The year was 1977 and Milan Heger was coming of age in the old Czechoslovakia. The country was under the Soviet control, and most of the environment was quite grey and uninteresting. Fashion was almost non-existing, especially in men’s fashion style.

 

Milan was already creating art, having friends in the creative universe. As an artist, Milan wanted to change the uniformity around him, and he started to design clothes for himself and his friends. Painting on jeans, spray painting t-shirts with graffiti-like images and designing clothes, including unique coats and outfits.

 

This triggered Milan Heger’s fashion design of women’s clothing, taking this activity in Bratislava to a professional level during 1983-1988.

 

These designs from the 80’s feature many custom fabrics, painted or dyed, to escape the shortage of materials supplied on the market.

 

After moving to Hawaii, USA to teach Art and Architectural History at the University of Hawaii, the fashion design was his favorite creative outlet, along with fine art. Milan created collections that carried both the exotic flavor and the artistic expression. Often, he painted on fabric and on finished dresses.

 

Some of these designs are timeless and collectible as vintage artistic fashion. Some of the most collectible are silk scarves, created by Milan as art, similar to artistic program of companies like Hermes and Louis Vuitton. These scarves were marketed in Japan and sold out immediately. The scarf design continues today, with new artistic design creations in the process, scheduled to be released by the fall season.

 

Most of the photographs on this website are vintage, and not re-touched, to bring the true feeling of the film material used at that time. Most common film used was EktaChrome and Kodak Chrome.

 

The images shown are from the archives of Heger Design company