Gala Marija Vrbanic: How a fashion designer creates clothes for our digital selves

VPM | By Manoush Zomorodi, Fio Geiran and Katie Simon

Published August 26, 2022 at 12:31 PM EDT

Updated May 26, 2023

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Incognito.

Fashion designer Gala Marija Vrbanic creates digital clothes that defy physics and outshine superheroes’ wardrobes. Vrbanic says the future of AR and VR will change how we express our identities.

About Gala Marija Vrbani

Gala Marija Vrbanic is the founder of Tribute Brand, a high-end digital fashion brand that is developing various uses for digital fashion. She launched the brand in 2020 as the first-ever direct-to-consumer digital fashion brand.

Vrbanic has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in design and visual communications from the University of Zagreb in Croatia. Her upcycled fashion line appeared in the 2019 London Fashion Week.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Fiona Geiran and edited by Katie Simon, James Delahoussaye, and Rachel Faulkner. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at [email protected].

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Manoush Zomorodi

Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, and her work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity.

Zomorodi is a co-founder of Stable Genius Productions and is the co-host and co-creator of ZigZag, the business podcast about being human. She also created, hosted, and was managing editor of the podcast Note to Self in partnership with WNYC Studios, which was named Best Tech Podcast of 2017 by The Academy of Podcasters.

Prior to her time at WNYC, Zomorodi reported and produced around the world for BBC News and Thomson Reuters, including a few years in Berlin.

She was named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2018 and has received numerous awards for her work, including The Gracie for Best Radio Host in 2014 and 2018. Her book "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative Self" (2017, St. Martin's Press) and her TED Talk are guides to surviving information overload and the "Attention Economy."

Zomorodi received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in English and fine arts. She is half-Persian and half-Swiss but was born in New York City, where she lives with her family.

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