
At birth a woman is handed a role before she picks one. She wears it long enough to forget it was never hers.
Time passes. One day she looks underneath...and that's when the journey begins.
UNDERNEATH
Underneath is a multidisciplinary performance created for Esencija, the fashion event by the accessories brand Katriel. The idea was born from the brand's collaboration with singer Lena Stamenković, and grew through conversations about a woman who lives by her own rules, free from the weight of expectation.
Bringing together movement, dance, acting, and sculpture, Underneath follows the transformation of a woman through three states. She enters the stage as an animal, in a faceless coverall, her gaze fixed on the audience. This is the state of struggle, of instinct, of survival. Then comes the fall, and with it the lostness, the moment in which the woman asks, for the first time, who she is underneath it all.
Around her she finds boxes. Plain, taped shut, their contents written on the outside, like the ones we use to store what we can't bring ourselves to throw away. Inside are her values: attitude, love, dignity, elegance, and life. One by one she takes them out and returns them to their place. This is her essence, what had always been there, only packed away and forgotten.
When the last value is in place, she takes off the coverall. Underneath is a red, shimmering corset and a skirt that covers, but does not hide. She puts on her heels, a contemporary symbol of female sensuality, and surrenders to her liberating dance. The animal called woman is not dangerous in herself. What frightens is her freedom, and it frightens those who have not yet found their own path.
The unveiling of the large relief, the final act of the performance, completes the story of her existence. When she is gone, what remains is her.
"E5encija" fashion show, Dorćol Platz, Belgrade, 17 September 2026.
Concept and artwork: Jovana Maletić
Movement and choreography: Mia Petković
Music: “Životinja”, Lena Stamenković
Corset: Katriel Accessories
Video: Andrijana Cvijanović, Marko
Edit & Video: Bogdan Spasojević
Produced for Esencija
Every piece carries a story the finished work alone can’t tell.
The one behind Underneath lives in Issue No. 7 of Maleticcka Magazine.
Read it here.

















