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POLIMODA Q&A PROJECT

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INTERVIEW: CEDRIC RIVRAIN talks to FILEP MOTWARY

Cedric Rivrain, exclusive portrait by Quentin Saunier ©

Dear iDEALS, with numerous collaborations in fashion, assignments and collaborations with some of the most important names in fashion - inlcuding John Galliano & Dior, Rue Du Mail by Martine Sitbon, Lanvin, Balenciaga, Yaz Bukey - Cedric Rivrain only finds peace on his desk while drawing. With a very precise opinion about who he is and what his work is about, Rivrain manages to win everyone's attention with his talent and magazines like V, Vogue, Purple, Dazed and Confused...praise his visionary hand.

Balenciaga / Cedric Rivrain ©

FilepMotwary: Hello Cedric how are you? We have been trying to set a date for this interview a while now. You seem to be very busy. What are you working on?

CedricRivrain: Busy and wild... I do not express myself as much as in my drawings. Words are not as important to me as drawings.

Lanvin / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: But it would take us years to finish this interview if you submitted a drawing for each answer.

C.R: (Laughs) I know so no worries, I am adapting to communicating this way! I am always busy as I do very different things. I do fashion illustrations, I do consulting for fashion houses, artworks for music. I just draw all the time and there is always something to draw and I of course have my personal drawings. It is important to me to keep on doing my personal work.

Comme Des Garcons / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: Oh really, how do you mean personal?

C.R: Those drawings that are not commissioned works, like the “Plasters“ or the “Robot Eyes” for example.

Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: Its has been 13 years since your first drawing appeared in Dazed and Confused. What has changed since then?

C.R: (Laughs) almost nothing! I still work the same! My drawings just got recognition.

Christopher Kane / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: And what has changed in your life based on that?

C.R: Since I can live through my drawings it became the most important thing to me. I mean I draw every day. I express myself that way. I am very lucky to live through my passion; since I got more recognition in my work, I also accept only the projects I feel close to. And I live my everyday life following my own rhythm, if I can't draw because I am tired I just go back to sleep! And I can spend nights drawing!

Balenciaga / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: I read somewhere that both your parents could draw and you had a special bonding with your mother, who was a great fashion admirer. Do you mind if we talk about them?

C.R: It is fine go ahead. I am always very happy remembering them! Yes they could draw, both of them. At this point every memory is very precious to me. Every single moment I shared with them is of the greatest value. They always believed in me and supported me since I was a kid. They used to get me all the materials I wanted to use to experiment in my drawing. My mother even let me use her make-up even, though for my drawings of course!

Prada / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: I find it very interesting that your brother also works in fashion. Why you think fashion made such a big in all of you Rivrain family

C.R: He does not anymore; he does his own music now. Well we grew up in a family very aware of fashion. Our parents always dressed up a lot. It came naturally to us. We felt home in the fashion industry I guess.

FM: Many artists can point out one particular moment in their early life, a moment of inspiration, sometimes a moment of enlightenment, where they realize “this is who I am and this is what I want to do.”

C.R: To tell you the truth, I have no idea! I just remember I knew I would spend my life drawing. I always knew this and I just know I grew up thinking that way and never questioning it.

Lanvin / Cedric Rivrain ©

FM: So it was decided naturally?

C.R: (Laughs) maybe yes, I had this talent and everybody used to kind of think of me as the kid who draws so I guess, I grew up as a guy who draws. Hope it does not sound too pretentious though!

F.M: Most of your illustrations seem unfinished; you tend to focus on two maybe three details…

C.R: Yes I get bored easily. I do not like it when it is too complete. It becomes too heavy for me. I like to get the essence that sometimes lies in a few details. I stop a drawing as soon as I feel I "said" enough.

Sugar Drama / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: Earlier this year you released your first book. How was it received? What was the aim of the book to begin with and how do you see this idea, a few months later?

C.R: This book is a mix of all the kinds of drawings I do. But in the same idea, not saying too much, so there are only 28 drawings. I am happy we did it that way because at the beginning I wanted to focus only on a certain aspect, which could have been more clear and easy in a way, it would have been a kind of story, but I felt it had to be more open for a first book. I see it as an introduction to my work, to my world.

Rue Du Mail by Martine Sitbon / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: Obviously fashion holds a lot of weight in your daily life, but outside of fashion what artists would we be surprised you follow or inspire to?

C.R: Oh a lot of my friends are artists and inspire me a lot, like Oscar Tuazon, K8 Hardy, François-Xavier Courrèges, Paul P., Emily Sundblad, Scott Treleaven, Nick Mauss… Paul P. actually wrote the introduction in my book and the launching took place at Balice Hertling Gallery.

Don't wanna lose you / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: What is fashion for you anyway?

C.R: Fashion is something like home to me. I have been working with it all my adult life. I know it very well. It is like a great friend to me. Sometimes, I feel good and safe around it and sometimes get in fights or get bored but in the end I keep on loving it and being faithful to it. But one thing is sure; it could not be my only friend!

F.M: You tend to mention friendship quite a lot. What does it mean for you

C.R: Do I? Really?

F.M: Yes!

C.R: (Laughs) I am not really considering my career as something work-ish but more as collaborations with friends. I need to feel inspired and personally close to those I work with. As I can’t be a friend with people whom I do not appreciate the work…and who don't like mine either!

Lemure / Cedric Rivrain ©

F.M: You sound a bit hard! Very sharp in the way you see yourself.

C.R: I'm very passionate about everything, maybe a little too much but I am soft inside, no worries!

F.M: Did you dream to be someone that everybody recognizes when you started off, or did you want your art to do all of the talking?

C.R: All I wanted was for my drawings to be seen and have an echo.

Cedric Rivrain at home, exclusive portrait by Quentin Saunier ©

 F.M: What matters to you mostly in what you do? What are your morals?

C.R: Emotion matters. I just hope that drawings are still a path for emotions and that it is still a language that matters.

F.M: What was one of your favorite assignments?

C.R: The very first one I did, a portrait of Yaz Bukey and the very last one, my brother's music artwork.

CEDRIC RIVRAIN

THIBAULT RIVRAIN music

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INTERVIEW: MARGA WEIMANS talks to FILEP MOTWARY

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INTERVIEW: MARGA WEIMANS talks to FILEP MOTWARY

Debut collection, photography by Wendelien Daan ©

Dear iDEALS, it was through Stefan Siegel's tweet that I discovered the amazing works of Marga Weimans, an ambitious designer whose visions embodies Couture tactics and behaviors. The House of Weimans' expands itself to multiple disciplines including fashion, architecture and fine arts.

Portrait by Roel Jacobs

An Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts graduate, won the i-D prize award in 2005 for her graduation collection The Power Of My Dreams. With this collection she was also nominated for the Design Prize Rotterdam.

