Diane, A Shaded View on Fashion

CASSETTE PLAYA to party at PITTI IMMAGINE

Dear Shaded Viewers,

I am happy to report that I have been invited to join the 50-strong friends of Cassette Playa from around the planet to celebrate the Cassette Playa party at Pitti Immagine in Florence on June 19th.

LDN/PLANET CASSETTE PLAYA TO PITTI
PITTI IMMAGINE UOMO 18-21 JUNE 2008

CASSETTE PLAYA Best Fashion Designer “Best of Rock 2008” ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE
London designer Carri Mundane takes her CASSETTE PLAYA crew to PITTI IMMAGINE for an exclusive live video jumpdance installation up in the hills overlooking Florence. A future street gang of pixel warriors battling real and virtual worlds will be joined by her Sci-Fi grime boys, all wearing a toxicolour uniform of patterns, graphic shapes, luxury street and sportswear. Your megadrive just discovered narcotics.
“It’s not just a concept. I want to create a whole new planet. Other labels bring out homeware and plates – I’m going to make my own computer game” Carri Mundane POP MAGAZINE

A 50-strong crew from London, and friends from Tokyo, LA and New York, will descend on the gymnasium of an old boarding school where the party, which takes place Thursday 19 June, will spill out into the surrounding gardens. Exclusive new pieces including her new silk digital collage Utube Utopia Tees will also be revealed at the event.
“Carri is the brightest of stars. Cassette Playa delivers both mental and physical vitality.” Ben Reardon Editor i-D MAGAZINE
Recently listed as Best Fashion Designer in Rolling Stone’s Best of Rock 2008 for her work with artists such as M.I.A (including the videos 4 Bird Flu + Boyz ) Klaxons (Altantis to Interzone ) Dizzee Rascal, Late of the Pier, Patrick Wolf, Ruff Sqwad and Boy Better Know. Last month a Cassette Playa series of portraits was featured in Exactitudes, an exhibition at London’s Selfridges. Carri Mundane also styled and art directed a Billionaire Boys Club shoot for Dazed & Confused, and ‘DUNK BE TRUE’, an exhibition in London’s East End, focusing on the iconic Nike Dunk, in which she also appeared.
"Carri's clothes really form and reflect that air of excitement flooding through London's young creative scene" Nicola Formichetti Fashion Director DAZED & CONFUSED

Last year, she was nominated for Best Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards alongside Christopher Bailey and Alexander McQueen. She has shown at MAN, the London menswear initiative 3 times, firstly invited to create an installation, then a runway show in 2007, and a film for 2008. In collaboration with Nike, a Nike Blazer Premium was exclusively created for her to feature in her show and film.

Watch Cassette Playa now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVWRiXrugPo&feature=related

In July, her work will be showing in the ‘Fashion V Sport’ exhibition at London’s V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum). Her work sells internationally thru: Dover Street Market in London, Colette in Paris, SlamJam in Milan, Seven New York, and Side by Side in Tokyo, amongst others.

“Carri Mundane is a fashion icon of the new century, a movement maker, a genuine taste maker, she's worked with some of the worlds best magazines, artists and of course her own label Cassette Playa is responsible for a whole new movement within culture and fashion. People come and go within this industry, but Carri's name will be remembered for years and years to come.” SLAM X HYPE
Read the full interview with Carri Mundane: http://www.slamxhype.com/category/features/cassette-playas-carri-mundane-interview/1

PITTI IMMAGINE are Italy’s premier fashion tradeshow maestros who have recognised the industry’s appetite for design, quality and innovation by presenting their renowned exhibitions in dedicated clean, modern environments that allow visitors to engage and discover. Early last year they took a whole host of London designers to Milan Fashion Week, including: Cassette Playa, Gareth Pugh, Roksanda Ilincic, and House of Holland, for a BoomBox party, which Agyness Deyn called “the fashion week party to end all fashion week parties” in her blog on the event for V Magazine.
“Neon whirlwind Carri Mundane’s label, Cassette Playa, is brightening up menswear” Lauren Cochrane OBSERVER MAGAZINE (UK)

PRESS ENQUIRIES
MANDI LENNARD PUBLICITY LTD

www.cassetteplaya.com
www.myspace.com/cassetteplaya
www.pittimmagine.com

Later,

Diane

Kris Van Assche curates A Magazine

Dear Shaded Viewers,

The launch of A Magazine curated by Kris Van Assche was held in the spacious new Maison Kris Van Assche. Not only will the new location house his offices and commercial showroom but it will also accommodate his fashion shows. Life is cool for the handsome and charming Kris Van Assche.

Kris Van Assche

Now for the magazine and my favorites: Jeff Burton interviewed by Kris Van Assche. “I didn’t explain to my mom I was making pornography until I started making art out of it.” Jeff Burton. Jeff’s photographs of Kris’ collection, Fittings Dior Homme by Gaetan Bernard, August Sander photography Shana and Robert Parkeharrison’s butterfly story.

Later,

Diane.

Rosa from Persuade in Bilbao and Gary from Shine, Beijing watching the Yohji Yamamoto show at the Fund for Peace in Beijing, 24 April

Dear Shaded Viewers,

The Yohji Yamamoto show in Beijing was a show that Rosa from Persuade in Bilbao was absolutely not going to miss. Here she is watching it with her dear friend Gary, the owner of Shine in Beijing.

Later,

Diane

OHNE TITEL by Miguel Villalobos

Dear Shaded Viewers,

I thought that I'd give you a sneak preview of one of Miguel Villalobos' stories in the Summer Issue of Metal. OHNE TITEL is a New York based luxury collection designed by Flora Gill and Alexa Adams. Their inspirations are a mix of primitive, organic and techno-modern. I met them in NYC in 2006 with their first collection. They design for women like themselves, strong, modern and active. I have to admit that I am quite partial to Chinatsu's flower head sculptures.....

