Diane, A Shaded View on Fashion

ETHIOPIAN DIARIES - INTERVIEWING MARKUS LUPFER IN ADDIS ABABA - TEXT BY PHILIPPE POURHASHEMI PHOTOS BY VINCENT DECHAMPS

Designer Markus Lupfer with one of the gorgeous Ethiopian models after the show

Dear Shaded Viewers,

I had the pleasure to meet Markus Lupfer after the Renaissance show he helped put together with the Goethe Institut in Addis Ababa. Markus is German, but London-based, and he has enjoyed a successful career as a designer there. He was also design director at Armand Basi from 2006 until last year. I was not sure what to expect going to the Renaissance show, something long and traditional perhaps. Well, I was in for a surprise, as the show felt completely modern and had a strong message. Out of the four designers that were involved, each one tried to come up with his or her own signature, focusing on one design aspect and delivering what they did best. Dr. Elke Kaschl Mohni -the director of the Goethe Institut in Addis- gave me this great video about the event's making of. 

How did you get involved with Ethiopian designers and this fashion show project?

Well, I thought it'd be really interesting to come here, meet some local designers and help them with the show. There were four guest designers doing it and it was a very interesting experience for me. I helped with the styling and the production, in order to make sure that the show would meet international standards.I also got to explore the city quite a bit, because the designers have their workshops located in different parts of Addis Ababa. That was fun, too.

In fact, this was my first fashion show in Ethiopia and I was not sure what to expect. I have to say I was impressed.

I really tried to help them push their own boundaries and challenge themselves for the show. I did not want them to renounce their Ethiopian roots and heritage, but, at the same time, I wanted the show to be sleek and not any different from the ones you see in Paris or London.The idea was for them to use their traditions, but presenting something that would appeal to a broader audience, and maybe a Western client. I also wanted them to focus on one idea and exploit it as much as they could, instead of going into too many directions. Whether it be crochet, fabric dyeing, ruffles or leather, they all had one technique to work with and develop.


One of the many examples of local craft in Ethiopia: a weaver working on a scarf

Were you trying to get them to think more internationally then?

Yes, exactly. The challenge was to make clothes that would address a wider audience and I think some of them found that process quite enlightening. Fashion is an utterly global industry now and I was trying to make them understand that. I was also trying to teach the designers what colours to use to serve their designs the best way. I also spent quite a bit of time asking the girls not to pose on the runway and walk faster. I was like: "Faster, faster! And no hands, please!" (mutual laughter)

And did you see potential in the collections you worked on?

Yes, there is in the long run, but I think it's very important for the designers here to get their clients to trust that they will be able to produce everything properly. I think that's the biggest challenge for them and it is difficult sometimes to get clothes made and produced here if you want them to be on a certain level. Still, I'm convinced that, if they work on that aspect, they will be able to build up successful businesses.


Show designer Osman Mohammed with his nephew and your fellow Shaded Viewer

What are you working on at the moment? Your knitwear pieces have done very well lately.

Yes, we've had a great season and I'm doing a lot of jersey and knitwear pieces at the moment. My focus at the is very much on selling our collections and understanding our customers. I'm still based in London, but stopped doing shows. I am still involved in exhibitions and special projects, but I really wanted to concentrate on the product. I think that this strategy paid off. The last couple of years have been really good for us.


Jason with a lovely girl wearing a traditional-style pleated dress

And do you think you will have a show again eventually?

Yes, probably. I mean, I'll do it when the time is right and when I feel that the focus is strong enough to do one. It's very time-consuming putting on a show and you can't seem to be able to think about anything else when you do one. I really wanted to think about my client first and make sure the collections were selling.

Would you do something like this again? Did you enjoy it?

Definitely! I had a great time and loved every single minute of it.


Best,
Philippe

http://markuslupfer.com/

http://www.goethe.de/ins/et/add/enindex.htm

Irene Papas - Electra - Ηλέκτρα (1962)

thanks to Filep Motwary for sending the link.

Cristobal Balenciaga on arte

Thanks you Paul Steier for the link.

Alex Fury with Lady Gaga on SHOWstudio.com

 http://live.showstudio.com/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=01_01_1970

 

NO LOVE LOSS FOR Łódź - ANA FINEL HONIGMAN'S REFLECTIONS ON POLAND'S FASHION WEEK

http://garm.moderatorzy.pl/marta.html Marta Sinilo

I decided to attend Polish Fashion Week when I first saw posters for Lady Gaga's "Monster Ball" around Berlin. I knew that being in the same city and unable to afford a ticket would be too depressing to bear. A few friends whom I respect enormously had advised me to stop flitting around to random fashion weeks. Apparently, I was getting a trampy reputation - meaning that I was starting to look like both a vagabond and a bit cheap. I appreciated the advice but I was more grateful for a chance to be anywhere besides Berlin on the night of Gaga's show. 