Now, Weimans' work is purchased by and exhibited at the Groninger Museum. She pushes the boundaries of the fashion industry with her designs by combining fashion and architecture, presenting bold and broad collections, from Haute Couture to Pret-a-Porter, including architectural show-pieces and minimalistic dresses. The designer continues to work closely with several artists from other fields like industrial designers and architects. Here is what we talked about earlier today.

Filep Motwary: You have a very personal way in approaching fashion. Do you see yourself more as an artist rather than designer?

MargaWeimans: I have an integrated view on fashion. I work as an artist, making Art Couture, but I’m also interested in how that translates to ready to wear. This combination is interesting to me Also, hypothesis and questions on how couture translates to a building for example. Focusing on the Fashion field, I consider myself as an artist.

F.M: You work as an artist, but yet the fashion world considers you a designer and you participate in fashion weeks...

M.W: From my point of view, I like investigating what fashion is about and how I could change that perception, in my own modest way. I like to communicate my message not only in a Museum context but also in a fashion context. For example, during the last Amsterdam fashion week I exhibited a building, an alternative view of a fashion house ( 99m2) and the fashion show was more of performance art with models dragging iron buildings along the catwalk. My message came through succesfully, loud and clear. This is also fashion!

Photography of work in process by Rianne Mertens

F.M: What is the process you follow for each collection?

M.W: I start with a story, a concept and the idea on paper. Then I find the materials and the shapes, which will help me tell that story the best. I start mostly with trigger questions, dealing with the development of my business. What do I want to learn or say, where do I go as a company and what is my current view on fashion. The very first collection was named Debut. I see it as papers of my diary, personal stories that later become universal.

Wonderland collection,  photography by Menno Bouma

F.M: Marga, are you the type of designer who takes a lot of time in isolation, or is designing more of an error and trial process, using stimulation from your daily routine in the outside world?

M.W: The latter, it’s really about experimenting, trying and researching. My daily routine, my life is indeed the inspiration. I need time alone to digest and take a distance though, to travel. Sometimes I just send everybody, interns & assistants, home.

F.M: You graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in 2005. On your website there are only three collections for the visitor to see. Someone would expect more, counting the years in between.

M.W: Yes! I lived in London for half a year and right after I started with theater costumes and couture assignments. Then I needed time to experiment avoiding to show most of my work on the website. Yet I did art commissions, exhibitions, collaborated with Couture artisans, architects, I designed a 50-meter curtain along many other things. The last collection was in July. I am also a mother of two kids, which makes things a little slow and until now my work was outside the fashion rhythm… until now. The next show will be in January 2013.

F.M: Wow, this is amazing. I didn't know you are a mother. Respect!!

M.W: Thanks!

FM: Someone would expect that you would stay in London, with such a glorious vision and approach like yours.

M.W: Yes, totally, I miss it. Sometimes I doubt my decision. But I wanted to work on art couture and in the Netherlands there is the climate and the funding to do that. Dutch Groninger museum that also bought the work of Viktor&Rolf picked me up and it automatically enabled me to work the way I do. I must admit my main desire is to show on international platform for an international audience. But it’s coming in February. My collection will also be presented during the NY fashion week off-schedule. I have big dreams yes!

F.M: You know today, I was writing a column for a Cyprus magazine that I work for and one of the paragraphs was about you and my quote was that I see you as the next Viktor and Rolf, not in terms of inspiration or outline.It was the power of your vision and the work it embodies that led me to such conclusion.

M.W: Oh my god, thank you so much! It is important to build a good team of people around you to really break through. I must say I have wonderful people around me now; and a very good press office!

Groninger Museum exhibition, photo courtesy GroningerMuseum ©

F.M: Do you take into consideration how people experience or respond to your clothes?

M.W: Yes, partly, I do take into consideration if the audience understands my story or vision, if it is clear. Also the professional audience: is it strong enough, different enough, interesting? Critical voices. I noticed people react emotionally in positive and negative sense, which I both need and like. Clothing is about emotions. It’s so closed as matter, everybody has an opinion, and nobody is neutral about it. It’s hard to digest for people that the clothes are not functional in everyday life. But I like that.

FM: Do you like stimulating emotion?

M.W: Yes! In a sense it’s like theater or another sort of entertainment.

FM: Are your collections dependent of one another? Do you link them somehow?

M.W: Conceptually there is always a link but visually I hardly look at older work. I just find out what fits the concept each time, my color palette etc. I like to work with the hourglass dress, the essence of couture as a basis. At the same time, I truly appreciate the work of others like Prada and Comme Des Garcons, who reinvent themselves in every new collection. Their documentation changes, starting from scratch each time, which is hard but also interesting. To sum up what the titles of my collection symbolize: Debut: birth of the company. Wonderland: escape from my reality as a fashion designer in a fairytale world. The opening of my fashion house. City life: resuming responsibility and making a clear business plan.

Installation at Droog, photography by Marga Weimans

FM: How do you justify your own aesthetic?

M.W: I make Couture, which uses the ornament and the print, as ways to communicate - almost like a wax print. I borrowed elements from the language of the Baroque, the elements of propaganda, targeting the market through a visual language. This baroque layer is then placed on top of an architectural structure. Its almost a 3-D embodiment of my work process: first comes the structure, the story and finally the beauty draped on top of them all. I also think that visually incorporating and mixing the highs and the lows, the mundane and the sublime, pretty and ugly is my drive. It is exactly like life itself.

FM: Is there a distance between the pragmatism of fashion and your collections?

M.W: A huge difference, obviously. But I like that clothes can inspire or enchant people on a certain level, that they can enjoy it without having to own or buy it. On another note the work of Couture, is basically slow fashion and it is pragmatic because there is only one piece of each, hardly any waste. And when exhibited it, reaches an audience which is not always predictable.

FM: Lets focus on your recent presentation in Amsterdam.? Your models came out wearing massif metallic house-boxes on wheels. What was the concept behind it?

M.W: The concept as a whole represented a fashion house. The collection was about the internal business of a fashion house, and its functional needs. Also the city life, what is the outside reality of the house itself. Women, customers in their urban environment where they work in the clothes. Couture clothes also as something you can intensely love, within borders of obsession, a love so intense, which you cannot live without - hence the cages, with no regard to the mundane. A wonderful imprisonment, which we all can understand Couture as something which you can free yourself with - hence the end where the models walk out of the ' cages' and walk on their own.

Power of my dreams, photography by Roel Jacobs

FM: The critics mentioned it as your most wearable collection to date. What is your quote on this matter?

M.W: I was thinking of street clothes, the city itself, also fashion victims and the 'IT' girls…so it became more wearable. Conceptually I was thinking of customers, Anyhow, I would love to do more wearable clothes in the future! As an extra line next to my Art Couture. I can understand the surprise of the critics of course, but at the end this is very interesting, keeping people “on their toes”.

FM: Do you care if your collection is wearable? Is it a crucial matter of “making a living” out of it?