The designers behind the brand OHNE TITEL Flora Gill and Alexa Adams http://www.ohnetitel.com/
Actress as Model - Tilly Scott Pedersen http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1690409/
Photos Miguel Villalobos
Make-Up Fumi Nakagawa
Hair Chinatsu Nobe

Fashion Editor Angela Esteban Librero www.aestebanlibrero.com/

To see the full story....coming soon in METAL summer issue 11
http://www.iqons.com/Revista+Metal

Later,

Diane

Sachio Kawasaki-photos by Satoshi Minakawa

Dear Shaded Viewers,

photos by Satoshi Minakawa

I was reading Susie Bubble the other day and followed a link to Susie modeling on fashion 156.com and one of the looks that interested me the most was Central Saint Martin's Sachio Kawasaki. I wanted to see more of his work so I e mailed Sachio and found out that he was a Shaded Viewer.

SK: I was born in Fukuoka, southern part of Japan, in 1982. I had an interest in fashion since I was little. When I was 12 years old, I started buying second hand clothes from Europe, stocked in one of the most fashionable shops at that time in my home town. At the age of 17, I embarked on an art and design course, and came to London at 20. I then went on to study textile design to learn the importance in the connection between fabric and shape. During the course I worked as knitwear designer assistant at Balenciaga in Paris. Then after finishing the course in 2006, I went straight on to do a MA degree at Central Saint Martins to put all the skills I has learnt together. The MA collection is entitled "Wave of Light" and is all made of Jacquard knitted fabric with printed tights.

When I visited Paris, Milan and Barcelona, I got inspired from various kinds of lights in cathedral and church coming from the outside. There I found sacred, magnificent mood in curved decorative ornaments from medieval period and that made me feeling exceptional. Then I tracked back to fined out the reason why I naturally attracted such things, I realized that it all coming from the memory of my childhood. I recalls the days always enjoyed playing with water in the river near my house, there I saw the continuously flowing, waving lights reflection on the water.

There is a concept I wanted to express through this collection.

photos by Satoshi Minakawa

I wanted to make something like 3-D version of fine art painting by matching 3-D elements of 'shape' and 2-D elements of 'pattern' in a suitable way, not taking both elements separately and combine in the end.

In this way, I believe that the 'Shape' will have a strong reason to be that particular shape convinced by the 'Pattern' exclusively designed for it.

I just started this approach and I wish to continue searching this matching of 'shape and pattern as a whole' more deeply to grow it as my signature style"

photos by Satoshi Minakawa

DP: Can you describe the light that makes up your childhood memories?

SK: When I was child, the lights I have seen at river and lake had so many different faces. In the morning, it was so hopefull, energetic but in the evening, it became very emotional, mysterious, nostalgic, melancollic. It changes depending on the time of day and my mood.

DP: Which fine art paintings inspire you the most?

SK: Henri Matisse's cutouts inspired the way I construct the garments. It is most obvious in the dresses and skirts.
In different way with Mattisse, Picasso's creative energy always encourages me when I try to push forward.

DP: Which artists have had the strongest influence on your work?

SK: Definitely the musician Steve Reich. Especially 'Music for 18 musicians' has had a strong influence on me ever since I was born. It's got a story of emotion, fluidity, and a sophisticated selection of material. I heard this work at the Barbican Centre 2 years ago and right then I was convinced that this was what I had been searching for.

DP: WHat was your experience like working at Balenciaga? Did you have any
direct contact with Nicholas?

SK: Everyday, everything I saw there was so fresh and exciting. I was assisting the knitwear designer and the women's wear designer about half and half. I was in charge of making the rough samples and intricate details based on Nicolas's drawings. For knitwear, I was correcting sizes of samples as they came back from factories.

When I was there we were working most of the time on the couture so I had the great fortune to see watch and learn couture techniques by the highly skilled atelier. Excellent embroidery was done by Lesage. Ever since I started watching Balanciaga, Nicolas had a strong impact on me but I did not have any contact with him while making my MA collection.

DP: How do you work? Do you start out by gathering inspirations and work from that? Is everything done by machine?

SK: I didn't really need to research for the wave patterns for this collection because I based it pretty much on my what is in my mind now and in my memory of the waves of light. It depends on the theme but of course I would normally gather information and images.

All of these patterned fabrics were machine knitted at a factory in Japan, afterwards, I cut and sew them to make up the garments.

DP: How long have you been in business and where could somebody buy your
collection?

SK: I studied fashion and textile for about 6 years and now I am trying to set up my own label. I haven't got a stockist yet so I have to look for it from now on.

self portrait of Sachio Kawasaki

DP: Are you still living in London?

SK: I just moved my production base to Tokyo but I am still keeping the collection in London for PR purposes.

DP: What are your dreams as a designer and is there a message that you want to pass on through your clothes?

SK: I often imagine myself enjoying drawing patterns in a house surrounded by the sea, going fishing and diving when I felt like it.
First of all, I do not want to forget to enjoy myself making patterns, constructing shapes and then what would make me so happy is if customer could feel share that feeling and could enjoy and be made happy by my work.

Later,

Diane

Jean-Paul Lespagnard winner of the 1,2,3 and public prize at the 23rd edition of the festival d'Hyeres

Dear Shaded Viewers,

photo by Laetitia Bica

If you click on archives for April you will be able to follow Jean-Paul Lespagnard's Hyeres adventure. I never saw him not smiling even when he told me that he was very scared about the jury presentation. A funny thing happened when he went in to present to the jury, he had been totally prepared to speak in English when suddenly it all came out in French. Jean-Paul won both the 1,2,3 and the public prizes.

DP: Most of the designers came to the festival with one assistant or a team, why did you choose to do it alone?

JP: I finally decided to do it alone because usually I spend all of my time working with others. My last important experience alone was a trip to India 5 years ago. It was really nice to travel around on my scooter on my own, discovering new places and meeting new people. I have such good memories of it. I think you have more profound meetings with people when you're alone. Hanging out and working at the villa with all the people involved whom I've never met before was a big part of the fun I had during the festival.