I was also genuinely curious about Poland. The fashion week itself was less interesting than the opportunity to witness the contemporary reality of the country. I wanted to witness the environment where so much of Europe's work-force is from and to see Eastern Europe outside of stereotypes. Fashion week was less compelling to me than discovering why a fashion week was happening and how it related to the larger cultural context in Łódź, a city struggling with layers of poverty and ideological identity issues.

So...between Gaga and my desire to augment my readings from The Economist with a little reality, I accepted the invitation. I packed practically and I left at 5am from my home and flew to Warsaw. Once I got there, I was greeted at the airport with a 3 hour wait until the other six international journalists arrived. We were then escorted to the "Mercedes" - a rickety van which had been a German taxi in its former life. I snuggled up against a protruding piece of plastic, emailed editors and texted with friends at home who were getting geared up for Gaga.

After two hours of turbulence, we arrived at the magnificent Andel's Hotel Łódź, a magnificent modernist four-star design hotel. There, I was greeted by Vlad, my guide - whose pushy tactility and oily grin gave me a creepy impression that he was an extra from Hostel. I was equally perturbed to learn that my luggage had gone in another car and was missing. I had no real qualms about attending the shows under- dressed, but I was eager to find an excuse to stay in the stunning hotel. So, I went to my room. Twice, people rang my bell to hand me bags. But neither were mine. Instead, they both held tourist information on the town and huge variety tins of Pepperidge Farm cookies.

The same cookies were offered - along with vodka and sugary fruit juice - in the VIP lounge at the official fashion week tent.Tickets for free dinners by an allegedly leading Polish restaurant were also handed to me. But after attempting their weakly Campbell's reheated soup and flaccid salad, I decided to indulge a passion for Milano cookies which I hadnt had since fourth grade. "Why serve these cookies?," I asked the VIP doorkeeper. "Everyone loves American biscuits," she replied, with more contempt than passion and stuffed a cookie in my palm.

http://www.andelslodz.com/en/home/

The clothes themselves at the main exhibition space were similarly stale Western standards. There were goth collections, plain casual wear and overheated glamour-puss shows, which Vlad insisted reminded him positively of Dynasty. However, the next day presented two examples of genuine and striking talent. 

Because of our late arrival, and a confusion on my third day, I only saw three of the nine shows from the Off Out schedule but they made my overall experience entirely worthwhile. Unlike the hackneyed and unflattering main tent, these afternoon events were held in the majestic ruins of Poland's oldest textile factory. Massive, powerful iron machines, slivers of stained glass and enough space to properly present the clothes to a single-file line of young, chic, overtly artistic and influential viewers generated genuine energy, promise and interest.

Marta Sinilo's womenswear show was a touching balletic portrait of fraught female friendships. Her models wore gauzy white gowns and ghostly make-up as they giggled, bonded and bullied each other like immortal schoolgirls. The garments themselves were hardly arresting but the staging was elegant and moving.

Ania Kuczynska's show had a few light production flaws but the clothes themselves were worthy of any major fashion city. The Warsaw-based designer is her country's leading light and her charming, sexy and chic homage to Manhattan's creative heyday was spot-on. Kuczynska started her show with the sound of Diane Keaton struggling to sing "It had to be you" over the noises of bored patrons from a pivotal scene in Annie Hall. She then presented a range of seventies-inspired black, grey and navy separates for men and women. The forms were sculptural, geometrical, sensual and willowy, for both sexes. She captured the seventies in spirit, without resorting to cultural cliches. Kuczynska really evoked the essence of Annie Hall. That movie was human (thereby both timely and timeless) whereas Allen's more recent offerings have been smug, patronizing and soulless caricatures of urbanites and their issues. Similarly Kuczynska's show was authentically inspiring and glamorous because it was realistic, empathetic and intelligently designed.

Another reference to Annie Hall was accidentally made during the official fashion week dinner, hosted at a Jewish themed restaurant. But instead of the love story between Annie and Alfie, this was the scene when Annie takes her boyfriend home and Grammy Hall sees what she terms "a real Jew."

