Lagerfeld Confidenciel

This is how Rodolphe Marconi called his film featuring Karl Lagerfeld. Here’s a short preview… and I can’t wait to buy it and see it.

« This film is something not real :  It’s something not real about reality. And I think Rodolphe got it in a very modern pointing way. » Karl Lagerfeld

Synopsis:

Fascinated by the “man behind the sunglasses”, Rodolphe Marconi has been contemplating a documentary about Karl Lagerfeld for over ten years. With the groundbreaking feature film, “Lagerfeld Confidential”, Rodolphe Marconi allows us to see beyond the “Karl mystery”. Karl Lagerfeld himself becomes fully involved in the project, entrusting the director with his everyday life. For the first time Karl Lagerfeld has agreed to let someone create an artwork on his every day life and to trust in the director. Until today there is no authorised biography existing and the memories who Karl Lagerfeld would compose stay perfectly confidential. Rodolphe Marconi immediately started to work after their first meeting. He then associated with Gregory Bernard and the company REALITISM FILMS to finance the project, exclusively due to private investors. After three years of work, and over three hundred hours of footage, Rodolphe Marconi discloses the daily life of the star through his personal lens as a filmmaker. The spectator gains a philosophical insight into his personal history and his obsessions: designing a dress in private, giving public interviews, his time and work as a photographer, his collection of art books, Chanel, Fendi, Lagerfeld Gallery (now “Karl Lagerfeld” brand), the most beautiful women in the world, actresses and stars from around the world. The camera of Rodolphe Marconi approaches a hyperactive lifestyle in the closest way. And we discover between the lines the hidden moments of solitude, sorrow, reading, profoundness. The director discovers an intellectual insomniac with a thirst for literature, films and paintings, a fan of Art Deco and contemporary art; a lover of aesthetics in the extreme as well as luxury. Karl Lagerfeld reveals his caracter : affectionate and authoritarian, humerous, with a longing for farces and make someone laugh, to surprise and to appear always there where you would’t expect him to be. Rodolphe Marconi discovers the shattering moments of a life, a solitary man hurt by the death of the person beloved, a man who however doesn’t bear the nostalgia : « If life was really better before, there would be no reason now to continue ». 

Fashion designers in Disney, by Ulrich Schroder

You know I love so much the topic of alternative promoting of fashion.

Now, here’s what I’ve discovered: in Elle Spain April issue, Ulrich Schroder transported some of the top world designers into the Disney world. Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Marc Jacobs, John Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana and Donnatella Versace, just to list a few, have been illustrated as everybody’s beloved cartoon characters. Naturally, I instantly thought about these cartoons as a way of promoting in fashion. Totally different and totally viral.

Just look at them and say if you wouldn’t simply love to spread the news, or more exactly the cartoons!

How to become a fashion designer

One of the most fashionable and debated topics among fashion lovers and sympathizers is how to become a fashion designer. There are those who say that you don’t need to attend a fashion school in order to make your dream come true. And there are those who support the opposite point of view. If you ask me, none of them are wrong. Yet, it’s a matter of personal choice, aspiration and persistence.

I choose the fashion school accompanied by all other means you can only imagine, like self learning, learning by doing, internships, etc.

If you are not sure yet which of the two ways is for you, and even if you do, it’s worth seeing more points of view, and then choose the strategy that fits you best.

Among others, here’s an interesting material that includes some arguments and explanations on this matter.

Which one do you believe is best?

Ingenious Ways of Wearing Eco Fashion

Like iridescent butterfly wings, Filipino fashion designer  Dita Sandico Ong wraps the world with wonder!

 She is a Filipino fashion designer/wrap artiste who uses local indigenous handwoven material such as the banana fiber and pineapple fiber. Her ingenious use of banana and other indigenous plant fibers imaginatively interwoven with traditional and ethnic Filipino fabrics has continually won for her a loyal following from across the continents for more than two decades now. Her designs has been displayed into many shops as France and Denmark.

