Diella Valla is a seventeen-year-old painter and fashion illustrator from the capital of Kosovo, Prishtina. Diella loves exploring new painters, techniques and developing her knowledge within the creative industry.
From a young age, Diella was interested in drawing and sketching doodles. Art is running in Diella’s blood, not only her parents have an artistic background but her granddad Esat Valla is a famous academic painter in Kosovo.
Teenage artist believes that everyone needs a bit of inspiration to create something unique. "I am inspired by Gustav Klimt and lately by Francis Bacon, two painters with different styles and techniques. While my favourite fashion illustrator will always be Rene Gruau."
Diella's interest in fashion sparked when she was only ten-years-old. This was the moment where she began to experiment with fashion illustrations.
Diella thinks that every fashion illustration starts from an idea. "If you have ever watched Christian Dior or Karl Lagerfeld creating fashion sketches out of nowhere, this is the important aspect of it."
It could be said that fashion illustrations can also bring across an important message. "There is a simple answer from me: ‘If you can talk about it, why paint it?’ - Francis Bacon. This is the main reason why we paint. We want to show a message that usually words cannot say."
It is important to show important issues and matters through the painting and fashion illustrations are not excluded from this.
Diella is a feminist, throughout her work she wants to show that not only women but everyone should feel equal.
"My illustrations feature women with long necks. It is a specific element which defines my style. I want women to be powerful not only in my illustrations but in real-life."
During the fashion weeks, Diella usually spends time in front of the TV, watching fashion shows with big excitement. She also loves art books or catalogues from different exhibitions. "I am inspired very quickly and when this inspiration comes all I need is paper and pencil."
Diella’s illustrations feature dresses with the same colour theme but include a variety of details each time. "I use different mediums starting from acrylic, tempera and oil colours. You can usually find me using the watercolour technique while creating fashion illustrations."
Diella doesn’t usually follow the trends but she believes that "trends should be used to explore new ideas and more beautiful sketching techniques."
"Creating an illustration has taken me into exploring different styles and gives an ability to show something never seen before to my audience." However, as well as developing new techniques, Diella faced challenges.
"There will always be different struggles and you should be prepared to face them. I am usually ready to replace them with positivity."
Diella took part in many national and international competitions which are part of the challenge in the industry. "I have also collaborated with Samira Ebrahimi, Khangle, Pier-Handmade, Raiffeisen Gallery in which I had the pleasure to open my mini-exhibition."
"I guess it’s a wish for every fashion illustrator to work with fashion brands and at the same time to be noticed by them. It would be a dream come true for me if I have more collaborations in the future", adds Diella.
Diella is not planning to give up on painting. In the future, she thinks about launching her own fashion brand where fashion illustrations can be part of it.
"I think what is important is non-stop working, trying new ideas and exploring new brands which you can collaborate with."