dju loves: dazed & confused magazine's tribute to alexander mcqueen
Interview
Filed In: Fashion, link, dju loves - Related: Fashion, Alexander McQueen, Dazed & Confused, Interview, David Bowie, rip, Tribute
dju loves: krikor jabotian - the dreamcatcher
his gorgeous bolero had been on my mind ever since i saw it last year at starch. in fact, i think i spent a good half an hour wearing it and staring at myself in the mirror. said friend and a young designer who was in the store were bored senseless. mind you, i am not the kinda girl who wears pretty boleros which are made out of millions of pearls.
i finally met krikor jabotian on one rainy day in beirut, where i was shooting an editorial a couple of month ago. i got his number from rana mikdashi and just called him up. so we met, we talked, i drunk turkish coffee and smoked cigarettes, walked around the studio and just fell in love. with the studio, the energy, with the dresses and of course with krikor. it's impossible not to.
i first saw your work at starch, how did you get involved in this project?
after dubai fashion week where i took part in "splash emmerging talent" competition and was nominated among the 3 young middle eastern designers of the year, i got a phone call from maison rabih kayrouz. he invited me to be part of starch, a project aiming to launch young lebanese designers.
what happened after starch?
after starch, on august 1st 2009, i opened my studio, as an independant young designer.
what do you think of rabih kayrouz?
i admire rabih kayrouz and i'm very grateful to him. after all he's my godfather :)
how did you get into fashion?
since i was a child, i was passionate about fabrics, colors, clothes, my mother's high heels and its sound, her pink flared flowy skirt... i paid meticulous attention to every detail of everything happening around me, i was in a state of love, and still i am, always in search of beauty and perfection.
what are the challenges as a designer in middle east?
in general, the challenge is not to inflect the idea, the state of mind a designer wants to translate throughout a dress, because of a compromise he has to do for a client, and therefore doing something not in line with his convictions.
who/what inspires you?
beirut is an endless source of inspiration! from the peddler, to the "dekkeneh", the people walking on the cornice at the manara, fairuz's songs when it's raining,.. it's magical how beirut can be.
whats next for you?
i'm now working on a new collection :)
what r you influences, design-wise?
"pour etre un génie, il faut s'exposer aux autres génies".... i tend to be always aware of whats happening around me, i listen, i watch, i absorb, i learn, i adapt on my way.
what is your favorite piece?
i dont have a favorite piece!
what is the most rewarding part of being a designer?
the most rewarding part of being a designer, is to have people happy (and one day proud) wearing your creations, its knowing that you are making a part of someone's desires come true.. and thats very satisfying in return for a designer.
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Filed In: interview, dju loves - Related: Interview, Middle East, fashion designer, Beirut, krikor jabotian, starch, maison rabih kayrouz, lebanese designers, middle eastern fashion designer
dju wear it gets interviewed by capital d magazine
just in case you might be interested to read what i have to say about fashion in dubai and my work as a stylist
Filed In: links, interview, dju wear it - Related: Fashion, Interview, magazine, Dubai, tima ouzden, capital d studio
momammed ashi - giambattista valli of middle east
here is the long overdue interview i promised. there are few more to come today and tomorrow. please enjoy reading and discovering fresh, new and exciting middle easter talent. i certainly did.
interview with mohammed ashi, who i feel could very well become the giambattista valli of middle east.
how and when you started designing?
i studied fashion design in vermont for 4 years then moved back to beirut, where i enrolled in esmod fashion school. after that i went on to work with elie saab for 1 year then with milia m for 6 month and i then opened my studio.
what the is most rewarding part of being a designer?
having a team of professional workers that realize your dream into reality that feels like a dream.
how challenging is being a designer in middle east?
how challenging is being a designer in middle east?
the middle east have been exposed to fashion in a major way only for the last 40 years, unlike european designers. so what you see now is middle east adapting to the western fashion and culture which existed for much longer. being a middle eastern designer it is hard to fit in the european market due to the massive competition between designers. also, the fact that i come from saudi was challenging as well, because of the conservative outlook onto a man being involved in fashion design but my family and friends are now extremely supportive and proud of my accomplishment.
what or who are your influences, design-wise?
i get my inspiration from film and books or a characters. to have a muse is important - it helps me visualize my thoughts and mood and style.
i won't ask about your inspiration. instead i will ask about inspirational people. who inspires you?