M.W: It’s more to see the translation in effect. Whom does this beauty represent when it’s subjected to the world of "wearabilty"? Whose beauty translates from a couture dress to an object of design? It’s a matter of scale as well. Enlarged it its a building, simplified it is ready to wear.

FM: In what ways you feel you have evolved since the launching of your very first collection?

M.W: I am able to work in a softer way, with less construction. I moved from steel crinoline to using foam or softer petty coats. Also, I am now able to translate Couture into design and architecture. Business wise, I learned that like every business, fashion is a network. A designer needs support to take off and fly.

FM: Your silhouettes are very dramatic, very monumental and a bit uncomfortable. How do you see the connection of the human body with clothes, in this case, the clothes you design?

M.W: I need the human body but I push the limits. Playing with different options of how to dress the body and how it will look like, in service of the concept or the material experiments. But I do take “wearability” into consideration! The cages I placed on wheels now and some of the dresses from my DEBUT collections are on wheels too. I don like the amount of weight clothes put on the models, so I let them roll.(laughs)

FM: What is next for you, apart from NY fashion week?

M.W: I have Amsterdam’s fashion week in January as well as an exhibition in NAi - Nederlands Architectuurinstituut

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Photography by Filep Motwary

Thank You Elli Lori

Dear iDEALS, Speaking of Heroes and Monsters, here's my recent conversation with Theo-Mass Lexileictous

FilepMotwary: The web has been bombed again recently with your new episode announcement. What will the new episode be about?

Theo-MassLexileictous: The Ultimate Acceptance. It is the Fifth episode in the line, and the first episode of  the Second Chapter.  The First Chapter, which consisted of four episodes, it was all about me trying to conquer the world, in a way of making my existence known to the world while exploring the concept of power in my work. On this Second Chapter the story goes back to its roots. I’m exploring the main reasons of becoming this character; Theo-Mass Lexileictous. It mainly explores the concept of what happens when the alter-ego overpowers ego. When The Ultimate Acceptance episode will launch officially, the first picture to be revealed is an appropriation of Michelangelo’s sculpture ‘Pieta’ that is in the Vatican. Instead of Mother Mary who is holding the body of Jesus, it will be Theo-Mass, holding the dead body of Alexis, my ego. It is a symbolization of how the alter-ego overpowered ego. The Ultimate Acceptance generally explores the consequences of this concept.

FM: Why do you choose to go backwards?

TML: It came naturally. When the fourth episode, the Planetary Alignment, was finished I was in depression. The things that I passed in just a year ended up as a pressure. The whole thing was becoming more and more demanding and I was demanding more things from myself.

FM: Yourself as Theo or yourself as Alexis? Because it is a bit confusing as you understand.

TML: Both. I was feeling this pressure because I wanted to offer to my audience something new and I was quite lost last June-July. The Planetary Alignment episode ended up like that so I sat down and asked myself why it is all these happening to me. Why am I depressed. Why am I doing what I’m doing. Why have I mutated into this being. I started going back to the roots of the story and tried to translate what I’m doing.

FM: Why do you separate your work in chapters, to begin with?

TML: It is a different story every time. It is like presenting the development of my work in this way. Each episode has its own story to tell.

FM: This time you have chosen to work with Rein Vollenga, Patrick Ian Hartley and Void Of Course. What do they have in common in such extent to stimulate your own creativity- or to include them in this episode?

TML: They have nothing in common.

FM: But they all seem to perceive beauty in a very raw way.

TML: Exactly. All these designers have sent their masks and headpieces that I wore for the Ultimate Acceptance episode. It was such a great thing to wear those masks. I was feeling completely different when wearing Rein Vollenga’s pieces and when wearing Patrick Ian Hartley’s pieces for example. When I was wearing Rein Vollenga’s pieces I was feeling like a sci-fi movie character that escaped the screen. When Void Of Course’s masks covered my face I was feeling more sexual- maybe because of the leather and the aesthetic of Void Of Course and the S&M thing. When wearing Patrick Ian Hartley’s pieces, it was like experiencing causes of trauma and a fake plastic surgery- because of the transformation that your face has when wearing Patrick’s pieces. I was feeling uncomfortable because it is the only piece that I wore and had my face revealed. Patrick’s facial apparels are made by transparent materials so my face was both transformed and revealed.  It was a completely different feeling comparing to the masks by the other designers. But all designers were chosen for these reasons. The Ultimate Acceptance shoot has some vague diverse images within the story. With these designers, the story blends nicely. 

FM: How many parts does episode five has? Is it depending on the designer?

TML: I am a comic book escapee. I escape the comic book and whatever the comic book says it becomes my mission to make it in reality. So that depends on me. If I manage to fulfill my desires and complete my missions, or whatever the episode says, then the episode is done and I am moving on to the next one. I don’t know from now, but I think it is going to last for three months. That is the deadline I gave myself because then I have to move on to the next episode. It will be the development of The Ultimate Acceptance episode. I have some more collaborations coming for this episode. Now I am collaborating with Alex Mattson, who is designing an outfit and a mask for this episode so I will have a custom made mask and costume.

FM: Performance is an art of creativity which you have been serving since the Theo-Mass character was first created. Are there any other forms you wish to explore in the short-coming future and put them in the context of Theo-Mass?

TML: Actually many forms of art. But video is one of those art forms that I want to explore because the main concept is to transfer myself into a two-dimensional world. Although I did some videos, it is something that I really want to push further. To have my own input in the video. Another art form is sculpture.

FM: When you say sculptures, it is something that is going to come from you or from a collaboration like you did now?

TML: It is something that is going to come from me. It’s something that I’m working and developing at the moment but there are so many things that I had to work on at the same time. When you are busy working on the main elements of the story then you don’t have time to concentrate on other things as well.

FM: Your name, ‘Theo-Mass Lexileictous’ is very striking in that for most people it will sound indeed like a comic’s character. I think perhaps is even stronger in relation to a series of work which avoids vocabulary. There are a few words in each of your episodes, but there is a lot of black, leather, silk, metal. Would you be inclined to say that material act as a kind of replacement for words in your system?

TML: For the First Chapter, episodes One to Four, all garments were made out of materials such as latex, plastic, neoprint and metal. Contemporary materials. For this Chapter and especially on this episode, everything changes and becomes more couture look. Theo-Mass’s silhouette is becoming more elegant. This is a change I wanted to experience because on the previous episodes my pieces were more experimental. For example the MUGLER jacket that was created at SHOWstudio, it is a normal tuxedo covered in latex, glitters, paint, nylon- so it became more theatrical after this creative process and the interventions of Nicola Formichetti and Romain Kremer. Most of the pieces used on the previous chapter had the element of theatricality. Now I want to change this fact and make it more of a couture silhouette.

INTERVIEW: ALLUDE's ANDREA KARG talks to FILEP MOTWARY

Portrait by Matthias Ziegler

FilepMotwary: How did you form the Allude heroine/the woman you dress?

