KB: IT’S A MOMENT? FL: Yes! It’s a specific moment. Once I remember, I went to Geneva with a friend just to hang around. There was an exhibition of Steven McCurry; I entered, saw this picture of this man, and said, “He is my inspiration for my new collection.” My friend didn’t believe me but I told her, “you will see,” and two months later I had the show. It’s a moment that you feel. It’s the power, the strength, and the ability of the designer to understand the moment—and do the best out of that moment. By seeing that man in the photo, I immediately saw the garment. After getting the inspiration I go deep down to find things that can relate and open other possibilities. I look for details from fashion history. I try to find shapes that can express something in relation to my inspiration. Sometimes at the cinema I will be listening to the music, and I see the model walking, and I think, “this is the sound track for my show.” You need to be ready to get the things that life is giving you. YOU PAY ATTENTION TO EVERY DETAIL, DON’T YOU? Absolutely. I am always watching for things I like. I am watching you and I see the detail of your collar. My eyes are always recording interesting things that stay in my mind. My eyes are trained to observe and this is what I emphasize to my students, “you need to learn how to observe.” When I go home my brain is still thinking of something that I saw. A few things get stuck to my mind, even unconsciously, and then they make their way into my creations. For me it’s the detail that makes the whole figure. KB: SO, YOU’RE A SENSITIVE ARTIST? FL: As a fashion designer and a teacher I am super sensitive. I really feel the other person every time. With each student, I really try to say the things that will bring them a little further. I am trying to adjust my language, my point of view, and my feelings in ways they can understand. I am so sensitive that when I go back home I am super tired after adjusting myself 35 times in four hours of lessons. It’s hard, but it’s also the beauty of it. If I say positive things I am going home with something more; if I say bad things I am going home with my eyes turning on the ceiling. I really want to say the best to you, because I really need to feel positive things and I need to see beautiful things, because these are the things that make me feel happy. KB: WHAT INTRIGUES YOU ABOUT THE AMERICAN FASHION SCENE? FL: I think the American market is fresher at the moment— much more fun and open. I think the American market is always in expectation of something, which I really like. They are constructively critical, while in Italy they might just write whatever is on the press release. I love that every time I come here to show, journalists or people coming to see the show all have their point of view about my collection. So I can really understand what they perceived—what they
understood in respect to what I wanted to tell. Everyone focuses on different images. Not all the newspapers publish the same picture, so this means everyone has their own point of view. So I can see what they write is really what they see and you learn from that. I think for me this is incredibly interesting. I think New York is much more fun. It’s social; a mix and match of individuals. When I am backstage journal- ists come to talk to me, and they are very curious. I think the American market, at this time, is the most interesting. KB: WHAT IS THE INDUSTRY, AS A WHOLE, MISSING? FL: What worries me, is that we are losing a bit of magic, which is what I am doing fashion for in the first place. When I used to go to Paris Fashion Week as a student, there was a surprise every time the lights would go up—it was another atmosphere. Today, it’s all about the buyers. It’s hard for me to speak to buyers because I think they have another mindset, another perception of the product than I do. KB: SO THERE IS A SMALL WAR BETWEEN BUSINESS AND THE ARTISTIC SIDE OF DESIGN? FL: Not between business and design, because I think these two things need to go together . . . but I think between marketing and design there is. After the 1990s, it was no longer about the product, it was about the image of that product. So you buy an image, instead of buying the beauty of things. This is difficult for creative people to accept. I am a fashion designer; I don’t think of myself as an artist. Of course I have an artistic side, but I am not painter. Those artists have life even after death. For a designer, if you are not understood while you are alive it is very difficult. KB: I NEVER THOUGHT OF IT THAT WAY! FL: I need to give back something to society now, not later. I need to be very aware of what people want and pay attention to what the commercial side of the industry tells me. What is H & M doing, and why does everyone like H &M and Zara? So I am looking at reality, not just the fantasy of high fashion. I am designing for people.
110 | Fashion Magazine At Marist
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