The New Black

Interview with Albert Kriemler designer Creative Director at the Swiss fashion company Akris …

Mr Kriemler did your family give any particular advice when you took over the creative heritage of Akris?

AK: I grew up amidst patterns and seamstresses in the fashion house my grandmother had founded, during a time when my parents were transforming it into an international brand. I started to draw clothes at a very young age; I always loved fabrics. It was the most natural thing; fashion is rooted deeply in my family. As a child, I was already intrigued by the modern and sporty elegance of my mother, Ute Kriemler. She was one of the best-dressed women in this country.

Where do you experience inspiration? Do you have a routine or ritual for the beginning of a new season or creation of a new collection?

AK: Every collection begins with a fabric. Inspiration is constant, wherever you go, whatever you see and perceive, you can discover new things or come up with new ideas, which we then develop with my great teams – Newness is expected from a collection as well. I always travel with fabrics and sketches. I am interested in the life of today’s active and modern woman and it somehow influences almost every creative process. It is often art or architecture or photography or a movie and discussing it that forms the source for my inspiration or theme for a collection.

In what way does this inspiration accompany you in your work in progress? (Did you have some small pebble stones in your office last season?)

AK: As soon as I have decided on the inspiration, the work starts and it is only really done when the collection is shown on the runway. It is always a journey and differs in procedure every time until the day of the Défilé… And then it’s starting over again with the next collection.

The current collection “It´s all about the jacket!” is a mix of state-of-the-art materials and textile finishing processes, elegant, noble and of course still practical. The collection creates a quite concrete picture of an “Akris-woman” – has she changed over the last years? Or can she still remain true to her social position?

AK: Every woman should remain true to her role, that’s important! Each collection should represent a concrete idea of an Akris woman of today, that’s the most fascinating part of my work. Fabrics and colors are the beginning of each collection – this time my goal was to develop ecru and light grey in most different ways. I wanted it to be monochrome, generating attention through the silhouette and the fabrics and not through an image or print. I do like the fact that you are talking about practical and natural – this is a must for me und it’s the basis of modernity of my collections. Today’s fashion has to be what I call “selbstverständlich” in German, a term that is not easily translated, it means effortless, self-evident in its appearance and use. You just want to throw a coat or jacket over or just put on a dress and zip it up. If it’s complicated due to stiff and heavy fabrics or you can’t combine it many ways, then it is not contemporary.

What does the noncolour black mean in fashion? Is there any other that you like as much? Do you have a favourite color?

AK: The collection I presented for fall/winter 2013/14 in honor of my mother was a black collection. You are talking about a non-color – that was not the case – there was a lot of light in the collection – given by the fabrics and their treatments. It was a fascinating in the way it was monochromatic, yet sensual collection thanks to the materials. This collection writes history for Akris, because it transports all Akris values. Lots of colors fascinate me – but a color needs a particular fabric that is just right for it to shine. The combination and use of colors can either make the fabric stronger and even more beautiful, or fail do to so. Color can be surprising when appearing alone or unexpected. That one favorite color does not exist. But there is a favorite color for a collection. To work with color itself is one of my favorite topics at the beginning of each collection.

Do you think black will always remain modern /en-vogue?

AK: Black is modern and will always be. But it can just as much be dusty and not well executed when it comes to fashion.

What is good style to you?

AK: Great style is always about a person. Clothes get style through the wearer – through her appearance that is eventually accentuated by my clothes.

Interview  by Annica Thoms.

website of AKRIS

Some impressions of ACNE´s runswayshow during FW15 Paris Fashionweek at the Centre Pompidou

website of ACNE

The Palais Galliera, in close collaboration with Alber Elbaz, artistic director of Lanvin, is honouring the oldest French fashion house still in business. This first Paris exhibition devoted to Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946) features over a hundred models from the amazing collections of the Palais Galliera and the Lanvin Heritage. From March 8th to August 23rd, 2015

Mademoiselle Jeanne began her career as a milliner in 1885. In 1889, she opened a shop “Lanvin (Melle Jeanne) Modes” at 16 Rue Boissy d’Anglas, then in 1893 acquired her premises at 22 Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. In 1897, she gave birth to her only daughter, Marguerite, who became her primary source of inspiration. In 1908, Jeanne Lanvin hit upon the new idea of children’s clothes. The following year, she opened the Young Ladies’ and Women’s department. That same year, she joined the Syndicat de la Couture, the designers’ union, and entered the closed world of French Fashion Houses. There followed a brides’ department, departments for lingerie and furs and, in the early 1920s, interior decoration and sport. In 1926, the entrepreneurial designer launched into men’s fashion. She also opened shops in Deauville, Biarritz, Barcelona, Buenos-Aires, Cannes, and Le Touquet … Inspired by the intense blue in frescoes by Fra Angelico, that same quattrocento blue became her favourite colour… In 1927, she celebrated her daughter Marguerite’s thirtieth birthday with the creation of the legendary perfume Arpège. The famous logo designed by Paul Iribe, depicting the couturière with Marguerite, is displayed on the round bottle created by Armand Rateau. The same logo is still featured on Lanvin creations to this day.