many characters from life and fiction such as virginia wolf, philip glass, tim burton. i am also fascinated by characters such as mother and daughter edith beales of grey gardens, madame bijou, marchesa casati. these are real life stories of women once rich and then poor, it's fascinating how these women still manage to retain sense of style and jo de vivre despite their dire financial situations.
what are your favorite pieces?
my favorite is the trench coat.
what's next for ashi?
i am working on my couture spring summer 2010 which is coming out end of jan and the opening of the paris office.
what do you think of interviewer?
she is very cool and very sweet and i love her xxxxx
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Filed In: Fashion, interview, middle east, middle eastern designers - Related: Fashion, Interview, Middle East, tima ouzden, middle eastern fashion designers, mohammed ashi
rising ☆
here is an interview with milia m, first arabic designer who showed at milan fashion week.
milia has a loyal,adoring and growing following in the region and is stocked around the world.
did i mention she has beautiful store in downtown beirut?
must visit if you are in paris of middle east this summer.
☆how and when you started designing?
i started designing in 1992.my own brand was established in 2000.
☆☆what the is most rewarding part of being a designer?
recognition.
☆☆☆how challenging is being a designer in middle east?
quite a big challenge despite the fact that the competition is less, so the exposure is bigger and the consumer is very open to buy upcoming designers from the region.
what's difficult is to create the platform that is non existent in terms of manufacturing and know how many levels of the process.
also to reach the international scent without living in the center where the fashion scene is happening.
☆☆☆☆ what or who are your influences, design-wise?
i was quite inspired by the japanese designers at the beginning, not anymore.
today i'm not sure my work is influenced by others.
every collection of mine influences the coming one, so it develops in its own identity.
i was quite inspired by the japanese designers at the beginning, not anymore.
today i'm not sure my work is influenced by others.
every collection of mine influences the coming one, so it develops in its own identity.
☆☆☆☆☆ i won't ask about your inspiration.instead i will ask about inspirational people.
who inspires you?
some women who are already in my life but i'm also inspired by movies such as henry and june, based on a book of anais nin and character played by uma thurman or emmanuelle beart in nellyet monsieur arnaud.
who inspires you?
some women who are already in my life but i'm also inspired by movies such as henry and june, based on a book of anais nin and character played by uma thurman or emmanuelle beart in nellyet monsieur arnaud.
☆☆☆☆☆ what are your favorite pieces?
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆what do you think of interviewer?
(i know, we've never met - it's sort of my standard last question)
pretty ☆ please
angela missoni revealed in her interview with telegraph that she would like to
"do something with h&m.it's a powerful way to reach younger girls now".
dear angela, younger and older girls will be over the moon.
i hope h&m bosses read that interview.
will be sending them a link in a little while just to make sure they do.
i w☆nt you
i can sense a new label obsession growing with speed of light.
isabel marant is quintessentially french, but in a different way then let's say dior or chanel.
“my point of view has always been to do clothes that I wanted to wear and then show them to the press,” says marant, 40, who grew up in paris, splitting her time between her German mother and her French father and Caribbean stepmother. “if [the media] like it, fantastic. but I’m not really doing clothes for the newspaper.”
marant got her start as a teenager, designing grunge-inspired basics, like sweaters made out of dishcloths, for herself and friends. it wasn’t until she and christophe lemaire, who now designs for lacoste, sold a few of their collaborative pieces to a paris shop that marant decided to pursue fashion professionally. she enrolled in design courses at studio berçot in paris, then made two pit stops. she first assisted michel klein and then art director marc ascoli before launching her own collection of oversize jewelry in 1989. that led to an accessories collaboration with eighties icon claude montana, followed by knits and the full isabel marant collection in 1994.
her design philosophy is simple: “i ask myself what i want to wear. i love mixture. putting a very tailored jacket with something that is really fluffy—that has always been my thing.”
i am listening to air and imagining walking around paris, wearing marant.
yes, it might be a cliche but damn, it's beautiful.
interview excerpt via w magazine - read full story here
new ☆ wave
i love the new video approach that few designers came up with as an alternative for a traditonal catwalk.
props to gareth pugh ☆
☆h toby!
i've been asking my brother to be a little experimental and maybe one day wear a traditional arabic dress.i happen to think that some look amazing in a dishdasha or a kondoora, however you want to call it.
he always said no {argument being iam not an arab and i can't wear a dress}.
well, that's until i showed him hatem alakeel's designs. he is a toby fan now.
here is an interview with hatem alakeel.
toby could be found at villa moda atlantis dubai, villa moda kuwait, villa moda bahrein, harvey nichols riyadh and toby boutique in jeddah.
