This series from style.com is pretty interesting. I love reading interviews, more and more, especially when you take into consideration the format of the thing. I have had one phone interview myself, and felt that there were times when I was forcing answers to questions and I had to go out into the hallway while I was at the office in order to keep it private, but people kept walking by and I was enormously self conscious.
To do the interview by e-mail is pretty cool because you can actually phrase things the way you'd like and be thoughtful about it. However, the responsibility is on you more when anything gets misinterpreted later on. Which is pretty much bound to happen.
Interview with Hedi Slimane by Dirk Standen
"Is the commercial pressure on designers today too great?
I don’t know about this. I am concerned about the relevance of strategy.
Selling is a positive thing. Of course, the overhead of many global houses is so huge that the pressure is great. I don’t mind the pressure at all; it is stimulating. I mind the lack of a long-term vision, and the lack of sense. It has to make sense, no matter the size of a fashion house."
"Which designer or designers working today do you most admire, and why?
I have a great admiration and tenderness for Azzedine Alaïa. I haven’t seen him in a while, but I guess he must be still sewing some dresses at night."
"What effect do you think the rise of fast fashion has had on consumers and on high fashion?
The issue was pretty much when at the beginning of the 2000’s high fashion started to embrace (no question they had to) globalization. High fashion started to offer access to luxury and creativity. In a way it was dangerously closing the gap with fast fashion, which was incredibly effective in mimicking the style and standards (stores, merchandising, ad campaigns) of high fashion. It is mathematical. More means less rarity and less quality. This leads to the visual chaos of not exactly knowing what is what, if you forget your contact lenses and can’t read the label."
"How can or should luxury fashion stand out from fast fashion?
They have a duty to stay at the top of the game creatively and keep a distinctive voice. Luxury houses and brands are meant to be exceptional by any means and not settle for the average. They cannot run the precise wrong race, but rather [should] stick to a strict and dignified etiquette for their fashion developments, assets, and branding...Luxury brands did also become monuments, because of the public affection and care. In other prosaic words, it might be all about tightening up long-term strategies in order to keep the respect, influence, and credibility."
"One more: Is there anything else you would like to say about the “future of fashion” that I neglected to ask?
Oh, well, at the end of the day, the future is always the same story, minus the digital revolution and its collaterals. The future has to be bright. It is the nature of fashion to evolve, only this time it might evolve more than ever, with seat belts optional."
No comments:
Post a Comment