DP: How long did it take for you to be informed that you had been selected once that the decision had been taken?

JP: I think 4 or 5 days. I remember a friend calling me to tell me that there was a picture of my silhouette on your website.
I remember that I waited a bit. But I don't remember how long it was.

DP: What were the high and low moments of the almost 2 weeks at the Villa?

JP: There are so many! I just have the feeling that I've been in a "buffet a volonte" of everything. It was a great atmosphere to work in - lots of laughter, gossip, friendly people, exchanging ideas, drinks. However, the food...that's another story! He he...

The lowest point was Sunday morning when I realized that the whole experience was coming to an end. But this feeling disappeared immediately when I found out that I'd won the 123 prize. Because then I knew that I would have to go back next year to present a new collection, so I'll be able to do it all again.

DP: I know that you went to school in Liege but did you also study in Antwerp?

JP: I studied art for 5 years at Saint Luc, in Liege, and then I took evening courses in fashion, also in Liege, but to answer your question, no, I've never studied in Antwerp, or even in Brussels. The evening classes were great because you were left to figure everything out for yourself, as is the case in real life, and you just met up with the teachers (who also worked in the professional world) once a month to show your ideas, or your work. We had to find most of our own contacts that were not necessarily in the fashion industry.

DP: Can you give me a little bit of your background and tell me how you first got interested in creating fashion?

JP: When I was a child, I wanted to sell ice cream in Summer and fish in the Winter. Then, somehow, I directly switched to fashion. My father was a truck driver, so I used to hang out a lot with him in his garage. While he was working, I used to make corsets that I cut out of inner tubes for my sisters. This is how I eventually developed a desire to be a designer.

photo by Laetitia Bica

My study process was:

Economic study for 3 years
Art for 5 years
Then fashion for 3 years

photo by Laetitia Bica

DP: How hard was it to get started in fashion?

JP: It wasn't that difficult. I just did what I wanted to do. My sisters were great for that. They believed so much in me. Just following with the money was difficult. (here come the violins ha ha) This is why evening courses were perfect for me.
Working in daytime and the weekend and studying at night.

DP: What was the influence of your teacher, for instance the one that I met at the party?

JP: I have to say that I really don't like the feeling of being taught. The best teachers I had were the ones who were acting like friends with me. Chatting outside of the room, talking about books and films I should see. I was spending most of my time in the library and talking with the other students during the time they were working. Then back after school in my place/my world I started working. I was always coming with a big surprise on the day we had to render our projects.

DP: Do you have any fashion icons?

Paul McCarthy and Jeff Koons

JP: To mention a few, I like Jean-Charles de Castelbajac a lot, for his colours and his fun. Albert Elbaz for his cut. Anna Sui for her girly girly. Martin Margiela for his off-centre poetry.
I have to say, I am fascinated by the work of Paul Mc Carthy, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons also.

photo by Rene Habermacher

DP: How do you want people to feel in your clothes and do you have anyone in mind when you design them? Of course I know about Jacqueline...

JP: There is this hysterical character I’m always thinking about. Like a person who's got the freedom to wear whatever's going on in their head, whenever they want to, wherever they want to.

DP: What were your most interesting contacts at the festival and when do you start with 1,2,3.

JP: I made a lot of new international press contacts. And everyone I met who was involved with the festival.
I still don't know for 123... I have no news about them. But can't wait to begin!

DP: Did you ever work for another designer?

JP: Yes. I worked for Annemie Verbeke (http://www.annemieverbeke.be) and for Anna Sui

DP: I know that you also work as a stylist, are you planning to start your own collection now?

JP: Yes. I started working as a stylist for magazines because I want to do the images for my own collection.
I think it's a good way to learn how that side of the business works and to learn the commercial/creative/artistic language of fashion.
I really enjoy doing this styling stuff. Because it keeps me in contact with all the collections. Thanks to that I know
"exactly" what's "missing" :-)

photo by Laetitia Bica

DP: What would your dream situation be?

JP: I'm already kind of in it! I would like to carry on designing my own collections and continue working on the visual world that goes with it,
still creating costumes for dance and theatre performances.
I would also like to work with films. I would also like to have my own shop or corners - a place, which would encapsulate my universe.
By the way. I need a manager

DP: What comes next?

JP: For the next 3 months I will certainly be very busy after the festival!

I'm in Berlin in August, September and October to realize costumes for a dance performance by Meg Stuart.
Which will open the festival of Gratz.

And for sure Jacqueline will continue to travel around the world...

Jean-Paul Lespagnard
+32 (0) 495 934 349

L'officine
52 rue d'Artois/Artesie straat
b-1000 Bruxelles/Brussel

Later,

Diane

Rachel Marie Walsh reports on Henry Holland's 'Fash Bash' at Movida, London

Henry Holland and Sophie Ellis-Bexter and her boyfriend

Henry Holland of House of Holland definitely knows how to get a party started. Wednesday night was the second of his monthly ‘Fash Bash’ club nights at Movida in west London.While his March party attracted tabloid favourites like Pixie Geldof and Coleen McLaughlin, the April crowd was hardcore fashion. The reason? A DJ spin-fest courtesy of the lovely UK Vogue ladies and the beautiful people that bring you Dazed and Confused magazine. The Movida dance floor shook to the sounds of chic girls and cool boys blasting their favourite tunes, which included everything from vintage Spice Girls to the latest from Madonna’s Hard Candy. The walls were adorned with life-size cut-outs of Henry’s model mates Coco Rocha and Agyness Deyn, both wearing clothes from his Autumn/Winter 2008 collection. On the decks were Vogue’s Emma Elwick, Jaime Perlman, Rebecca Mason and Aimee Farrell, followed by Dazed and Confused’s Senior Fashion Editor Nicola Formichetti. Henry also impressed with a turn in the booth.