AndreaKarg: I started to make sensual, more sexy cashmere knits for myself as I loved the material but couldn't find anything which I really liked. A modern contemporary look -this was my starting point and as the success of the brand proofs- I wasn't the only one looking for this specific Allude look

FM: And who is this woman?

AK: A luxurious and details loving woman

FM: Andrea, do you feel fashion is changing? To which direction?

AK: There is no more "dictatorship" of fashion, which results in more freedom, but that doesn`t make it necessarily more easy. What you definitely need is style and attitude to find your look.

FM: What is the most important thing a designer must never forget? 

AK: You get onto the women`s skin- you cannot get closer....which is a gift but results into a huge responsibility. (At the end of the day fashion are clothes that have to cover and give them security and self confidence)

FM: What makes a designer important in your opinion. How does really longevity mean in this business?

AK: The flexibility and the intense sense of feeling the "zeitgeist". To have the ability of reacting to the community and to give them hold through clothes.

FM: And how different are women compared to men?

AK: In fashion? Women are much more experimental and free to chance looks each season. they don't feel "married" to one look, women loves to play different roles... At the end this is what men love about women. (Smiles)

FM: What is romance for you?

AK: Privacy

FM: What is your SS13 collection about, the inspiration lets say. How did you start designing it, what was your research about?

AK: Unlimited Spaces – a hymn to women! I wanted to approach this season freely and with no restrictions: only a fascination with the color blue with its mystic associations was significant in developing the collection. Not just blue like the ocean to represent the element of water, but blue like the universe with its unlimited space – as unlimited as the female being and the female soul! It’s a hymn to women that symbolizes the infinite nature of life. Reflections of the four elements play a key role in the collection: light and shimmer effects in addition to the color white are dedicated to the element of air. This is cleverly reflected in the knit, which is airy, transparent and permeable.

FM: Can other factors, for example music, become part of the collection? What else?

AK: I played with contrasts and my love of incongruities: soft cashmere is combined with strong lines, designed styles meet natural flows. Everything follows the beat of the Chemical Brothers, whose electronic music underlines the mysticism of this summer at Allude.

FM:You’ve deviated from a monochrome palette for your S/S 13 collection. Tell us about your experiments with color this season. There is a lot of color blocking, also pantsuits?

AK: The collection is ‘earthed’ with khaki to represent the element of earth. Flamboyant effects are created by red to symbolize the element of fire and straight line of electric blue in the collection is the unlimited sky. Combined together, the collection not only forms a harmonious symphony of silhouettes, materials and colours, but also delivers a well-rounded energetic concept by incorporating the archaic power of the four elements.

FM:How do you think fashion responds to the financial crisis-if there is one? Is this the moment of great creativity?

AK: We are a part of the luxury industry, which seams to be non-vulnerable, but also here the customers are looking for real values, for sustainability and a true value for what they purchase. the time is over for prices which are not comprehensible. creativity is the base of all

FM: How does your background, your roots reflect in what you do?

AK: My motto: what you do not want others do to you, you shouldn`t do to them

FM:What is next for Allude?

AK: For Allude I created the first cashmere sneaker.....more to come very soon.

Allude is represented by TOTEM. All photos backstage and catwalk by Olivier Claisse. Thank you Elisa Palmer

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INTERVIEW: PAULINA OTYLIE SURYS talks to FILEP MOTWARY

Dear iDEALS, there is something rather striking about Paulina Otylie Surys' works! Born in 1979 in Poland, the London based fine art and photographer has recently she has launched herself as a fashion photographer. Not long after her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poland, Paulina developed her skills and her distinctive style as a painter. Following her studies, she discovered photography to be her preferred medium for its unique ability to c apture a moment in time ; she could, however, be considered a photographer, painter and art director in equal measure.

Her works exemplify this juxtaposition of the old and the new; using entirely analogue equipment and early photographic techniques, she presents subjects in a thoroughly modern and innovative way (using, very often, items from fantastic contemporary designers that complement her own aesthetic tastes and interests).

Her work has appeared in numerous magazines such as VISION China, Vogue It online, FIASCO, IDOL, Vanity Fair, VOLT, TALK Be., Ballad Of...magazine, Collaboration with Mother of Pearl and Show Studios, DROME, The Ones 2 Watch. VOGUE.com, VOGUE It, The British Journal of Photography, TWILL Features: Calle20.es, Re-Bel, Ballad Of.., Fashion 156, 500 PHOTOGRAPHERS, FUTURISTA.com, K-mag pl, Strand Gallery, Deluxx, VELVET, The British Journal of Photography, Amateur Photographer, DROME, ASVOF, TWIN, VELVET (GEOT Venezuela)

FilepMotwary: Paulina you are a very young photographer, yet your work focuses on the past, characters that belong to historical tales, legends even. Why does nostalgia matters so much to you that it was your decision to give your own interpretation to it?

PaulinaOtylieSurys: Nostalgia, when used to look at the past, is like a filter, it softens everything and makes even very disturbing things bearable, it's forgiving. 

A lot of my works, especially my forthcoming projects, are related to the body, death, violence and sexual tension. The circle of life really. It is a theme that seems to be natural to all of us, yet remains largely. The medium of my choice, hand coloured gelatin silver prints and wet plate ambrotypes and tintypes, filters the content, helping the images to appear to come from some unplaceable past age, hopefully filling the viewer with an imaginary nostalgia. Many people would avert their eyes from the subjects depicted in my works if they were shot in an unforgiving, documentary fashion. The technique of my choice makes the subjects sublime, creating a disturbing combination of beauty and the horrific.

FM: You are now preparing for an exhibition, if I am not mistaken?

POS:Yes, I am currently preparing a solo exhibition for the Richard Young Gallery in Kensington&Chelsea (February to April 2013) and am preparing for the launch of my book in Paris (14-17th november 2012), London (end of November 2012) and Moscow at the end of this year, as a part of the Paulsen Collection exhibition.

FM: What will the visitor see? First of all there will be my new book!

POS: I am really excited about it. It is a beautiful hardback, A2 format monographic album titled LIMBO. The book's presentation will be accompanied by a small exhibition of original prints.

FM: What in your opinion is so stimulating about photography that so many young artists want to explore it still, generation after generation?

POS:"Each precise object or condition or combination or process exhibits a beauty"(Whitman), whether what is being captured is idealised image or brutal reality.

Photography gives value to its subjects, making them equal; this is the most powerful aspect of photography. People believe in what they see, it depends on the photographer as to what he wants to expose as the truth.

FM: How do you work?

POS: The first and most important part is the research I carry out on the brief's subject matter. From then on, I work closely with the team involved to develop my initial ideas. Often I will help with the set design and will direct my assistants in setting up the lights etc. I give very accurate directions to the models about the postures I want to see.