Jeanne Lanvin used travel diaries, swatches of ethnic fabrics and a vast library of art books to feed her curiosity and inspire her to create fabrics, patterns and exclusive colours. Jeanne Lanvin represents artistry in materials, embroidery, topstitches, twists, spirals, cut-outs – all the virtuosity of the couturière’s craft. It is classical French perfection, with very 18th century style dresses – slender bust, low waist, ample skirt – contrasting with the tubular line of Art Deco with its black and white geometrical patterns, the profusion of ribbons, cristals, beads, and silk tassels.

A capacity for hard work and an intuitive understanding of the modern world only partly explain the extraordinary success of this discreet woman.

Alber Elbaz and the Palais Galliera with it´s Curator Olivier Saillard invite you to an encounter with this great lady of haute couture, Jeanne Lanvin.

The first Maison Margiela Paris runwayshow with designer John Galliano at Grand Palais.

In evoking a calculated imperfection, the individual emerges ..

Maison Margiela proposes a new alignment and the evolving „fil rouge“ of the ‘Artisanal’ collection. Whispered to life, garments question ideas of conformity, and the élan of the individual rises to the fore. Innocence is celebrated, articulating a new standard of beauty.

An ephemeral muse returns, her power reactionary and sensitive. Personalities shine in characters mingled through a sepia lens. Transformation is vital; spontaneous, cathartic gestures meet studied craft for an attenuated silhouette and its immediate release. The twin lives of a garment are the key to its nonchalance, just as day fades into night. Such musings disregard the dated concerns of what to wear, and when.

Tailoring and flou find new proportions, both charming and askew. Just as fabrics are imbued with memory and emotion, their allure serves new context across the articulated body. At times, they reference themselves; elsewhere they allude to a deeper metafiction. Decoration follows suit: naive flowers and feathers subvert the bourgeoisie through a muted joie-de-vivre. At once diffused and saturated, their colours allude to a warm sense, a fashion lo-fi: like polaroids inflected with acid dreams.

Some impressions of the presentation of the new fashion label AALTO at the FAUST during FW15 Paris Fashionweek.

Young Heroes
Invincible and Invulnerable
Fall/Winter 2015-2016

Young Heroes draws inspiration from Finland. The Paris-based designer, Tuomas Merikoski, looked to youth culture in Finland, returning to his native roots to create a nonconformist first collection, imbued with the spirit of the invincible and invulnerable, with a witty nod to the extremity of this Northern land.

AALTO´s website

Some impressions of LVMH award participant VETEMENTS´ runwayshow at the club LE DEPOT during FW15 Paris Fashionweek.

VETEMENTS website

jacquemus ” l’ enfant du soleil”

I wanted poetry like that of a Michel Gondry movie, of childhood, of decoupages, a childlike woman again, not even, a sexless child. Who wears masks, puts make-up on and plays with making clothes. Clothes from her father, her mother. I wanted nature too. Primitive and naive, those are the words that I immediately wanted to attribute to this collection. Freedom also to do, to say and to have fun, spontaneously.

website of  JACQUEMUS

The collection „LIGHT“ was presented in Palais des Beaux Artes with the words : Light up dark – to see what is there, light up clothes – to see what is not there.

A collection crafted on a extremely high level – transporting the idea of light – which unveils it´s real texture, color and form only under the focus of a guided spotlight. „It is the light that shows the truth and the beauty“ says the designer Kunihiko Morinaga. A surreal silhouette of rigid jackets and coats with over-dimensional  mutton sleeves combined with floating asymmetrical skirts and dresses. Raw pattern based on dots, checks and calcaneal gaits mesh with tender floral patterns, which only appear in moments of interferencing uv-spotlight and otherwise stay black. The to black reduced make-up takes the identity of the models and emphasises the focus on the fashion – which it deserves.

ANREALAGE combines the words „real“, „unreal“ ans „age“. The brand is the brainchild of fashion Japanese designer who believes, „God is in the detail“.

website of anrealage

words by Annica Thoms

For dinner I met with legendary backstage photographer Roxanne Lowit and her husband John.  With them they had the amazing 3d-printed limited edition version of her book on Yves Saint Laurent, which recently got published by Thames & Hudson. When I think of her photographs one word comes to my mind “icons”.

Website of Roxanne Lowit

Shooting during a dinner hosted by New York’s DOCUMENT magazine during Paris SS15 fashion at a lovely location close to Notre Dame and next to the Seine.