,

Nicola Formichetti and Henry DJing and the Vogue girls DJing

Sophie Ellis-Bexter and her boyfriend and Henry Holland

Super Hero and Randy Rockstar

On the floor were Holland’s pal Britpop star Sophie Ellis Bextor, who played DJ herself for a bit, and a host of Holland fans sporting plenty of bits and pieces from his Spring/Summer 2008 collection. Guests sipped ‘Very Voguette’ and ‘Deep Purple Dazed Invader’ cocktails with Ciroc Vodka.  It wouldn’t feel like a party if I didn’t play The Sartorialist’s advocate. Henry was gorgeous in bedroom slippers, channelling billionaire playboys Flavio Briatore and Hugh Hefner, and pyjama-like tartan pants from his own collection. Best outfit goes to Tolula Adeyemi, who looked adorable with an oversized blue tartan bow in her hair, peep-toe tartan heels and outfit from House of Holland Autumn/Winter collection 2008.

Tolula Adeyemi wearing House of Holland Fall/Winter 2008/09 www.houseofholland.co.uk

Rachel Marie Walsh

Daffys campaign in NYC by creative directors at large: Vincent Gagliostro and Jeffrey Miller

creative directors at large: Vincent Gagliostro and Jeffrey Miller

Michael Guerra

Dear Shaded Viewers,

Diane in leather

I was introduced to the work of Michael Guerra last week by his ex-student and winner of the 1,2,3 prize and the public prize at the festival d'Hyeres, Jean-Paul Lespagnard. I asked Michael the questions in English, he responded in French so for sure a bit of his poetry has been lost in the translation.

DP: I see that Diane appears 4 times, who is Diane to you?

MG: Diane is the goddess of the hunt and of nature. She represents the environment in which I live, that is to say the countryside and the forrests. I profoundly hate the city with it's grey and dead architecture, stressed people, deaf, dumb and blind. It is the opposite of nature which speaks to me comforts and rocks me in it's arms. Diane represents this reassuring and disturbing nature.

'Diane' in pleated leather

She is the sweetness and the strength. Both cold and hot. She is a friend but also an enemy. She calms in the same way that she stresses. She is magic like a maléfique. She has the right to life and to death. She is maternal, welcoming and understanding. She offers a lot but she could take it all back.She respects those who respect her. Diane will be the woman that I idealize, she will be the image of the nature that is so important to me.

DP: I am quite happy to share her name. I remember that you said if you are not satisfied with a piece you destroy it, can you explain that?

MG: Everyone is afraid when I tell them that I destroy everything that I make. I like the idea of playing God. That is to say the being that has the right to give life or death. In effect, every artist, musician, designer that creates a work of art puts something into the world. They create their work and then let it live in our world. I tell myself that if I have the capacity to put something into the world I can also decide when to take it away. I love the idea of being the only one that knows of it's existence. Some rare pieces are left because I have decided that they have the right to be seen by other people. They are rare!

My scolastic studies were of a very high level and the precision of ones work was always put into question. I studied graphics and printing. You must go back 25 years when computers were just beginning. All design and graphics were done by hand. One worked with CHinese ink and a ruler and a pen. Even 1/10th of a millimeter was an error that was not permitted. Afterwards I continued my studies in applied arts. My teacher taught me to go further with my creative work. All presented work was bad and not finished. At la Cambre, Franc Pairon taught in the same manner and taught me how to put everything into question. I am eternally unsatisfied. Especially at the level of what comes out of my head. I've always had the feeling that my work was not ready to be shown to the public.

I am a perfectionist and I don't accept any imperfections or mistakes. Now, I function a little like the monks that recopy the texts of the saints. The goal is to attain supreme perfection.

DP: It seems that you do not like to leave traces, how does that work, you make all one of a kind pieces for special clients ? Never to be reproduced?

MG: I've come to understand that it is not the finished object that brings me something but moreover it is the creative process and above all the actual making of that allows me to be in a state of meditation.

You could say that I am in search of the Holy Grail. I look for the supreme beauty that I find in nature. I don't find it but I keep on searching.

If I don't think that perfection has been achieved, I destroy it.

The finished product is less important to me than the creative process.
Paradoxically the accessories and garments that I create are a part of me and I have a hard time imagining them being reproduced in series.

I already have difficulty in figuring out the worth of my work. It is as if I put a price on myself or taking it even further like selling my own child. It is bizarre. The one of a kind pieces aren't a choice but an evidence. I've always said that I am not a merchant selling carpets but pretentiously a maker of beauty. My desire is to make the owners of my creations happy. I know it sounds pretentious but I feel that they are the only ones to have this privilege. I understand that most of these people look for something exclusive and they jealously protect that rarity , my interest continues in this way.

I know that it sounds pretentious but when I create a garment I believe that its purpose is to reveal the beauty of the wearer. I believe that the garment should be a support of the feminine beauty and not something that lives by itself. If one notices the beauty of the garment and not the beauty of the woman then something has failed. On the other hand if one is seduced by the beauty of the woman and one understands the sublime beauty of the garment then it is a success.

The first thing I do when I work with a client is to try to understand who they are. What is her character, what are her desires and her temperament. Afterwards I conceive the design and take into account my discoveries and adapt some elements to my personality. It is the step that I appreciate the most because my desire is to give pleasure and to make the people happy.

DP: Where do you teach and for how long have you been teaching?

I have taught for 2 years at IFPME of Liege in Belgium. The course is 3 years and it prepares the student to run their own business.

DP: What inspires you with your work?

MG: Everything inspires me from the smallest detail that might mean absolutely nothing to the world at large could take on extraordinary importance in my eyes. I am very curious, I stop and look and listen to everything. I am like a sponge, I absorb everything in an intense way. All is catalogued in my head and my brain treats this information constantly. I rarely take notes but prefer to keep the memory so that I can feel it again and translate my sensations in that manner. I am a sensual being. I function by re experiencing the emotion. I am inspired by the things that move me and make me vibrate.

