There are women who, over the years, do not lose their tenderness — but transform it into strength. Women who do not wear motherhood as a role, but as a quiet space of love, trust, and belonging, built over an entire lifetime. That is precisely the feeling carried by the new A'MARIE girls story featuring Kristina Bangoura and her daughters Zara and Haya — three women connected by something far greater than a similar style or shared aesthetic. For Mother's Day, in the new A'MARIE collection The Girls, illustrated by Petra Roje, Kristina and her girls bring that special, understated closeness you simply cannot perform. Glances full of understanding, conversations that last for hours, laughing morning coffees, and a relationship that has grown beyond the classic definitions of mother and daughter.
Because there are relationships that, with time, do not grow quieter — only deeper.
In a world that constantly pushes us to be more, faster, and louder, this story reminds us how truly beautiful the gentle things are: presence, mutual respect, the feeling of home, and women who become a safe place for one another.
How would you describe your motherhood today, now that Zara and Haya are already young women?
My motherhood today is completely different from what it was at the beginning. Over the span of 25 years, the entire world has changed — my inner one, my personal and family one, and the external one we all share. Back then, the future felt so distant it was almost impossible to think about it. Instead of big plans, I began living motherhood in phases. I had the privilege of truly putting the girls first in those early years. Although I was always active across many areas, I could dedicate myself to that role without feeling I was missing out on something. Today I think we are closest to a beautiful combination of family and friendship, with a great deal of mutual respect.
Has your relationship changed over the years?
Our relationship has constantly changed from phase to phase. Some were more challenging, some more tender, but each brought something important. When you lay good foundations, the relationship later becomes a space for mutual growth. Today we are slowly stepping out of the parenting phase, and I genuinely enjoy watching them become two wonderful young women.
Is there a moment in motherhood that shaped you particularly as a woman?
Zara's birth felt to me like diving into the sea. In that moment I felt as though I had arrived at my natural state — as if it were the missing piece that would complete me as a woman. Of course, far from perfectly. There was fear, insecurity, exhaustion, and many questions. But over time I grew more confident in how I wanted our family experience to look and, even more importantly, how I wanted us all to feel throughout that process. Very early on I learned to be gentle with myself and to accept that I did not need to be a perfect mother. What mattered to me was being present. And then Haya came. I was genuinely afraid of how I could ever love a second child as much as the first. Then, during the birth, they placed that tiny being with the long little legs on my chest — and one look was enough. That was when I understood that love does not divide — it only grows.
What kind of relationship do you nurture today — more of a friendship, more protective, or a combination of both?
Definitely a combination of both. There are boundaries, and there is the "everything in its own time," but at the same time we can sit over a coffee like three friends and laugh for hours. It matters to me that they know there is always a safe place at home — for conversation, advice, panic, tears, or simply silence. We also share a lot of common interests, from music and art to entrepreneurship.
What did you most want to pass on to your daughters as they were growing up?
Decency and the way you treat people. Not to make life harder for others, but also to be aware of the world they live in, their privileges, and other people's realities. I taught them to set ego aside and to build a beautiful life for themselves, because no one else will do it for them.
Do you have a piece of maternal advice you always repeat to Zara and Haya?
I think it is dangerous to wait for others to save us, make us happy, or define us. That is why we talk a great deal about working on ourselves, education, and taking responsibility for our own lives. What I enjoy most is watching the girls today make their own choices about how they approach things. Zara is a graduate economist and communications specialist with her first professional successes, while Haya is completing her studies in biotechnology and drug development. Our conversations are becoming increasingly serious, and I am becoming increasingly relaxed.
How much was fashion a part of your shared upbringing?
Fashion was always part of everyday life with us, but never as an imperative. The girls grew up around Midikenn, runway shows, castings, and preparations, but for a long time that was play to them. I think a sense of aesthetics is transferred naturally — through the atmosphere of a home, through details, through the way you observe the world and the people around you.
Coming from a fashion family, how did you teach them that behind beauty there is always confidence, hard work, and character?
Children learn most by watching their parents. They could see how much work, discipline, and humility stands behind everything that looks beautiful and glamorous from the outside. It was always important to me that they understand how style has nothing to do only with clothing, but with behavior, confidence in oneself, and the way you enter a room.
How do you see their personalities today — in what ways are they similar to you, and in what ways entirely their own?
The girls are very much their own people, but the older they get, the more Hamed and I see how we have been given two small reflections of our own characters. Zara and I share a similar outlook on life and an eye for detail, while Haya and Hamed share a special intuition and a deep understanding of people and situations. From him she also inherited a love of music.
How much do shared moments mean to you now?
Perhaps even more than before. The girls are no longer constantly physically present, so shared moments carry extra weight. When Haya comes to Zagreb and Zara "remembers" her old address, morning coffees feel like a reunion of three friends after a wild week. We laugh, we analyse life, sometimes we give each other brutally honest advice, sometimes we cry — and then we move on. We are meeting increasingly often in professional roles too, where we need to be professional, and I find it interesting how well we function together. Between us there is a great trust and understanding that does not require much explanation.
Your connection with A'MARIE has lasted for years. When did that love for the brand actually begin?
Right from the very beginning, I recognized in A'MARIE an aesthetic that is very close to my own experience of fashion and of women. For me A'MARIE has never been just fashion, but a feeling — comfort, quality, simplicity, and that quiet elegance where the clothes do not carry the woman, but the woman carries them. The girls watched that through me for years, but I never imposed style on them. Today what is most beautiful to me is seeing how each of them wears A'MARIE in a completely her own way.
What is it that makes all three of you still love wearing A'MARIE?
Quality, timelessness, and details. These are pieces in which you feel good, and when a woman feels that — it shows on the outside as well. All three of us love that understated femininity.
When you look at Zara and Haya today, what are you most proud of as a mother?
That they think with their own heads. That they have empathy, but also critical thinking toward the world around them. And that, despite everything, they have not lost themselves in the superficial.
How do you nurture your own femininity and identity alongside your role as a mother?
I think a woman must remain connected to herself and her interests. For me, femininity today has nothing to do only with appearance, but with a sense of fulfillment, confidence, and the peace you carry within you.
The most beautiful thing about the mother-daughter relationship?
That over the years you become a safe place for one another. There is something special in that universal experience you share as girls, as women, and perhaps one day as mothers. Regardless of the years and the phases of life, there is always that mutual understanding that does not need much explaining.
And the fact that you always reach out to one another. Sometimes for something important, and sometimes just to hear each other's voice.
Motherhood in one word?
Growth.
A woman's greatest superpower?
That she can be tender and incredibly strong at the same time.
Mama or friend?
By feeling — mama. By approach — friend.
Inherit style or character?
Character. Everything else is built from it later — style included.
From one mother to all other mothers — be gentle with yourselves. Do not chase perfection in days that pass all too quickly. The most beautiful memories were never the perfect ones, but those filled with embraces, children's laughter, small rituals, and the feeling of being there, present.
This Mother's Day, I wish you to be surrounded by love, warmth, and those quiet moments that one day become our most precious memories. And never forget how great a strength there is in the tenderness of a mother.
Love, A'MARIE
The new collection The Girls is available in store and coming online soon.
Thank you Galerija Kranjčar for providing the space for the shoot.