I will set them up as I would a still life; positioning their every limb, the folds of the clothes, their hair etc, with my own hands. After the shoot I develop the negatives by hand. I usually use black and white film but will sometimes use colour. I develop my monochrome films in deep tanks, which means I am in complete darkness and solitude for several minutes; allowing me time for reflection and meditation on both the forthcoming images and other things.

This part of the process is incredibly important for me, the negative is like a stencil and so many things depends on its' quality. I print my photographs myself, I occasionally tone or bleach them and than hand colour some of them. Every hand coloured image is a one off, a unique piece of art, impossible to replicate.

My photographs are carefully shot and hand crafted, the process is slow and resembles more the art of painting than contemporary photographic processes.

FM: As far as I can understand there are traces of hand-retouch and hand coloring in your images. How did you first come to this habit?

POS: My first hand coloured images were a series of landscape peel apart Polaroids which I took in 2003, in order to complete my project for serigraphy. I took them using an old polaroid land camera. The tinting was more dreamy and was particularly inspired by the colouring of Hans Bellmer.

FM: Paulina, how do you cope with current demands for digital photography and video?

POS: A lot of magazines prefer crisp, digital images but this sort of photography has become so ubiquitous that even good examples can be missed when flicking through a contemporary magazine; because of this, I think analogue photography can really stand out.

Many publications are, however, still reluctant to present artful photography of the sort I produce; for some reason they do not consider it strictly "fashion photography", there is still a trend for more documentary style imagery. I have done a few commercial jobs using digital cameras, I think successfully, yet I do not have the same enthusiasm or interest in this medium.

FM: How does your own personal heritage, your roots reflect in your work?

POS: There is a very strong influence, the experiences of my childhood are, to my eyes, apparant on my work. I was raised in post-communist Poland but luckily, thanks to my family (particularly my mother), I was raised with a lot of art around me. It was something very exclusive in those days, the art books were sold "under the counter".

Lots of things were strongly censored or banned in the post-communist block. This was a world where people were given pieces of paper stating how much dairy or meat they are allowed to buy, and even then, it was almost impossible to get them. Also, Poland's approach to religion is particularly devout and sincere and (despite the fact that my family have never been church goers) I had compulsory religious education at school and had to attend Mass. This has undoubtedly influenced my work.

FM: I know you are also a skilled painter…

POS:Yes, I studied painting and graphic techniques in Poland. My ability as a painter can be seen in most of my work since 95% of my images are black and white photographs that I have hand painted. It is also an enormous help when visualising composition and colour and in directing the model.

FM: How do you wish to see your work evolve?

POS: I have started separating my fashion/advertising work from my personal projects, where I inevitably have greater creative freedom. I have plans for some big conceptual projects over the next few years, connected with the human body and religion.

I am starting the first one very soon and it will hopefully end up as a book (Autumn 2013), a series of big prints and an installation.

website: www.paulinasurys.co.uk

daily updates: www.facebook.com/paulinasurys

INTERVIEW: SERAFINA SAMA, FOUNDER OF ISA ARFEN talks to FILEP MOTWARY

Dear iDEALS, thanks to my friend Tatiana Varda, I came across London-based womenswear label ISA ARFEN. Founded in late 2011 by Serafina Sama,after following a small collection of summer dresses inspired by the retro glamour of Slim Aarons’ society photographsthe pieces were sold exclusively through private sales, and the enthusiastic response led the designer to develop these initial themes into a broader collection.

Growing up in Ravenna, Italy, Serafina was surrounded by strong female figures whose individual, eccentric and irreverent styles are reflected in the ISA ARFEN design aesthetic. Drawing on the canons of Italian style with equal doses of pride and irony, the label is relaxed, feminine and fun, shot through with a touch of aristocratic sensibility. “To me fashion is about desire, beauty and fun. It's not about dressing up in a costume. ISA ARFEN is about a real woman dressing for her real life and really enjoying it.”

Serafina Sama graduated from Central Saint Martins School of Art & Design in 2006 having gained studio experience at Marni, Lanvin and Marc Jacobs. For the following two years she worked in Paris as design assistant at Chloé before returning to London in the summer of 2008 to start a family. She subsequently worked on free-lance projects for Chloé, Louis Vuitton, Acne and Charlotte Olympia. The last time I saw her was some years back at Hotel de Crillon, during a private party for Louis Vuitton...

FilepMotwary: How did everything start for you?

SerafinaSama: I spent the majority of my childhood drawing. And my subjects were always girls in different outfits… Hundreds of them! As soon as I realised that that was something I could study at university and do for a living I couldn’t think of anything I would rather do!

FM: Why you have chosen fashion as your profession in the first place.

SS: I couldn’t really imagine doing anything else! I tried to convince myself I could be an architect when my parents wouldn’t let me study fashion (“too frivolous!”) but that didn’t last long!

FM: How did you form the Isa Arfen heroine/the woman you dress?

SS: I wouldn’t call her a heroine… I don’t design for a fantasy woman. Growing up in Ravenna I have always been surrounded by strong female figures and their eclectic, irreverent and individual style has been a great influence on the Isa Arfen aesthetic.

FM: And who is this woman?

SS: She is relaxed, sophisticated and with a sense of humour.

FM:Serafina, do you feel fashion is changing? If yes to which direction?

SS: It’s becoming faster , more accessible but also more disposable.

FM: What is the most important thing a young designer must know?

SS: I don’t think I am in the position to give advice to other designers, but I personally think it is important to be humble, be true to yourself, work hard, put love into everything you do, and have fun while doing it.

FM: How important was for you, the fact that you have worked for other designers before you launched your own collection?

SS: Extremely important! I wouldn’t have had a real view of how this industry works, but only a romanticized version of it, if I hadn’t worked for other designers before.

FM: How did it help you?

SS: I feel so enriched and lucky to have been able to work with a lot of very talented people and learn from them. It helped me to grow up, believe in my personal taste and define my identity as a designer.

FM: What shall we expect from you in the near future?

SS: My winter collection of course!! AW13-14!

FM: What is your SS13 collection available?

SS: In the middle of confirming stockists right now… watch this space!

ISA ARFEN

INTERVIEW: KRJST, THE FRESH BELGIAN DESIGNER DUO, TALK TO FILEP MOTWARY

Dear iDEALS, today I am presenting a short conversation with KRJST, a collective of various creative visions, with as a perspective, the development of a specific project, profoundly associated with fashion. After a 5 years study at La Cambre Fashion (Brussels) and a through analysis of the context and medium in which they wanted to develop their creativity, KRJST was founded in April 2012.

 

Founders and inspires of the KRJST collective, Erika Schillebeeckx and Justine de Moriame's main force is an open vision on fashion, a consequence of our identical background. The focus lays in the fusion of diverse disciplines and the convergence of the heterogeneous approaches. To them it's significant that they work under a 'non specialized' form, versatility is indispensable and they have to invert this choice into a strength to astonish. Approaching things from different angles inspires and pushes them to specific collaborations with artists such as graphic designers, photographers, typographers, directors, designers ... 