Music plays an important role in my life and in my creative process. I was born with music and it is what influences my work the most. My mother is a mélomane avertie. I was bathed in classic music. Very young the rhythm made me vibrate rapidly. I understood immediately the effect that music had on me. It had the power to send me to a superior state. My first 45 was at 7 years old , Kate Bush: "Wuthering Heights" a rather specific piece of a music for a child that age. My curiosity and need for vibration made me discover different styles of music. For example industrial music, contemporary, new wave in the 80's, hardcore, the doom metal, the noise, experimental music, etectro.. There are too many groups and artists to name. If I must give a few I would say Bjork, His Name is Alive, Meat Beat Manifesto, DJ Krush, Portishead, Dj Shadow. Prokofiev, Giger, Laibach, Diamanda Gallas, Einsturzende neubauten, Pj Harvey...

Cinematically I am sensitive to the work of Peter Greenaway for his poetry and his strangness and David Lynch for his universe...

Classic or contemporary art, no one in particular. It can be anyone that moves and seduces me. I love to be disturbed and obliged to question myself.

In literature, I adore anticipation particularly in the novels of Philip K Dick.

DP: Can you give me an idea of how much your pieces cost?

MG: I have a great difficulty in evaluating the value of my work. The question of money always creates a barrier. How does one estimate your work in response to the market? I am never satisfied with the result, what is the value of my work compared to others? I estimate my work by questioning the amount that I fix as to whether it is coherent with the quality of the product. Do I under or over estimate my work? More concretely, a little accessory, for example the insect might be between 400 - 800 EUROS. All depending upon the material and the complexity of the work and the time that it took to create it.

The clothing might be anywhere between 1,000 EUROS for a simple piece and might go up to 15,000 to 20,000 EUROS for a more complicated one.

DP: What projects are you working on and do you have any future plans or dreams?

MG: Actually I am working on a project trying to find the points in common between fashion and cooking. I am working with Christophe Nachtergaele who has been elected as the youngest and best chef in Belgium. Is way of cooking is to propose the best quality products with magnificent taste. Our idea is to proppose for the next "modoBruxellae" in Brussels in October, an installation and performance that will show the points in common between the two universes.

Also October is the period of the hunt, we will speak of our universe with some points in common, nature and the hunt. We come back again to the theme of Diane. You know that Belgium has some political problems with communications between different communities. Everything is political. By our association (a Flamand and a Wallon, we can show by our presence in the 3eme community (Brussels) that there is no war between us and that we can exist and create a project in common.

I don't have any specific dreams for the future. I am a bit of a pessimist and a fatalist. I have the feeling that the future is very far and not joyful.

I follow my path day by day and I respond to who I meet and the events that I encounter. Clearly my ultimate desire would be to live exclusively from my work and not have to worry about all the little miseries that destroy our lives. I am at the point that I am happy with myself and being able to make people happy , that is what is most important to me.

Ever since I was young the world around me made me frightened. Right away I could feel that people were blind. Their total incomprehension, their only way to communicate being violence and evil. Perhaps I am paranoid and agoraphobe. My only way to protect myself is through my creation and the progressive retreat from society. I create, I close myself off to my own universe and I feel secure.

Jean Paul Lespagnard and Michael Guerra

DP: In closing, how did you feel when your student won two prizes? Which school do you teach at and was he a good student? I think that I remember you saying that he never wanted to show you anything till it was finished, or did I dream that you said that?

MG: I was very proud, firstly because he was the only Belgian to defend the colors of our country and secondly the fact that he received two prizes was fabulous.

I must admit that I was not surprised by his collection. I had proposed that he find a subject of that sort. I know his creative beginning, off center, ludique and surrealistic and Belgian.

Jean-Pol is a pure creative, he is full of ideas and is his own creation. He is inspiring from the first contact and you instantly want to enter into his universe. He is poetic and very touching.

From the first time that he entered my atelier I could sense his potential. I understood that my task was not to guide him in the creation. I understood that he already knew where he was going. My worry was more about how he would understand the achamement in th work. It was possible to refine the ideas in order to be more in line with the images that were in his head. When we worked in the atelier he did not show me anything. He told me stories from his universe and showed me old fashion magazines, samples of wall paper and wrappings of different products from the super market. His presentation was very seductive and convincing, for me his concept gave him his path. He s able to describe the image in his head. I took the risk, he did not show me anything until he put the finished collection in front of the jury. At that moment I could see that he took my advice into account and applied it. The proof of it was there.

Later,

Diane

http://www.michaelguerra.be/

Lucille Reader wearing Diane Pernet photo by Paul Laster

Dear Shaded Viewers,

Last week I received a comment on one of my posts from a model that I used in the 80's, Luci Reader. At that time Neke Carson had a New Wave modeling agency, LaRocka, founded in the late 70's. Neke Carson opened for Janis Joplin in the late 60's and we met in 1979 when he founded "LaRocka" and had as models Anne Carlisle, writer and principal actress from Liquid Sky, I booked Anne as a model but she arrived the day of the show so late that I sent her home and Mario Van Peebles and Benjamin Liu. Benjamin was also in Liquid Sky and wrote a book on Andy Warhol. That was the beginning of my design career and I used a lot of Neke's models way back when.. His brother Kit Carson was married to the actress Karen Black and had produced or directed the not so great 1983 re-make of Breathless starring Richard Gere.

Here Luci Reader, or Lucille as I used to call her, is wearing the first dress that I ever designed and the photo is by my upstairs neighbor back in the days when I lived in the West Village, Paul Laster, now the editor of Artkrush. Funnily enough, we ran into each other for the first time in decades at the Tribeca Grand the night before the You Wear it Well 2 screening last month. Lucille was one of the models in the fashion show in Liquid Sky, the 1982 cult film directed by Slava Tsukerman.

