ELOKVENTNO

Elokvento by Jelena Radenkovic presents a mix of modern and antique, transforming historical imagery into classic men's fashion in the new shoe collection Ikonography. Each shoe features painted depictions of medieval iconography taken from the Hilandar, the largest Serbian Orthodox church, located in Athens. Reflecting the artist’s own background growing up in a traditional Orthodox community, the figures are hand-painted onto leather shoes using resistant varnish and gold-leaf foil, underlining the original techniques used in the Hilandar. Radenkovic fuses her formal education in fashion design and her career as a painter to create the unique footwear. In addition to traditional saints, the collection also features foliage and simple paprika, a species of pepper commonly grown in Balkan gardens, reminiscent of her childhood in rural Serbia. Pushing the boundaries between what is revered as sacred and what is worshipped as high fashion in these times of flux and mass globalization, the Ikonography collection is not a sign of past times, but a reflection of what is to come.