“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough/Proenza Schouler

A friend of mine, working in the fashion buisness recently told me that he prefers male fashion designer when it comes to womenswear. His argument was that  men designing womens fashion are  focusing on the brands language and the target group rather than designing for themselves. 

When i was browsing the latest Rodarte show on Style.com and dreaming about all those dresses i could wear 24/7, if i would be one of the Mulleavy sisters, her appearance at the end of the show told me otherwise. No offense i think it is pretty cool to stick on jeans and ballerinas for work. But for me it seems like they are more focusing on their artwork what in my eyes makes them very sympathetic. It is more the vision and the idea for their creations that makes them drive rather than an urge for a new look for themselves. 

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Kate and Laura Mulleavy/Rodarte (photos: style.com)

Taking a look at different designers it soon becomes clear that the relationship to their creations is as multifaceted as fashion itself. 

Theirselves, transformed in a collection. Some are making a sharp distinction between their personal style and their designs. Others are almost cloning.

Alexandra Fischer-Roehler and Johanna Kühl/ Kaviar Gauche

Ulyana Sergeenko

Miuccia Prada/Miu Miu

Stella McCartney

Esther Perbandt

How does it feel as a designer by creating without being too much personally involved?

In this case, maybe Tom Ford is right?

"I think I detach the physical from the spiritual. It’s my business to make a woman or a man beautiful, and I’m working with a model in a fitting, and I’ve objectified them to the point that they become an object. They’re something that I’m modeling or shaping or sculpting, but I’m very aware that even though I make them physically beautiful, their soul and personality and character is somewhat detached from that. It’s great when you have a combination of the two— that’s what makes a true  beauty (...) That’s why I think gay men make better designers. (...) I lust after beautiful women. First of all, I love women. But I lust after beautiful women in the way that I lust after a beautiful piece of sculpture—this will probably get me in trouble—or a beautiful car."

 (Tom Ford for Interview Magazine, February 2011)

But if  we look at those womens collection which are rocking  these days you find women behind them who definetely make a statement. As who they are.

Phoebe Philo cancelled her last runway show because of her

pregnancy. Instead, she made a presentation in a small circle, not less considerable or worth mentioning - on the contrary and defenitely stuff she loves to wear herself. 

Isabel Marant, not afraid of staying straight and designing (also) functional, claims that she is the only brand who makes money with the models because they are buying her t-shirts straight away after her fittings. Because she knows what women really want to wear and have in their closet.

Extract of an interview for Russh Magazine: 

Would you say you’re an Isabel Marant woman yourself? 

"Well yes, usually. When I design I think about what I don’t have in my closet yet and what should really be there. I try to determine in which direction I feel like going, what I am looking for in a piece of clothing and why I still want new things(...)."

You are sometimes criticised for always creating very similar collections. What is your design philosophy? 

"Well, people come to me because my brand has a real identity. Of course it’s always similar, it’s my personality. It’s a perpetual reinterpretation of my style, of who I am and what I love."

A new Era has just started. We don't want to imitatesomeone, we neither want to look the same everyday. 

We are working, sometimes day and night, have kids, go to the office and of course we want to party as well. In 2012 we need fashion which is underlining our lifestyle, not forcing us to another. Maybe that's why the biggest success is for those designers, who don't deny their real life. The life of a woman.


Summary of Suzy Menkes' great essay for The Cut (March 2012): "PARIS — It is a woman’s moment again in fashion. After a decade-long run of girlie looks, the winter 2012 Paris collections are all about dividing the women from the girls — and the boys. On Sunday, as Phoebe Philo stood, heavily pregnant, to greet a hand-picked audience for what was not more than a Céline showroom collection put on models, it was hard not to think of her as the leading protagonist for this new woman. There has been much discussion this season about Jil Sander, the minimalism she brought to fashion — and her return to the house that bears her name after more than seven years. In her absence, Ms. Philo filled that void and took feminist fashion a step forward, making clothes for 21st-century women that allow them to develop, as she has, from young woman through motherhood and the  work/life "balance that entails"

(Suzy Menkes for The Cut)

Photos: style.com ; Merzedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin, freunde von freunden, estherperbandt.com