FilepMotwary: So girls, how did everything start for you?

KRJST: After five personal years at La Cambre Mode during which we experienced our own creativity's dynamics, we suddenly found ourselves in a soup bar in Brussels, discussing our experiences and  the ways we see fashion design. KRJST begun with a long after a long conversation about art in general and on ways to find our own way to express our creativity…in the hope we could finally find our place in fashion design as well as in art. We at the end decided not to follow a conventional path and to work in open collaborations with several artists in a collective state of mind.

FM: Why you have chosen fashion as your profession in the first place.

KRJST: We saw fashion as a platform on which each form of art can find its way to expression as well  a way to reflect human relationships as well as the society in which art is "growing up". Fashion is an analysis of all these characteristics. We imagine fashion as a canvas for free expression, like a blank page. Fashion is always in change, in movement. Fashion contains an obsessive way to see things. Obsession about memory and about the polyphony of life.

FM: How did you form the KRJST hero& heroine /the man & woman you dress

KRJST: Our heroes live in a rallying duality. There is an identical polyphony that forms our Man and Woman, the eternal duo male/female. We see sex as a synergistic religious dualism /categorization of what it actually is. Man can’t actually exist without woman and the opposite is also a fact.

Our muses for "KRJST I" are leading/major figures of sub-culture. People who are on the fringe of society, trying to make things change. Frida Khalo, Joan Baez, Alexander Ebert from the Magnetics Zero and Jim Morrison are strong inspirations. We also find interesting the confrontations between these emblematic figures and their chaos and the serenity of the christian culture. We translated this confrontation through the prints and the cut/posture of our (Wo)man.

FM: Do you feel fashion is changing? 

KRJST: We actually think fashion is in change like it has always been. Fashion is directly linked to society and our society in constantly in change, right? We think fashion designers have to follow this fact and innovate constantly. We see fashion as a social expression who can translate ideas, values, current and contradictions. It is not something rational, it translate the collective unconscious/culture of a mass. Fashion is a full-fledged silent language and generally becomes from a neurotic formation with no limits. If fashion doesn’t move there won’t be any other changes in life. So, move your body!

FM: What is the most important thing a young designer must know?

KRJST: We can only tell you what we think we know: innovation/flexibility/plurality are our keys.

FM: How important was for you, the fact that you have worked for other designers before you launched your own collection?

KRJST: Our internships was for both a great experience. Especially for the people we have met through and through their own diversities. We experienced Alexander McQueen as well as Maison Martin Margiela, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Band of Outsiders. All of them showed us different ways to approach fashion so that we can set our own through.

FM: What shall we expect from you in the near future?

KRJST: It is actually to soon to reveal…but one thing is quiet sure, there will be fun!

FM: Where is your SS13 collection available?

KRJST: The SS13 collection KRJST1 is, for now, avalaible only our website and upon order via our email : bonjour(@)krsjt.com . We have several “pour parler” with shops in Brussels but, again it’s to soon to reveal, we are just born.

CREDITS Photographers: Julie Calbert & Sebastien Delahaye. Models : SAM & Isabel P @ Dominique Models Drawings : KRJST by Mr.PIMPANT

INTERVIEW: EUGENE RICONNEAUS TALKS TO FILEP MOTWARY

Dear iDEALS, Eugène Riconneaus presents himself as being 20 to 30 years old, depending on the need and where he is located. Described as an inspired skater, late-night painter and lover of crafts, he has already passed almost half his life in French boot makers workshops. Everything started during his teenagers’ years, when Eugène was 13 and falls in love with skateboarding and young women, skate and sneakers being as one, women and shoes also, the following is of implacable logic. He chooses to train at his own school – to the detriment of the typical school boy, spending all his time with boot-makers which we’ll find in future references, master craftsman of Northampton or Romans, true stronghold of high manufacture – more particularly an old boot-maker of J.Lobb to whom he owes a lot.

A few years later, he starts graphic studies, studies which he stops due to lack of finance. This was for the best because it is how he devotes himself entirely to explore the universe of women throughout the obscure object of desire that is the shoe, without missing on embezzling the most dandy of his coevals with his sneaker or “ souliers de sport”.

Inspired by women around him in his daily life, it is on the feet of his muses, artists, editors, models, women of one night stand or women he met day or night which helped him deliver in his 18 year his first feminine shoe collection. For love of the know-how but also to homage French boot makers who passed on their knowledge, his creations are entirely crafted in France by qualified craftsman. His first shoe was a derby with slight appearance, crafted with copper loss and a sole… in wood. After all, we all learn form persevering…

FilepMotwary: Eugene, it was your love for women that forced you to get involved in shoe design? Though there is also your passion for skateboarding. I am a bit confused here, can you justify?

EugeneRiconneaus: When I was 12/13, I was constantly skateboarding, which very often had as result having my shoes damaged. I often had to patch them back together. At that time, next to my parents house, we had a Sicilian (formerly of John Lobb London) boot maker and I used to visit his shop and he would help me for my shoes. After the discovery of that universe, the tools and craft of boot-making I fell really in love with leather. During the early blow, I used to go & see him every Wednesday afternoon after school. Until you I had school no longer. At the same time I started discovering women. The transition from shoes to women happened very quickly : I started drawing shoes to seduce my girlfriends...

FM: How would you describe your current collection as well as the SS13 you just presented?

ER: The new collection is very couture, it is a composition for a new "hybrid shoe - form" with many color and different materials, For example, the Annabelle shoe is a bias on the outside made of black kidskin suede, while the inside is made of imperialli black satin. Or the Nina shoe, which its outer calf white box and inside goatskin silver. My DNA is very present in this particular collection, all the work has this leather perforating embellished, notched leather and the notched crown sole. Also this season I focus on metal parts, such as new loop notched and courones silver with details of cuts. Last but not least, my collaboration with prestigious Anne Valérie Hash for whom I created shoes and will be on sale in under the label Eugene Riconneaus x Anne Valérie Hash and has a very similar and vibrant spirit.

 
Eugene Riconneaus shoes for Anne Valerie Hash SS13

FM: How did everything start for you really? Where did you study and how everything evolved after?

ER: I did not have the strength to afford a fashion school. I left college in the middle and started working as a free-lancer graphic designer. I started slowly saving some money for the launch of my shoe line when I was 18. I was lucky to be given a few samples of leather and forms to create my first prototypes (Belleville, Cholet, Novels). My first capsule collection was born and there comes JOYCE from Hong Kong who bought everything. Step by step, season after season, business went better and better.

FM: Why you have chosen fashion as your profession in the first place.

ER: I always wanted to do something creative for women. After an bootmaker encounter I came across one usual day, I got instantly inspired.

FM: How did you form the Eugene Riconneaus heroine / the woman you design shoes for?