Enjoy some ingenious ways of wearing her clothes.

by Iulia Stanescu

Thank you my dear friend Joanna Allas for inspiration

The process behind a fashion creation

I’m sharing with you inspiring and useful video on how to create your favorites clothes. Fashion designer and illustrator Lovisa Burfitt from Paris, shares the process behind her fashion creations.

The following video should be a part of a wonderfully affordable way to learn how to make clothes.

For more details about Lovisa Burfitt’s work you can read an interesting interview with her over here.

by Iulia Stanescu

Top 10 Qualities of a Great Fashion Designer

The fashion industry is exploding and everyone, it seems, is vying for a part in the action. To get ahead in the business and sit with the ranks of Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, you as an aspiring designer should have some of the same qualities as the world’s top designers. Here are some of the qualities you’ll need to succeed as a designer:

1. Strong Business Sense
   A great fashion designer has excellent business skills. You understand budgets, marketing, and sales concepts that are vital to getting designs produced and sold.
2. Good Communication
   A number of people are involved in the creation of a garment, and as designer, you must be able to effectively communicate to everyone involved what he or she expects.
3. Sense of Competition
   You continually strive to do better than your peers to come up with quality innovative designs quickly.
4. Highly Creative
   You have a great sense of style and are constantly coming up with new ideas for fashions.
5. Strong Drawing Skills
   Excellent drawing skills mean you can easily sketch your ideas onto paper to start the production process.
6. Good Eye for Materials
   You have an eye for the materials of a garment, as well as the elements that make it unique, such as color and fabric.
7. Strong Sewing Skills
   You can construct the garments you design. You understand what materials work best in the designs you are developing.
8. Team Player
   Great fashion designers work well as part of a team. Designing a garment for production involves the work of many, from pattern making to sewing to shipping. As designer, you must be able to work well with all involved.
9. Knowledgeable of Current Fashion Trends
   You follows trends and have a good eye for anticipating what your audience will respond to next.
10. Strong Visualization Abilities
    Good fashion designers can visualize a garment before ever putting an idea on paper. You can see the finished product well before production and can put your ideas into words and onto paper so others can grasp the idea as well.

Source: Fashion Schools

by Iulia Stanescu

How start and run your own fashion business

My book recommendation for the next week is for those who dream to start and run their own fashion business.

If you’re thinking about getting into the world of fashion design, “The Fashion Designer Survival Guide” is the book that you should read before diving head first into a pool with little water. It’s an in depth look into a very popular career choice, but it definitely teaches you the do’s and dont’s when you enter this industry.

The author, an industry authority and consultant to hundreds of designers, gives readers behind-the-scenes advice and essential business information on creating and sustaining a successful career as an independent designer.

Here is the table of contents:

This book is available  on Amazon.

What about you, my friends, what book are you reading to develop you business plan?

By Iulia Stanescu

A book a week

This is the book I am reading these days …

… and I love it! It is my guide in fashion drawing.

“Contemporary fashion illustration Techniques” is a very useful book both for future fashion designers and for future fashion illustrators.

I recommend it to you because inside it you’ll find explanations and techniques of drawing, so that you will be able to master the basics of fashion design drawing -this includes technical drawing as well as color illustrations. It’s an amazing book because it also helps you to find your personal style and feel it comfortable with.

Inside this book you’ll find:

1. The Basics of Fashion Design Drawing

- Body Proportion

- Drawing the Head

- Drawing Arms and Legs

- Poses

2. Dressing Techniques

3. Coloring Technique

- Coloring

- Patterns

- Materials

- Drawings of various Materials

- Processing by computer

4. Exercise by garment Item

- Technical Drawing

- Technical Drawing Steps

- Technical Drawings by computer

- Drawings of various Items

You can find this book on Amazon. For romanians you can buy it faster from Carturesti.

What about you, my friends, what book are you reading this week?

By Iulia Stanescu