic, Bosnian fashion designer

The smart outfits produced by the fashion house -- called "Ema de JR" -- are sold in boutiques in Tuzla and Sarajevo.

The clothes are selling well, although lack of credit and shortages of suitable material are still hampering the business.

But Sarajlic is determined to press on in spite of the difficulties -- and he hopes that he will prove to be in the vanguard of a revival of Sarajevo's fashion industry.

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