ER: There's a relationship — almost a love relationship — that's very important for my creative process. I am in daily contact with women, and I find shoes as an incredibly seductive accessory if you allow me to say. It's up to me to breathe in their desires, and ultimately combine inspiration with their personalities. In each of my shoes collections, the shoe has a woman's name. It can be the name of a friend, a lover, or a woman I knew for just one night... I'd like to give total accessibility to my work to artists, visual or not, to writers, and to city-dwelling poets.

FM: There is also a men's collection if I am not mistaken?

ER: Not exactly, I only created only men's shoes just for special collaborations , it is a bit like my secret pleasure that I communicate in my own way. My first man shoe : a cross jodhpurs loop that I only edited for Colette as well as my first men's sneakers  some new designs I did for BMW, and will be uniquely sold in their new space on Avenue George V in Paris.

  

FM: What was the Colette project about?

ER: Its called "Cabinet de Curiosités", my work is placed alongside independent designers who want to define luxury according to their talent and not techniques dependent by sales. I was asked to create pieces that were both unisex and timeless. My decision was to revise the sport shoe, which is related to an old personal story, Calcuta,  the first pair of sneakers that I created and sold. I turned it into a unisex version, in white with supple box-calfskin leather,  jagged edges and interchangeable leather tassels. This shoe has no season and no limits.

FM: What is your design philosophy.

ER: Every shoe that I create is always under guidance of an encounter with a woman. My procedure is always based on the form of a dialogue, a meeting. Each shoe creation must have a history of manufacturing, reflect expertise and match my DNA.

FM: What do you think of feet in general? Is it a form of fetish for you?

ER: Unlike the ready to wear, shoes are made to support you. No foot fetish there, I feel exactly just like a kid doing shoes for women.

FM: Do you feel fashion is changing? If yes to which direction?

ER: I'd better answer your question in 10 years... In any case, fashion is changing but always returns, on the same road that you know well, except that it returns with another car and different fuel.

FM: What is the most important thing a young shoe designer must know?

ER: The most significant is making good shoe manufacturing. Also, you need to have your own DNA, your own identity and not just to be ultra creative. One needs to have a style that fits its time, have a coherence collection..

FM: What shall we expect from you in the near future?

ER: I have many projects going on right now! I just created a man's capsule sneaker for a large department store in Hong Kong, launched in early 2013. Also I am about to present a new co-branding with BMW on November 3rd, four styles of unique sneakers, as mentioned above. Lastly, I am now the new artistic director for a very old French shoe's HOUSE, that exists for almost a century... More soon...

INTERVIEW: PETER JEUN HO TSANG EXPLAINS TO FILEP MOTWARY EVERYTHING ABOUT COEUR, HIS PLAYFULLY PREPPY MENSWEAR BRAND

Dear iDEALS, Playfully preppy | Cœur is the new menswear lifestyle brand for the modern day dandy. Ingrained into the clothing is the signature 100% silk jacquard fabric woven exclusively at one of England’s finest fabric mills. Luxurious and colourful, fused with slim cut clothing and quirky men’s neckwear for the youthful and confident gentlemen.

Cœur is a fresh and exciting menswear lifestyle brand that launched in 2012. The result of lead designer,Peter Jeun Ho Tsang, who graduated from a BA degree in Fashion Design and Development, and MA degree in Digital Fashion. Now a guest lecturer at London College of Fashion alongside the brand, he is combining his love for silk jacquard fabrics, bold and beautiful colour, soft tailoring, and quirky design detailing to generate a playfully preppy collection.

FilepMotwary: So Peter, how did everything start for you?

PeterJeunHoSang: From an early age, I always knew that I wanted to do my own thing upon graduating from my degrees (having studied my BA and MA at London College of Fashion); therefore everything centred on this idea that I would eventually launch my own brand. From the brand concept to the entire supply chain and product prototypes – everything slowly slotted into place as my coeur journey unfolded through explorative processes. I viewed it from a business angle, so even though I am product designer/developer at heart, everything had to make sense along the way.

Of course mistakes happened, however this is part of the learning process, and on the contrary, happy accidents also occurred. For example the 100% British silks that I now use within the entire product line. 2012 seemed to be right moment for the brand to launch, as well as myself being in the right frame of mind from a personal perspective – coeur, the playfully preppy seemed to be tuned enough for my future visions.

FM: Why you have chosen fashion as your profession in the first place.

PJHS: I think that fashion chose me to be honest. It was something that I was interested in at school, and I was able to naturally understand it. Fashion has given me a good grounding for a career and has given me context for my personal interests, but I’m a natural absorber of everything that is around me. Soaking in aspects of other industries, and fashion seems to be the medium that my inner thoughts come out as. If it were not fashion, it would definitely be another creative industry of some sort. I feel that most people in fashion are multi-talented and multi-skilled – in modern society we could all easily flit from one industry to the next, but there’s always one true calling.

FM: How did you form the Coeur hero/the man you dress?

PJHS:The Coeur modern day-dandy is my interpretation of fantasy worlds such as Waugh’s novel ‘Brideshead Revisited’ and Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’, two big influences for the brand.

Filled with emotion, life, mystery and an alluring aura, this gentleman has something about him that makes you want to know more. Not necessarily the man who speaks the loudest or always grabs attention, but he certainly knows his place in the world. These two novels have heavily influenced me as a creator, and the coeur man is the tangible aspect that the consumer is able to engage with, and place the coeur products into a lifestyle setting. Lifestyle is important for me and I want my customers to be able to immerse themselves into the coeur world.

FM: And, who is this man?

PJHS: He is Julian – readers of the Coeur journal will know that this is the voice of Coeur who is beautifully illustrated by one of my graphic designers, Arena Page. He is cool, he is confident, he is coeur. He loves colour, textures, and anything that will enrich his personal interests. I would like the gentlemen that dress in coeur to feel comfortable and to be able to positively feel good about themselves. It is an understated notion of confidence through the clothing.

FM: Do you feel fashion is changing? To which direction?

PJHS:I certainly feel that menswear is growing and that now the male contemporary consumer is able to explore now more than ever before. Whether it is cut, silhouette, fabric or colour, there is more and more choice for the male fashionista. Traditional aspects of menswear will always be there, and I feel that it is certainly important that is not lost because that’s what makes menswear, but it is how we re-appropriate all of those design details into a modern context, which makes fashion and direction fresh and exciting again.

Certainly within the UK at the moment we are celebrating all things British, but it is also important that this is a sustainable future for fashion, through craftsmanship, traditional tailoring, and artisanal design. It would be a shame that the notions of Brand Britain were short lived just to satisfy the Queen’s Jubilee and the London Olympics.

FM: What is the most important thing a young designer must know?

PJHS: Hard word pays off. Fashion can be fickle. It won’t be rosy all the time and resilience is key to being a designer B. Business skills and acumen is paramount to surviving. Even if it does not come naturally then you must learn or seek others that can help you.