Luci Reader in DP

Later,

Diane

Gosha Rubchinsky -street wear in Moscow

Dear Shaded Viewers,

The story behind this collection is teenage boys who sniff glue in downtown Moscow.

Gosha Rubchinsky's work for Faces and Laces

Later,

Diane

Julien Bertic reports on Sydney Fashion Week - Day 1

Dear Diane Dear Shaded Viewers,

Does anything come to mind when I mention Sydney? Well now you can think about the Rosemount Australian Fashion week, which started yesterday and will be showing the Spring Summer collections until the 2nd of May.
First the location is great, all the shows are gathered in the Overseas Passenger Terminal in a set up a la Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. At the moment I am facing the magnificent Opera House from sunrise (almost) to sunset (for sure).

THe three most interesting collections of the first day were Kirrily Johnston, Hotel Bondi and Michelle Jank.

Kirrily Johnston

Hotel Bondi

Michelle Jank

And of course the M.a.c Gold Fever's launch party with Danii Minogue as guest star, performing live. Awesome!!

Mac Party

Best

Julien

Peaches GELDOF forgets to pay for her dress at Victim

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=560622&in_page_id=1773

http://www.mirror.co.uk/showbiz/latest/2008/04/19/peaches-geldof-accused-of-leaving-shop-without-paying-for-500-dress-89520-20387406/

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1061813.ece

http://www.dotspotter.com/news/820262_Peaches_Geldof_Forgets_To_Pay_For_Dress

Mei Hui is my friend and Victim is her shop.

Later,

Diane

Andrea Crews -Fashion-Art-Activism-Carnival Bauhaus Collection

Dear Shaded Viewers,

DP: Can you give me a short resume of your journey in fashion up to now?
M: My first show was in C.A.P.C in January 1999._Andrea Crews started in Palais de Tokyo in 2002._The studio Andrea Crews opened in Pigalle in 2007. Maroussia Rebecq is Andrea Crews.

DP: How did you come up with merging two aesthetics that are so far apart like carnival and Bauhaus?
M: _Carnival Bauhaus sounds like a paradox, and it’s how we create our esthetic: making beauty out of shit! _Carnival Bauhaus is an optic playground, how infinite are minimal graphics mixed out of primal colors, like a square dress with fried eggs. Carnival is of course the party and the travesty. Bauhaus is Referring to the modernity and the community. I am a social designer.

DP: I love the eye print it is very Cocteau, was that an inspiration?

M: Cocteau has always inspired me.
DP: Did you ever go to Carnival?

M: My life is a street protest, an everyday Carnival.

DP: How does your film work influence your fashion or is the other way around?
M: _Clothes are for me a pretext to make pictures and films. _I take clothes easy, fashion is not a challenge but making a good performance, or a good movie its much more impressive. Lets use clothes like a druggy weapon and invade the world, get dressed up, get naked, im fighting for freedom and pleasure...

DP: Does music drive your collection at all, if so what do you like to listen to?
M: _No, actually I don’t think so.__At this time I listen to Ghostape and Rye Rye, Santo Gold et Sebastien Tellier!

DP: f you could have your dream situation, what would it be?
_M: Very easy: Travel around the world, meet the country and the people. Having ideas, meet my friends, making more projects and more money.

DP: Future projects?
M: A computer jewelry line, we'll be show in the Museum of art déco of Bordeaux, opening the 29 Mai 2008.

Thanks for your interest
_Maroussia

All photographs by Romain Bernardie James

www.andreacrews.com

CULTURAL TRANSGENDERISM
SWAP is a project conceived, directed & produced by item idem & Andrea Crews.
As a project centered on the conceptual exchange of artistic identities, SWAP states &
unleashes a powerful vocabulary sourced half way between art & fashion production, and
back & forth.
SWAP's conceptual origin starts from a simple assumption/equation:
If an artist can create a shop for a fashion designer, then why can't a designer produce the
exhibition of an artist?
Following his "very-last-first-solo-show-ever" entitled DISPLAYSTHETICS, item idem,
teaming up again with talents, now unveils SWAP, his "very-first-retrospective-ever", &
invites the audience to consider art & design practices, being newly reshaped with necessary
theoretical copyright renouncements & conceptual breeding.

BACKGROUND INGREDIENTS FOR FUTURE ANTICIPATION
Conceptual art-related puppeteer, item idem's direction & design for the Bernhard
Willhelm Tokyo boutique was recently awarded by " The Great Indoors Award 2007 ", as
a worldwide-leading project in terms of retail design. Purposefully reversing the process, his
latest brainchild invites a creative studio & DIY fashion label to design his latest exhibition,
& questions again the reversible position/role of an artist/designer inside a marketed
environment.

Later,

Diane

Pleasure Principle F/W 08/09-photos by Francois Hugon

Dear Shaded Viewers,

Adrian Cowen and Diva Pittala design under the label Pleasure Principle. Adrien is from London and Diva is from Rome. The two met about twelve years ago before moving to New York. "New York City is a great inspiration-not so much for fashion but for the attitude, the way of living in this city. It's so much about social interaction, a fast and hardcore way of living," says Adrian. The two began collaborating in the late 90s under the label People Like to Dream about the Future. In 2002, they created Pleasure Principle.In the early stages of Pleasure Principle, bondage was the inspiration. "Bondage was also a reference to punk movement, which is always a strong influence on us and we believe to be a state of mind that neither began in '76 nor has ended today," explains Adrian. We love imagery that has multiple connotations.

DP: Does that print spell out something?

A & D: the top t-shirt is 'pleasure principle' spelled out with razor blades.

DP: How do you move your arms in that one?

