Nicolas Andreas Taralis Updates

[battles]

GoGo - ITV : Nicolas Andreas Taralis
Interview by Kate van den Boogert.

With heroes like Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier or Nick Cave, you're probably guessing that fashion designer Nicolas Andreas Taralis isn't turning out pink ballgowns. When you add to that his escape from Parson's in NY to study under Mr Helmut 'Minimalist' Lang at Vienna's School of Applied Arts, and that less than a year after relocating to Paris he was assisting Mr Hedi 'Grunge' Slimane at Dior Homme, you won't be surprised to discover his aesthetic is sober, androgynous and très strong on black. The glam-rock but wearable pieces from his first show at Paris Fashion Week last year were snapped up by everyone from Barneys New York to Maxfield in LA and Loveless in Tokyo ; his streamlined silhouettes, distressed denim and precise detailing went straight into the pages of every fashion mag worth caring about. Which brings us to now. After taking time out to put a more robust commercial structure in place, Nicolas Andreas Taralis will be presenting his second défilé on 5 October. The Next Big Thing?


Your first collection was very successful.
Even though it was really small, we had a lot of good feedback. We were very lucky. There were only 15 orders, but from the right people. I was very happy about that. American Vogue has been very supportive. We got a page in V magazine, in the New York Times , there was some really great support in the beginning for a very small amount of work. I still don't feel like I've proved anything.

Are you hoping to get backing and expand madly?
When I started, I thought 'Take it easy, go slowly', but once you start you realise you have a very limited amount of time to get from gestation stage to the point where it can be something serious. I realised that you don't have the luxury to wait, you have to prove quickly if you're going to be in this business, otherwise you run the risk of being the eternal young designer. You start, and it works and there's some momentum and then for some reason or another it just stagnates. The problem too is that everything comes at the same time. You start and you produce a small collection, you sell it. The trouble is when you have to produce these orders, you have the next season to develop as well. And if you're financing all this independently, these become very important and very delicate issues.

Tell us about your next collection.
I have no idea what it's going to look like. There's no real narrative or thematic. Everything sort of happens at the same time. I start with one shape or fabric... I'm pretty inspired by things that we find, so a lot of it starts from stuff that's already existing, though without it being too referential.

And you get things made here?
No, in Italy. The creative aspect is just me and one person, but for the production it's all contracted to factories. It's actually being developed with them aswell, which means I don't even have a sewing machine! Though soon I think I'd like to have a small atelier, to develop things a little bit faster. Which was how I was used to doing things when I was working with Hedi; obviously the whole structure was really different and the resources were different. Now I don't just pick up the phone and say 'hey, FedEx me this'. It's sad to say, but I think twice about even that.

How did you come to be part of Hedi Slimane's team?
When I moved back to Paris six years ago, I had no idea what I was going to do other than look for a job. In terms of my aesthetic sensibilities, what I appreciate the most is not really, let's say, what French fashion is. So there weren't that many choices where to go.

What do you mean?
I can't see what I could offer somebody like Lacroix, as much as I respect his work; it's completely on the other side of what I like. So it basically came down to Martin Margiela, Martine Sitbon, Balenciaga, who was a little different then. But I really appreciated Hedi. I sent my CV in when he was at Yves Saint Laurent, I had an interview and then 8 months later when he started at Dior we bumped into each other at some café. I asked him how everything was going and he asked me if I was still looking for work and 3 days later I was working there. It happened with a minimum of effort, it was really strange. I was lucky, I suppose.

I wouldn't call that luck.
Hedi Slimane is very talented and I really appreciate what he does. You have to have a lot of respect too because he's not just doing fashion, it's not just about clothing, it's really about everything else. It was a great experience working with him and I have to thank him for that. Everything is just theory before you actually come to the reality of working.

 

[battles]

cont'd...

What was the biggest shock for you?
Everything has to go so fast, you don't have enough time, you just have to keep putting things out there. Everything is a compromise and you try as best you can to get the best compromise. For me, in the end, it's business, so let's not talk about 'conceptualisation' ; when you're studying you try and look for something more in what you do, this is a mixture of naiveté and arrogance. But I think there's luxury in being forced to make decisions and move fast. Having too much time is probably the worst thing that can happen to you in
a business like this. The speed maintains spontaneity.

