Backstage Sound Bites: AW18 In The Designers’ Own Words
Pierpaolo Piccioli, Valentino
“Sometimes it feels as if women have to renounce their femininity to be stronger. I don’t think you need to be authoritarian to be assertive. We used to think of romanticism as something fragile, something close to love, but for me romanticism means an individual approach to life more passionate, more emotional, more human. Today, romanticism is not a weakness, it’s a strength. You can be assertive and not be aggressive. To me, being romantic today means being stronger.”
Natacha Ramsay-Levi, Chloé
“What’s interesting about French femininity – although I don’t know if it’s that feminine – is the idea of contradiction: you take something and make it something else. I don’t know if you heard about the letter Catherine Deneuve signed? I think it was very intelligent. Some of the women who signed it are saying shitty things, but if you read the text, the text is very right. It’s just saying, ‘We are women. We are different.’ In France there’s something interesting about that. You never get too much into one direction. You always balance more.”
Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior
“The relationship between fashion and change [used to be] very important. Now, in a different way – with the web – it’s the same. Fashion has a huge influence on the young generation so we have a huge responsibility in what we do.”
Miuccia Prada, Prada
“In my position as a rich fashion designer I can be useful. Fashion can be a voice without being superficial. The impression of fashion is that it is frivolous, it is still badly considered, even if the body is more important than a chair.”
Silvia Venturini Fendi, Fendi
“It’s not a time to fight anymore, especially at Fendi. The other day I was reading an interview that one of my aunts gave in the late 1960s. She said, ‘When we started our work in this industry it was mainly populated by men. When they realised what we were doing, it was too late for them to stop us.’ I thought that was clever. They were using soft power.”
Alessandro Michele, Gucci
“Fashion is not simply what you wear or an instrument to generate business. It’s something more, it’s very much aware of what’s happening and that wasn’t always the case in the past. A jacket doesn’t represent my way of being and living. I’m interested in what’s inside that jacket.”
Michael Halpern, Halpern
“When I started this label, I talked about escapism and getting away from the sadness. I didn’t think [things in America] could get worse, but now it is. I have a little nostalgia for New York right now. I feel bad for my country and everything that’s happening. It’s not what it was before and a lot of people feel sad now more than ever, so it’s important to me to show that I support America. It wasn’t always like it is now.”
Molly Goddard
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being girly, but that’s often misunderstood to mean prim or wishy-washy. It’s very boring being put in that pretty bracket… sometimes people see an image, but they don’t see the girl who’s wearing it and the attitude that she has.”
JW Anderson
“I [try] to think what is modern today and what is modern is what is next. Now is an amazing moment of clear-out and I think let’s go and find what’s new.”
Stefano Gabbana, Dolce & Gabbana
“We’re playing with our religion, but our religion is also fashion. We pray to God to be good to make fashion more beautiful. We say thank you to the Virgin. I don’t go to mass because I don’t like to listen to the priest. It’s so boring! But I believe in God and the Virgin.”
Michael Kors
“I’ve always believed it was my job to take someone who feels confident and make them more confident. And if you’re not as confident, how do I let you feel confident? Now more than ever we need the power of the right things in our closet to get on with this complicated life and juggle a lot of things, quite frankly.”
Victoria Beckham
“I’ve always designed clothes that, as a woman, I really want to wear or dream of wearing. I think it’s very honest, I’m confident and accepting of myself the older I get. Your perspective does change of what’s sexy.”
Gareth Pugh
“For me it’s not about doing it to sell a dress; it’s about connecting to someone’s head rather than someone’s pocket. I didn’t necessarily sign up to tick boxes for minimum order quantities, but it’s part and parcel. If we can make that work while also doing something that we live for, I’ll be happy.”
Rick Owens
“The world has become such an ultra-sensitive place. I’m scared to say anything anymore. And I’ve already said so much of my good stuff that anything that’s coming now is just repetitions of everything I’ve already said. I’m going to start to shut up because I’m becoming a repetitious old fart.”
The post Backstage Sound Bites: AW18 In The Designers’ Own Words appeared first on African Entertainment Channel.