1☆ how and when you started designing?
i've been doing it for a while for fun but turned it into a business over a year ago.
2☆what the is most rewarding part of being a designer?
seeing a conceptual fantasy turn into a reality.
3☆how did you come up with the idea of re-inventing the traditional arabic dress?
i though what better way to incorporate my love for fashion with culture than to translate them into an entire line.
4☆did you face a lot of criticism and opposition?It's quite bold to reinvent something so traditional.
not really,most of the response has been quite positive and supportive. i think it's an indication of how the times and people's perception has changed.
5☆i won't ask about your inspiration.instead i will ask about inspirational people.who inspires you?
from karl lagerfeld to mcqueen - there is so much in fashion to be inspired by.unfortunatly, very much to our dismay, we lost a legend and that is the great yves saint laurent. he really revolutionized fashion and brought new perspectives on how attire designed from different periods and different settings can be applied to modern fashion.
6☆what are your favorite pieces?
i love all of them
7☆what's next for toby?
7☆what's next for toby?
many surprises and stories to be told through toby designs and new concepts. I always like to tell a story through my designs.
8☆what do you think of interviewer? ( i know, i know - we met only once!)
m☆k me
i met moe khadra through a work project maybe a year or two ago and i instantly knew that there something special about him.there was a quiet determination and intelligence about him.
he is not your typical middle eastern designer.it's not red carpet and sexy in conventional way.mo's designs are urban and modern - he likes to play with texture and layering.
here is a mini interview with him - you can also find facebook group with info, updates and images from previous collections of his label which is called mok.
☆what the is most rewarding part of being a designer? the final product worn by someone with a smile.
☆what are the obstacles of being a aspiring young designer in middle east? I guess finding good retail stores and production sources...but we are getting there.
☆how do you envision mok in next 5 years? as big and fashionable as one can be...there are no limits to my ambitions but i know that i have to be realistic and patient throughout the process.
☆ i won't ask about your inspiration, but i will ask about inspirational people.who inspires you? photos attached! a shocking transition in my fall-winter 09-10 collection so watch out!
☆what do you think of the interviewer?
he is not your typical middle eastern designer.it's not red carpet and sexy in conventional way.mo's designs are urban and modern - he likes to play with texture and layering.
here is a mini interview with him - you can also find facebook group with info, updates and images from previous collections of his label which is called mok.
☆how and when you started designing?
i started designing very recently right after i had decided to join the amsterdam fashion institute in 2003, before that i was a theater performer i guess i was warming up... : )☆what the is most rewarding part of being a designer?
☆what are the obstacles of being a aspiring young designer in middle east?
☆how do you envision mok in next 5 years?
☆ i won't ask about your inspiration, but i will ask about inspirational people.who inspires you?
the streets and its people and the need to be someone else but ourselves...we like to mok our way through life and that is human nature.
☆what are your favorite pieces?☆what's next for mo khadra?
☆what do you think of the interviewer?
hehehe...cute and i love the questions!
rei ☆f light
it's thrilling and exciting getting to know a designer, who shuns the limelight.i came across this interview with rei kawakubo on interview magazine website.
p.s. i love that rei is self taught and she also worked a stylist at some point in her life.
there is no one cookie-cutter way to reach your dream.there are myriads.
essa ☆ darling, up close and kinda personal
1☆ how and when you started designing?
i started with going to little tailors in sharjah where i constantly re-designed my school uniform.then the odd requests came through and i kinda just knew this is what i should do. a kinda organic evolution of becoming a designer.
2☆ what the is most rewarding part of being a designer?
the complete package- loving your job and your team,the smile on women's faces and the love and praise you get from all around
3☆you have revolutionized use of ghutra.will it always be part of your creations?
i will always try to come up with new ways to do it. and ones that are not so easy to imitate.
4☆You've been in the market for more than 7 years and you've been hugely successful.what keeps you going?
the passion for this. the encouragement. and truly, this is my life.
5☆I won't ask about your inspiration.but i will ask about inspirational people.who inspires you?
the smallest details in a person. manners and smiles.
6☆what are your favorite pieces?
all my pieces have a little piece of my heart.
7☆what's next for Essa?
another fashion show, 2 boutiques,and a very nice holiday
8☆what do you think of interviewer?
in a sea of clones, you stand out. and in the small fashion scene of dubai, you make a difference. oh,and you are a total sweetheart
essa ☆ darling
interview with essa, designer darling of middle east royalty and glitterati, coming this weeki leave you with couple of images from his grand finale at dubai fashion week 2008