A&D: it's a dolman sleeve and there are arm holes that you don't really see in the picture

DP: Are there more pieces like the 20's style sheer top with the feather collar, is it feathers?
A&D: it's actually an airplane travel pillow covered in mongolian lamb

DP: Does the horses tail come with the trousers?
A&D: hmm...maybe it should.

DP: Love the open mouth with the teeth, kind of looks like the end of the world, jaws, her expression and the print is perfect.

A&D: exactly -

DP: Love the cuts under the arms in the sweatshirts.
A&S: kind of our trademark cut - give the wearer the option of wearing sleeveless with sleeves trailing

DP: Looks like the collection would do very well in LA, is that why you went out there?
A&D: we really went over there to meet with one store in particular. Mameg, it shares the same space as MMM boutique in Beverly Hills.

DP: Any message you want me to pass on about your collection?

A&D: The medium is the message.

http://www.pleasureprinciple.org/

photos by Francois Hugon

Later,

Diane

Saida Azhikhan of Kazakhstan

Dear Shaded Viewers,

If you were to scroll back in A Shaded View to June 2, 2005, you will find images of Robb Young and I on our trip to Kazakhstan> We were invited by Saida Azakhstan, an ex-student of mine at the Paris Fashion Institute. It was her first fashion show and she had opened her boutique at the same time. This was several years before Borat and Robb Young gave her her first press. Here are a few articles that appeared in the Washington Post and the New York Times. Congratulations to Saida.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/fashion/23ROW.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/09/AR2006110902406.html

Saida Azakhstan outside her boutique

Robb Young and I on the ground floor of the building that houses Saida's boutique

Saida and Mukhtar Tuyakbayev, her proud husband and Saida modeling one of her designs outside of our hotel. I might add she was a lovely host on our one and only trip to Kzakhstan..

Later,

Diane

Laitinen AW 08/09 - the brother and sister design team from Finland

Dear Shaded Viewers,

Anna and Tuomas Laitinen

In 2006 Tuomas and Anna Laitinen won a special jury prize at the festival d'Hyeres, That is when we met and I've been following their upwardly mobile career ever since.

DP: What kind of music did you listen to when you were growing up?

TL: Our parents played a lot of Bowie when we were kids, so we've been stuck with him for ages now and the same goes with Patti Smith, It wasn't until the 90s that we developed our own taste in music, which has pretty much stayed the same till this very moment. There's five years between us, so Anna was the 1st one to discover the really cool stuff like Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Stone Roses etc. We also loved Joy Division, New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees and all these other gloomy 80s bands, which were considered very unfashionable back then. We lived in this tiny village by the Russian border, where all the kids listened to Bon Jovi or Roxette. They thought we were totally pathetic and didn't really bother to hide it. Then in the mid-90s the whole britpop thing hit us very hard. Suddenly there were all these androgynous stars with great style and irony like Jarvis Cocker from Pulp and Suede's Brett Anderson and we desperately wanted to be like them.

DP: What were you wearing at the time?

TL: It was mostly crazy second hand stuff from salvation army or some old stuff we took from our parents' and grandparents' attics. The relationship between our family and our dad's parents was a bit tensed to put it mildly, so the only reason for us to go to his childhood home was to empty the storage from these great old things. Some of them were from the 20s or even older. We did the whole layered grunge look and mixed it Gothic lacy things or our grandfather's 50s suits. At one point we got all crazy about Twin Peaks and started wearing tons of plaid and vintage sheepskin jackets. Jarvis Cocker was a big style Icon as well with these very awkward vintage suits and dodgy patterned polyester shirts from the 70's. Compared to all the other kids we really stood out as freaks. Back in those days you needed to have your pair of bleached Levi's or you got your ass kicked big time.

DP: Finland is a bit removed from the fashion capitals, how did fashion enter
your lives?

TL: It's funny that the whole fashion thing is happening here now. Finland has always been considered a country for more masculine fields of design like architecture or furniture. Even something like Marimekko, which was internationally big in the 60s was more to do with lifestyle than fashion. We were so lucky to have our mother, who was and still is literally the best dressed village freak in the whole world. She wore all Comme and Yohji and piled our library with books not only about fashion but also art and photography. Both of our parents really encouraged us to gain as much knowledge as possible and try new things. There was more problems with the careers office at school, when I told them I wanted to study fashion. They thought I was completely bonkers. Of course when we were teenagers in the 90s, it didn't really matter that much anymore where you lived in the western world, because we watched Alternative Nation and Pulse with Swatch on MTV and bought our Face and I-D magazines from the village news stand. We were probably the only ones buying them though. Surely it would've been easier for kids like us to live in London or even Helsinki, but when looking back now, the distance had it its own perks. We were able to keep our own world a little longer.

DP: What kind of memories drive your collection?

TL: It still is about being an outsider, no matter where you go. Trying to find your tribe of like minded people with very little results. Sometimes it would be great to have even a drop of that naivety left that we had when we were teenagers. In high school we really dreamed about the moment we're living right now, having our own collection and everything, but of course those dreams had very little to do with reality. But big dreams were the only escape from all the boredom surrounding us. We are hopelessly romantic, so of course when we're looking back to our youth now it really is a romanticized view. When years go by you start seeing beauty in things, which originally were just plain painful. I once did a magazine interview with Lutz and he said that there's nothing more beautiful than kids having stars in their eyes and we couldn't agree more.

DP: How did you acquire such a great wardrobe and are you now starting to
wear your own clothes?

