“No day looks like another, even though the background is the same.”

 I felt like in France when I entered the Marie Ollie showroom. The ambient music, the space architecture, as well as the furniture’s details transposed me in the atmosphere of a Parisian movie of the 20s. What I can tell you about Arthur Dinu is that he is an artist. And I want to emphasize this word. How is Marie Ollie different from the others brands that we find in the Romanian market at the moment? Well, Arthur confessed to me that Marie Ollie meets women’s view by high quality fabrics, but atemporal, with a bold design, but not at all hesitant.

As for the Marie Ollie brand, the details and the taste make the difference. Even though the Romanian fashion market evolved a lot in the past years and brought many names in the public’s attention, Marie Ollie is a brand which identifies with a specific image. Without saying more, I let you in the bohemian atmosphere of the images and words that follow.

E: How does the synopsis of your educational and professional background look like?

A.D: All in all, I graduated from the Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design at the National University of Arts from Bucharest, I had various collaborations in the fields of painting and fashion illustration until I became style consultant for Rhea Costa for three and a half years. Since the last year’s autumn, I am the designer of my own brand, Marie Ollie.

E: Why, where and how did the story of Marie Ollie brand start?

A.D: Marie Ollie appeared as a natural evolution in my career, as the wish of creating my own style, of emphasizing women’s qualities in a new manner. Marie Ollie was born in the fall of 2013 and is still falling into place.

E : How does a regular day at work look like for you ?

A.D: No day looks like another, although the background is the same, meaning the Marie Ollie showroom, situated on Pache Protopopescu Boulevard, number 5. I get up very early and I start painting, transposing on paper all my ideas, then I discuss with my team organisatorial and creational issues. The order is not always the same because each day I deal with new clients, with new proposals, with new challenges. What never changes is the fact that I stay connected and anchored in Marie Ollie universe all day long.

E: Does France represent a genuine source of inspiration for you ?

A.D: France, especially Paris, is an indisputable source of inspiration for anyone. I think that it represents the place where the fashion phenomenon comes from, where the style was born.  Paris is the epicenter of all tendencies, proposals, discoveries and revolutions of the fashion. However, an artist doesn’t have only one source of inspiration, so I can’t limit to Paris. There are other cities as vibrant which have the artistic factor.

E: Which are the advantages and disadvantages of your job that you encountered so far?

A.D: I have never thought that my daily activity is part of the responsibilities of a job. I do that because I like it, because it fits me and because everything comes naturally, I don’t think that I work in terms of a job. I work for myself and for my vision, I work to evolve and to improve my abilities, my talent and all the qualities which help one be successful.

E: What are your plans for this year? How do you think 2014 will look like for Marie Ollie from a financial viewpoint?

A.D: I don’t usually make plans. I master everything I know and I am ready for anything the future can bring. I channel all my energy so that until the end of 2014 a clear evolution of Marie Ollie brand could be observed. For an artist, the financial part doesn’t exist, but there is the administrative team which manages this aspect. We are hoping that the end of the year will be celebrated with a profit as big as possible.

E: Which type of women do you address by your creations?

A.D: Marie Ollie creations are for all women who want to look, but also feel fabulous in anything that they wear. The Marie Ollie experience is a complete one, accompanied by stylistic consultancy through each woman learns how to accentuate her qualities.

E: How much does the experience gathered so far reflect in your own business?

A.D: Experience helped me understand the direction in which women feel secure, which are the needs and desires in relation with their silhouettes and how can I combine this with the identity that I wanted to give to my own design.

E: How many women have come to the Marie Ollie showroom since its foundation up until now?

A.D: I can’t give you an exact number, but they were enough to make me realize that I am on the right path, that Marie Ollie is about to become the first option when they look for outstanding clothes that would fit them entirely.

E: Which are the most important items in your agenda? What do you prepare us in the near future?

A.D: My agenda is full of sketches, so all that I can say is that I have in progress some new creations which will be transposed in a collection in the near future. The near future also brings a varnishing of fashion illustrations, the first event of this kind in the fashion scene that prepares many surprises.

 By Bianca Berchez

Translated by Cristina Tanase