We catch up with model Mijo Mihaljcic to talk about London Fashion Week, and her hobbies off the runway
Mila "Mijo" Mihaljcic swapped Belgrade, Serbia for the New York catwalk in 2013, and has since become one of the most notable faces of the season. The 5”11 chiselled brunette also features in the new A/W14 issue of AnOther Magazine, styled by Karen Langley and shot by Blommers & Schumm. Here, AnOther caught up with her in between shows to discuss London, food and the laws of fashion.
Mijo Mihaljcic on... London
"London can be quite stressful. You go straight to a casting from the airport – it is 7am and you are wearing sweatpants and you are jetlagged. I was feeling really sick on the plane this time. Normally I don’t speak for around 24 hours. It is also only four days so everything is really packed. I do love London though. I have an omelette every morning and drink a cup of tea – it is a ritual for me. Europe is my home, so when I come to London I feel like I’m home."
"Phoebe Philo asked if I ever decided to work as a laywer, would I be a fashion lawyer for Céline"
Mijo Mihaljcic on... the Novak Djokovic diet
"I read Novak Djokovic’s book and decided to follow his diet. He is also Serbian and cut out all gluten, sugar and dairy. I have also been a vegetarian for about a year now, and being a vegetarian in Serbia is like being an Italian who doesn’t eat pasta. I do miss it, but it is more that the meat in New York just wasn't very good."
Mijo Mihaljcic on... becoming a model
"I scouted myself really. I always said I wanted to be a model, even when I was five-years-old. I would go to kindergarten and draw pictures that said, “when I grow up, I want to be a model.” My mum found them all last year. In school, if I wasn’t doing well at a subject, I would say to my friend, “it doesn’t matter because when I am older I will walk runways all over the world.” I was only ten, I didn’t know I would grow up to be tall and skinny. I tried to make it happen in Serbia, but I didn’t have the right look. So when I was twenty, I thought, this is my last chance. I saved up all my money and took three flights to New York – the cheapest and only way I could afford to get there. I found some old relatives I vaguely knew who I could stay with. I went to IMG and within ten minutes I had signed the contract. The next day I had my first job."
Mijo Mihaljcic on... her law studies
"There are two big passions in my life – the first is modelling, and the other I had to give up in order to model. I was studying law, and it is something I do hope to go back to. Serbia is a very corrupt country, so I think I will be a professional lawyer, as opposed to a professor of law. I want to fight for somebody’s life. Although, Phoebe Philo at Céline asked if I ever decided to work as a lawyer, would I be a fashion lawyer for Céline... So you never know!"
AnOther Magazine A/W14 is out now – buy it here.
Text by Mhairi Graham