TL: I was completely happy with my second hand things until I discovered Helmut Lang when I was 17. I just thought what he made was so beautiful and modern. I started saving my every penny to buy Helmut and all those pieces are still in my wardrobe. Then came Raf Simons, who was designing for boys with my kind of body and taste in music. I just had this feeling he was reading my thoughts and feelings and felt the same connection with Hedi Slimane, who was designing YSL at the time. I did some modeling and started styling when doing my BA degree in Helsinki to pay for all these revolutionary things. One of my closest friends ended up working at Dior Homme, so she sometimes gave me some pieces from their early collections.The MA Course Director Louise Wilson at Saint Martins was furious with me, because I spent all my money on designer clothes. I left the college to buy buttons from John Lewis and came back with a Margiela jacket from the Browns sales instead. Somehow great clothes have always come to me despite having very little money to spend. Maybe clothes can sense my genuine love towards them and I've never cared for any other luxuries. At this point when all our income goes to financing the collection, we're literally left with our last season press samples, so nowadays we wear our own stuff more and more. We both have a very complicated love-hate relationship with everything we do and maybe it would be too egocentric to wear only our own designs. Especially when there are so many beautiful things out there.

DP: You Write, you design, you teach, how do you divide your time?
Is one part taking over more than another?

TL: I only did multiple jobs, because I really needed the money not to make myself to look like some renaissance man. But all these little side projects have taught me so many things and I've met some really interesting people through them. Now when the collection is starting to take off I've been cutting off extra work, which has been a great relief. Basically I share my time between the college where I teach and the work with Anna. Even managing the two is a bit overwhelming sometimes. Our collection is still very small and we want to keep it that way for a while at least, but dealing with production, deliveries and fabrics takes an insane amount of time. Due to the lack of it I handle some of the collection things while I'm teaching, I think it's good for my students to see how it really is to be a young designer just starting out and see both the good and bad sides of job. Let's just hope they're not too afraid to start their own lines when the time comes after witnessing all my stress and breakdowns. I was so skeptical when I started teaching, but I really do enjoy seeing my students develop and feel this almost parental pride when they succeed or even try to challenge their own creativity. Also working with the young ones really reminds me of where I come too, I love the fact that they still have this feeling that everything is possible and I'd hate to see them loosing that too soon.

DP: Is there any particular period that has influenced you more than
another?

TL: We really hate collections with too literal themes and we really try to avoid them. With us the biggest influence probably is the 1990's just like some of the most established designers of today keep on referencing the 80's when they were young. We love the style of young Morrissey or Jarvis Cocker, but we'd never do a Morrissey or a Pulp collection. Same goes for the films of Mike Leigh and Hanif Kureishi, which we watched passionately back then. The 90s, which for some is the decade of recession and boredom, suits perfectly the kind of melancholic romantic feeling we're after. It was the era of Helmut Lang and the 2nd generation of Belgian designers, who influenced our aesthetics a great deal and so did photographers like Nan Goldin, Wolfgang Tillmans, David Armstrong, Corinne Day, and Juergen Teller. There was a real shift of generation back then, which produced amazing work and it seems so innocent and genuine compared to the corporate fashion world of today.There's nothing wrong with nostalgia, but we think the result should always be modern.

DP: What has been the course of your life since winning at Hyeres?

TL: Well, without Hyeres we simply wouldn't have a collection. Anna would be working in a bookshop and I'd be still doing all kinds bibs and bobs all over the place.The festival introduced us to many of our current buyers and the most incredible fabric mill, Punto Seta, by Lake Como in Italy. These great people have supported us from the very beginning and believed in our work. Without all the help we've received, there's no way we could work in this level and deal with the kind of clients and press as we do now. Hyeres really is a crash course to the industry, if you're smart enough to play your cards right. There's no other place, where young designers can work with the best industry professionals like Maida GREGORY-BOINA and Frederic Sanchez or get mentored by someone as iconic as Ann Demeulemeester. It's just a pity that we were so damn stressed during the competition that we almost forgot to enjoy the ride ourselves.

DP: You seem to know a lot of people in the business, how did you meet
them all?
TL: When you study in a school like Saint Martins you're already taught by designers working in a very high level and your friends and class mates will eventually end up working in fashion houses all over the world or starting their own collections. I formed my circle of friends very organically. At the time we were all just kids hanging out at George and the Dragon by night and by day helping each other to survive through college work or assisting recent graduates, who were just starting out. Fashion is very close-knit industry, especially in London. You just go to a pub like George and you're introduced to a bunch of great new people every night and maybe you end up helping them with their collections or a magazine shoot and they'll return the favor a bit later. If we need a second opinion something now, there's always someone to call or e-mail, which is a great thing. Also before moving to London I was interning in Paris and some of people who were assistants back then have now made incredible careers for themselves as designers, stylists, buyers, artists etc.

DP: A tired question, I’m sure, but what is it like working together as
brother and sister?
TL: We're both hyper critical when it comes to our work and often end up shredding insane amounts of work to the bin. Luckily these attacks hardly ever hit at the same time, so there's always someone to keep the things going on. We have the same exact taste and often get the same exact ideas at the same time. Sometimes it's really annoying, when I think I've come up with something rather cool just to find out that Anna's sketched it already a few days before. So we're practically identical twins separated by 5 years and look almost the same as well. It's actually quite spooky, when you think of it. Some people tend to find us a bit too intense when we're together. We had our typical sister-brother fights when were kids, so I guess we've burnt out all the aggression and sibling rivalry. Of course sometimes it's easier to dump all the crap on someone, who's really close to you, but there hasn't been anything too nasty yet.

DP: Everything looks so perfectly made, where is it manufactured?
TL: Everything is still made in small ateliers in Eastern Finland. All major clothing manufactures took their production to cheaper countries in the 80s, but there are still some skillful people out there and it would be a shame to waste their talent. The production costs in Scandinavia are astronomical, but we want to keep everything close to us at least for a while still, so it's easier to control the quality and we know exactly what we're getting. When the collection grows, we eventually have to start sourcing factories abroad. We're already stretched it as far as we can. Our customers really want a high quality product and it's also been a great selling point for us, because many young designers can't provide some of the things we do with prints, knitwear etc. It's a also a matter of respect for our buyers, like Maria Luisa in Paris, who've supported us from the very beginning. We really want them to get the best we can make. Our style is quite muted and understated in a way, so with shoddy production and bad fabric there wouldn't be much left.