FM: Where is menswear fashion at this moment.

PJHS: At present, everything is slim cut and cropped from a tailoring point of view. The jackets are nipped in at the waist, shoulders are soft and narrow, hem lines are shorter, lapels are skinny and trousers are slim fitting with slim detailing to match. This is reflective of the modern man and current silhouettes. We will see that the opposite will happen in the future.

FM: How difficult/easy is to dress a man?

PJHS: I actually learnt womenswear at college, but for some reason I found more of a natural ability with menswear and everything seemed to fit because, of course I understand how clothing works on my own body. This methodology is what I apply when I’m designing for the male customer. Essentially I should and want to wear with the clothing that I am working with.

For men, it is more about the finer detailing, which I think completes the outfit for a man. The male customer also appreciates this from a quality point of view. Most men are able to achieve a clean-cut look, which for me I feel always works for a lot of situations. Of course, some men are less daring than others, and vice versa when some men just want everything in their outfits, so it is about creating a balance according to the persona.

FM: What shall we expect from you in the near future?

PJHS: With the brand coeur, you can expect lots more exciting silks to be produced. I am currently working on a new set of designs that will turn into tailored pieces. As the factory that I work with dates over 250 years old, there is a vast archive (which would excited any designer) and I am currently reviving a classic weave in silk jacquard – making it fresh and exciting for the contemporary consumer.

Aside from coeur, I also guest lecture at London College of Fashion, in which I love being with the students and being able to pass on knowledge. There’s also a few collaborations along the, which is making everything exciting for me right now, as a designer and as a businessman.

FM: What did you do yesterday? How was your day?

PJHS: My days vary so much – it’s just usually me running around. Yesterday though I actually had the pleasure of seeing my new silk fabrics produced for the first time. A side from that the usual business meetings, and a spot of cake and tea with a good friend, which is also important for any one to actually function the next day. There’s something about the ritual of cake and tea that makes me so happy.

FM: Your favorite song?

PJHS: Feeling Good – Michael Bublé version

Visit Cœur

ANDREA CAMMAROSANO EXPLAINS ALL ABOUT HIS SS2013 HOMME COLLECTION

FilepMotwary. So Andrea, what is this collection about? 

AndreaCammarosano: There are two different impulses in this collection. There is the abstractness of the prints, in which play with non-figurative patterns. The title, "Invisible Bestfriend", refers to these prints and to everything beautiful and irrational, like fashion. On the other hand, there is a solidity in the cuts, which I would define very present, figurative, because they are classic, sound, very italian, and were partly inspired by historical clothing.

I like the combination of the two things, the abstract and the concrete. In San Francisco, where I live, people tend to think outside the box, you see all these hippy and psychedelic murals which are great because they are so abstract, unreal: it's like fresh air. That's where the marbled prints came from. On the other hand, there is tradition: I developed a strong bond with my Italian manufacturers, which gave me a more traditional approach to clothing. This is the reason why I chose I classic cuts, classic materials and especially simple proportions - with the exception of a cropped blazer, which I found very summery.

A third important aspect of this collection is that has a commercial outlook. I see a lot of things around which are wonderful but not wearable. Im not saying we don't need them, in fact I think they are essential - but this season all I wanted was color and simplicity. I want to provide men with a feasible but original wardrobe.

FM: What materials did you use and why?

AC: I love summer cottons, and this was the predominant choice in the collection - together with the leather accessories, realised in collaboration with Scott Tal from Tauro Leather. Once again, this season I wanted to think practical and to use affordable fabrics that are comfortable in the summer.

The accent was not so much on the yarns, but on the different weights, especially the voile juxtaposed to the satin, and the satin to the calico. The main accent was on the prints: I stayed away from digital printing, which I find too common, and tried to find alternatives like the marbled prints.

 

These designs were patiently made in my laboratory, all by hand, using an old technique traditionally used on paper. Each of them is unique and different from the others. I think these prints will have a great success because they are random, surprising, they carry the hand of the artist, and they tell a whole story. I think customers want to see passion in clothing, and this is what I want to provide.

FM: Who is the hero of this collection?

AC: Probably an Italian hero. I think Italians have a funny way with innovation, for instance designers like Versace and Moschino were groundbreaking but at the same time never cold, never barren, while many people imagine the future sleek and minimal, numb, disenchanted.

Even somebody like Miuccia Prada, who is definitely one of my heroes and is ultra-modern, is never out of reach. Her menswear is sleak, sharp, but always has something warm and counter-intuitive to it. Maybe Italians are burdened with images and history, and the only way they have to innovate is to turn this burden around - I don't know, but I just like that sense of drama and irony, and that's what I put in my work.

I'm not obsessed with hard-wired geographical identity, but living abroad made me aware of things.

I'm reading now the

memoires of Giacomo

Casanova, it's a

massive 9-volumes

work, longer than

Proust's Recherche,

and it's amazing.

I love what a charlatan he was, and how brilliant, and how much he traveled - he met Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot, he was absolutely hysterical and modern. He lied, in order to create; he explored, he was classy, enthusiastic. I wish men felt more often like that today, instead the idea is "we know it all". Yes, luckily we know a lot of things, but sometimes you have to pretend you don't know, in order to know better. This kind of man, that pretends to not know; the artist, this is my hero.

FM: What are your plans for the near future?

Many many things. Im starting a series of prints based on Casanova's life and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels - the harsh, original text, not the children version. These will be the prints for my winter collection. I established a collaboration with new Italian manufacturers, which will add knitwear, tailored suits and a line of ties and foulards to my collection.

I will continue my collaboration with Tauro Leather in San Francisco: together we realised awesome accessories this summer, and will carry on doing so in the winter.

I'm setting up my own print laboratory in San Francisco, in order to develop more hand-made techniqus, and Im teaching again at San Francisco's Academy of Arts University, where I coach senior students in branding projects, and in research and development think-tanks. But probably the most exciting thing is that my summer collection will be on sale on Yoox.com starting on September, together with a series of special pieces that I designed exclusively for Yoox.com.

This as a result of the Yoox Award I won in Pitti Immagine - it's a very dynamic and exciting project, because it will give us the possibility to distribute a summer capsule collection six months ahead of schedule and in 150 countries. We will talk about it soon, I can't wait!

INTERVIEW: FACE2FACE / RAD HOURANI & FILEP MOTWARY

Dear iDEALS, Un nouVeau iDEAL is happy to announce a new interview series in collaboration with The Stimuleye and Antoine Asseraf.

A-referential, Unisex, Anti-Trend, Feature Film… wunderkind designer Rad Hourani is first to go FACE2FACE.

 

FACE 2 FACE interview series: Rad Hourani by Filep Motwary Interview: www.filepmotwary.com Creative Direction: TheStimuleye.com Assistant: Jean-David Alimi Sound Design: HOPE and Kristin Eketoft / SOSSOON Thanks: Robin Meason / Creative Door