Mandali Mendrilla, (born Maja Mendrila in Rijeka, Croatia, 1976.) is a Croatian writer, artist and clothing designer based in USA.

Beginnings

After years of bespoke tailoring sessions with her mother's impeccable seamstress Mrs. Bozena and private tutoring in fine art from Croatian sculptor Tatjana Kostanjevic, Mandali began her designing career in 1995. by presenting her first collection, "Roadrunner", to Katja Restovic, organizer of the I.F.F. Fashion News, the official Croatian fashion week at the time. The collection was a satirical rendering of the fashion system and mass media marketing. It was chosen as the theme collection of the fashion week.

Her second collection, "Jailbird (Cats Would Eat Batman and the Chick)", was showed in the performing art section of the 1996. I.F.F. Fashion News. Mandali continued in the same satiric tone, describing the perverted psychological forms of relationships between the sexes.

The third collection was entitled "Reflection-Reaction" and showed at the I.F.F. Fashion News in 1997. It portrayed the authoritarian educational methods and confused information space her generation was exposed to while questioning the core of human existence and communication.

All the collections were awarded "I.F.F. Fashion News Grand Prix - Golden Line" awards and featured on MTV Europe and in other media.

In 1997, Mandali was also awarded the "Best Young Designer" award at the "Awakening Fashion Fair" in Split, Croatia.

Mandali Mendrilla specialized in haute couture clubwear and worked with Dee Jays Virgin Helena, Dave Jam and Vanya, photographers Damir Hoyka, Stephan Lupino and Rino Gropuzzo, performers Dino Dvornik, Davor Gobac, Annamaria Valentini and Matteo Cetinski, as well as bands Let 3 and Putokazi. In Croatia, she is known for her shows and exhibitions at different art galleries (HKD, GEM, Mimara) and the underground Quorum Colours Club in Opatija and Gjuro II in Zagreb.

Writing

In 1997, searching for answers to existential questions, Mandali decided to withdraw from pursuing an active fashion career and instead study eastern mysticism and bhakti yoga under Gaudiya Vaishnava theologian Kenneth R. Valpey, as well replace law school for English and Croatian literature and language studies at the Rijeka Faculty of Philosophy.

The studies inspired her to design several art projects like "Vrindavana: The Sari Experiment", which researched the possibility of attracting the Croatian public to modified versions of traditional Indian attire (in association with anthropologist Chantal Boulanger), "Anatomy", that questioned the bodily identification of humans and "Jokalectra" which explored the psychology of the Oedipus complex.

Inspired by her studies and together with Katarina Djapic, Mandali translated Purnaprajna Dasa's English novel form rendition of the Indian epic "Ramayana" (2004.), the first book in the series entitled "Indian Classic" which was endorsed by the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Education and co-published by the Lotos Association, the Croatian-Indian Friendship Society and Center for Vedic Studies Zagreb. Later, together with Ankica Franjic, Mandali worked on the novel rendition of the Indian epics "Mahabharata"(2005.) and "Bhagavata Purana".
Her other published Croatian translations include "Leadership for an Age of Higher Consciousness" (2000.) by John E. Favors (aka. Bhakti Tirtha Swami) and "Glimpses of Traditional Indian Life" (2002.) by B. V. Swami.

Mandali and Me

The first few pieces of "Mandali and Me" were shown in an art play at Burning Man 2008. in Black Rock City, USA. The full collection was presented at the S/S '09. Croatian Fashion Week in Zagreb, Croatia. The collection fused the classical American T-shirt and Indian khadi kurti with a twist of Pop Art, Patachitra painting of Orissa and Italian color schemes. Mandali had her simple kurtis made in India, in the facility founded by Mahatma Gandhi. At the Zagreb Fashion Week, Mandali broke the standard form of catwalk showing by dressing models in traditional Indian dhotis and having them carry the shirts in their hands propped on sticks as if they were paintings. One shirt from the collection, entitled "The Little Conch" was dedicated to Jahnavi Harrison, the British kirtan singer and violin player and Rajan Zed, the Hindu priest who recited the first Hindu prayer in the US senate. The collection was not for sale.