Job:02-30034 Title:RP-Fashion Design Ref and Spec Book
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10 4 THE FASHION DESIGN REFERENCE + SPECIFICATION BOOK
(Text)
How important is the history of fashion to your creative process?
Well, it’s very interesting. Jump back to menswear. All great modern menswear, from 1900 on,
say, has its roots in Great Britain, whether it be tweeds from Scotland, custom-made suits
from Savile Row, or the fabulous khakis and military looks of the Empire. For an extraordinary
two years I designed all the menswear for Chanel. I spent a lot of time in Paris and I learned
a lot about Coco Chanel. As I tried to figure out the brand for the menswear line, I wanted to
know what Chanel herself would have done. I really studied her. I read about her, I watched
videos of her in the 1960s when she was older. There was a time in her life, referred to as the
English period, during which she had an affair with a British lord. She loved his clothes, she
loved the big tweeds and the houndstooths and the glen plaids, which still find themselves in
the Chanel DNA today. In one great picture she’s wearing a man’s big tweed jacket—the boy-
friend jacket! So, for me, history is in everything, but not to repeat it, because I don’t believe
in doing costumes. I’ve always believed that you get a sense or a whiff of something, but you
create it for the time you’re in. History is what you build off of, and you have to understand
history well to change it and to reinvigorate it.
What should a designer understand about the business of fashion? What advice would you give
a designer starting their career or a business?
I’ve taught at Parsons, I’ve taught at FIT, and I recently taught a course called “The Manage-
ment of Creativity” at Fordham University at Lincoln Center. I always tell my design students,
these young aspiring designers, that they must find a point of view, or what I call the POD
factor, the point of difference. When I launched my first collection, why did anybody need to
buy something from me? I didn’t have a name. I didn’t have a reputation. I just had a new
collection. So what was going to make some store drop a piece from somebody else and buy
my product? As an example, I created a navy blazer in the late 1980s. It wasn’t the traditional
navy blazer with the gold buttons—you know, the sea captain’s blazer. We did it in a softer
shape with much drapier fabric and a more interesting silhouette. We didn’t use brass but-
tons, we used dark buttons. So we offered a reason for the stores to buy a new navy blazer
that their customers might like. But if I had come out with the same navy blazer that Ralph
Lauren or Giorgio Armani was doing, what would the stores have needed me for? I always sug-
gest that young designers find their own viewpoint and speak with it, but also make sure that
it’s relevant. You can’t just say, “Well, I’ll be creative and maybe I’ll get lucky.” You have to
touch the nerve of the people that are going to buy your clothes. I think one way to succeed
in the fashion world is to balance intellect and aesthetics. Because one alone will not make it
happen. If you combine your intelligence and creativity, that’s generally a formula for success.
What do you think fashion education programs should include in their curriculum to best pre-
pare designers looking to enter the market?
Most good design schools help their students, the future designers, to understand where the
battle is won or lost: not on the pages of Women’s Wear Daily, but at the retail level. You can
get great press—and everyone wants great press, including me—but that’s only a very small
part of your ability to succeed. I recommend to all of my students to take a job in retail, in or-
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Job:02-30034 Title:RP-Fashion Design Ref and Spec Book
#175 Dtp:225 Page:104
096-107_30034.indd 104 3/5/13 6:26 PM