There were traditionally dusty plates of chopped liver, kugel, kishka and paper-mache dolls of rabbis. Underneath faded paintings of rabbis counseling little boys with payas, enormous blond Polish men played klezmer music. When the owner asks me whether I like the chicken liver, I said "It reminds me of how my Grandmother makes it" (a compliment akin to my father telling her that she "didnt teach him to cook, she inspired him to learn.") Overjoyed with my vague praise, the owner rushes back to the kitchen and brings me both a shot of vodka and an adorable live bunny. At first, I decide that the Polish attempt to apologize for some pretty problematic history is working. The bunny is pretty cute. But it's also pretty passive and actually makes eating a little awkward. I start to worry that this bunny gets passed around a lot. It looks a little emotionally traumatized. I dont really regret handing it back at the end of the night - although my host seems really concerned that maybe his nice gesture wasnt fully appreciated. I tell him "carrying bunnies over international borders isnt Kosher," and we smile a lot at each other. 

The next day, Vlad tells that the off-site shows are canceled. I decide that I'd rather not see the main events, or him. He seemed disorganized and phony. I would ask for information and he was clearly making an enormous effort to impress and please me. But his real intentions seemed to be to distract me from seeing the actual city, which was clearly suffering. I appreciated his intentions but I was uncomfortable with his manner. Instead of sticking to the planned program, I wandered around the Manufaktura cultural center and saw some superb contemporary art museum exhibitions, as well as the rough reality of the city, which put the bizarre pretentious gloss of fashion week in context.

That night, Vlad phoned and insisted that we meet to talk in the lobby. I was not thrilled for a confrontation but I did not want to make my departure more awkward. He offered me "American cigarettes" and I offered to buy him a beer, since he was clearly distressed that I had not had an ideal stay. After his beer, he began to talk candidly. We stayed in the lobby bar area drinking wine and discussing the after-effects of communism on Poland. I learned about his lovely wife, their upcoming baby and her hopes to finish a law degree as a new mother. We talked about Poland's future and crippling insecurity. He explained that his friends and family buy broken cars with luxury brand names because they hope that foreign investors will think that they are successful if they list owning a Benz on their website. We both agreed that it was odd and off for Polish fashion week to insist on feeding guests pre-packed American grocery store products, when Polish produce is extraordinary. He promised that his Grandmother would kill a chicken from her farm for dinner, if I ever returned. I felt guilty for having been unnerved by his demeanor, but he felt equally guilty for having been disengenuine. Despite my initial reservations, he was a sincerely funny, perceptive and insightful person who I hope has nothing but success in his life. When we shook hands, I genuinely felt that the trip had been an invaluable experience

I woke up the next morning to a text from a dear friend in Berlin, who also happens to be close buddies with Lady Gaga. He hadnt understood why I was in Poland until that morning, but he'd arranged a 3rd row seat for me at the show. I immediately began to plan my exit home. After another bumpy two hour ride to Warsaw and a change of clothes in the airport toilet - from my bunny-hair covered catwalk wear into the only cool outfit I'd packed, deep in my bag, I arrived to my seat just in time to witness Gaga perform her own brilliant odyssey to the Monsters Ball.

Archival footage, Nodance Film Festival: Free Spirit Award to Mike Figgis

Balenciaga - Fashion 50's & 60's

Thanks to Marco de Riveria for the link.

Later,

Diane

GEORGE BEZHANISHVILI and FRANZISKA FURPASS'S COLLECTION inspired by Louise Bourgeois_Photos by Andreas Waldschütz and model is Adia Trischler

 

ASVOFF 3 - TALENTHOUSE CONTEST - JUDGED BY TAVI GEVINSON + DIANE PERNET

 

Diane Pernet & Tavi Gevinson present

in association with Talenthouse

A Shaded View On Fashion 3 Talenthouse contest

Win your spot in the ASVOFF3 selection, premiering Fall 2010...

Fall Mixed Up by Frédéric Sanchez and scenes from John Cassavetes films Opening Night, Husbands and Minnie and Moskowitz

http://www.nowness.com/day/2010/5/26/661/fall-mixed-up-by-frederic-sanchez 

Dear Shaded Viewers,

I was on NOWNESS listening to this and thought that you might enjoy it as well. Love the bit from Opening Night. It's one of my favorite scenes in the film.... where Zohra Lampert says "If I'd known what a boring man you were when I married you I would not have gone through all those emotional crisis." Opening Night (1977) by John Cassavetes, definitely in my top ten of all time favorite films.

Later,

Diane