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"  Photo: Courtesy of Dover Street Market Damir Doma has always leaned towards the more highbrow side of fashion, and yesterday he hopped on the Eurostar to London to launch a new architectural installation at Dover Street Market. The installation, called The Stair, was built with the help of Diplomates, the art directors behind Doma&amp;#039;s formidable show sets. We caught up with the Paris-based Croatian designer in the boutique to discuss the collaboration, being named guest designer at Florence&amp;#039;s Pitti show, and his recent shout-out from A$AP Rocky. ELLE: What made you want to work with Dover Street Market on this installation? Damir Doma: Well, we have had a pretty tight relationship since the beginning. They were one of the first shops to buy the collection. They were following us, and we were following them very closely, and then we opened our flagship on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honor\u00E9 in Paris, where we are neighbors. We share the same courtyard, so the relationship has been getting even better. We were very happy to work with them again. ELLE: It seems that when people like Damir Doma, they seem to really like Damir Doma. DD: We have a very strong following. I realize that people who like it really do identify with the aesthetics. I have to say, it even happens with me and myself: Sometimes when I put on one of my jackets, I don&amp;#039;t want to wear another jacket again. The mindset is different. I always say my clothes are about an effortless elegance. That&amp;#039;s why people feel so good in the clothes. I think it gives them something that nobody else really gives them. ELLE: You&amp;#039;ve had quite a boom of celebrity fans, as well. You even had a shout-out from A$AP Rocky, on the track &amp;quot;Fashion Killa.&amp;quot; Is that something you think about? DD: It&amp;#039;s not the key for me, but I know that it&amp;#039;s a key for certain people. Particularly the A$AP Rocky thing was funny, but I wasn&amp;#039;t the only one named! What was funny was that he named everyone that he knows! But it&amp;#039;s good, too, that he knows me and likes me. [Laughs] ELLE: Your range goes through the whole spectrum, from streetwear to what you said about &amp;quot;effortless elegance.&amp;quot; Are there any gaps that you&amp;#039;d still like to fill? DD: When I started out, it was never about doing a menswear collection, and then going to work somewhere like [Christian] Dior. It was about building a modern fashion house. And that&amp;#039;s why we started with womenswear pretty quickly, and then we started Silent, which is a more sportswear, streetwear brand. For me, it&amp;#039;s about covering all the different fields and building a modern fashion house. Everything I need, for my life, I would love to create. We are not there yet, but it would be great if I didn&amp;#039;t have to go to a store to buy from somebody else.  ELLE: A Damir Doma department store? DD: Exactly! ELLE: You were invited last week to be guest designer at this season&amp;#039;s Pitti trade show in Florence\u2014do you feel pressure, considering the track record of Pitti&amp;#039;s previous designers like Proenza Schouler and Kenzo? DD: No, never. I don&amp;#039;t look so much left and right, I always try to do right for me and I always try to keep a certain integrity for us. I am really thankful for the opportunity we get at Pitti, though, because it&amp;#039;s a chance to talk to people in a very different mood, a much more relaxed atmosphere.  ELLE: It sounds like you&amp;#039;re going to be busy.  DD: There won&amp;#039;t be much time to relax for the next three months, so I&amp;#039;m happy to have a day like today where I can get on the train and relax for three hours, come to London and talk to people and then go back again all in one day\u2026I think it&amp;#039;s very important to find the balance between tension and relaxation. But this season it&amp;#039;s going to be tipped particularly against relaxation!  Photo: Courtesy of Dover Street Market  Photo: Courtesy of Dover Street Market "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a23051/damir-doma-interview/>