When did you decide you wanted to work in fashion?
Probably when I was 16, 15. I grew up watching Fashion File and FTV. It's an odd thing, because I don't know how many people are interested in fashion in Toronto. I think I was the only person in my whole school. I was a loser, but I really felt like a loser. Then I left on a trip to Europe like every North American does. I was pretty young, 17, when I moved away from Toronto and I ended up in Paris because I realised somehow that fashion was really what I wanted to do.
For me, if you wanted to do fashion you had to be in Paris ; for a certain dream about this business, you have to be here.

Would you like to become really huge?
It's not about getting huge, it's about finding the right equilibrium. Of course you want to see it go as far as possible. You realise very quickly that fashion is an industry, it's not art, and so you need a certain amount of resources. It's hard to find the right people to work with. I feel very comfortable with the way things are going forward, it's not so flash but I feel like I've found a few partners that I feel happy with and that makes me very enthusiastic.

Who are some of the designers who inspire you?
All the older Belgians, who I grew up with. The Japanese were also very important. But you know, I was a big fan of Thierry Mugler as well, at that time in the 80s when I was first discovering fashion. I like the spectacle of it. At that time you had Montana, Alaïa, all these big French names, as opposed to what was be coming out of New York, like Calvin Klein.

What do you think of the fashion press here?
My favourite magazines are all based here, more or less, with the exception of iD or Dazed. I really like Purple and Self Service and Crash . I find Self Service the more democratic out of all them to be honest, and more curious. With Purple you have the impression that it's very much a closed circle.

What is your favourite arrondissement?
It sounds really bourgeois to say it, but I like the 16th a lot. It's really beautiful and calm. When you go the the 16th you have the impression you're watching a film from the 60s, except the cars are different and it's in colour. I used to live nearby when I was studying here, and I really enjoyed it. There was nothing ever going on, but it was safe. It's kind of old but I have a real appreciation for the bourgeoisie, there's some romance about it which I appreciate. I wouldn't have minded if I was French to have grown up in the 16th as a kid. That would be cool. I'm very old school in that respect.

source: gogoparis.com

 

[battles]

btw, his s/s 06 collection is up on vogue now but i'll wait his fans to do the honour.

 

[BerlinRocks]

oops here are the thread for Nicolas Andreas news :
he might sign with Cerruti...

 

[tricotineacetat]

He did already sign with Cerruti... the line's supposed to debut for f/w 2007, both mens- and womenswear.

 

[BerlinRocks]

what i've heard is that the contract is not officialy signed but he WILL do it!
(but the news is one week ago so...maybe he signed this week!) and he's starting in october.

 

[tricotineacetat]

i don't know if it was discussed elsewhere before, but nicolas has quietly relaunched his signature line with a small capsule menswear collection for ss'09, shown only to buyers and editors in the showroom.

he also designed a small teaser collection exclusively for one of his earliest customers, 'why are you here...?' in osaka, which can be seen and pre-ordered on their website:

http://www.why-lip.com/event/nicolas_why.html

 

[Scott]

^oh great! something to look forward to. do you know if he's going to relaunch the women's too?

and the teaser definitely looks quite nice!

thanks for the news tricot

 

[tricotineacetat]

^oh great! something to look forward to. do you know if he's going to relaunch the women's too?

and the teaser definitely looks quite nice!

thanks for the news tricot

you're welcome, scott

there's been more than one piece in his menswear that could have easily worked on a woman - some knits and jersey pieces, the tailored pants (they actually fit better than the womenswear ones he developed pre-cerruti), a deconstructed, washed suit jacket... and of course a pair of jeans - there's actually been a model made especially for women, just as there was a male model in his womenswear line.

 

[IloveDiorHomme]

I remember him, I had magazine with a feature on him.

 

[Scott]

you're welcome, scott

there's been more than one piece in his menswear that could have easily worked on a woman - some knits and jersey pieces, the tailored pants (they actually fit better than the womenswear ones he developed pre-cerruti), a deconstructed, washed suit jacket... and of course a pair of jeans - there's actually been a model made especially for women, just as there was a male model in his womenswear line.

and that's exactly why i ask too because i always thought,incl. myself,men would look great in the women's stuff. he's always had this amazing unisex style.

 

[tricotineacetat]

fruits magazine (for those who aren't farmiliar with it, that's a japanese street fashion magazine, where people are being photographed on the street) often had boys wearing nicolas' womenswear pieces - the blazers, the tailcoats, some of the pants also. i used to wear his jackets as well, before i grew big shoulders (which gladly fit his menswear)... yet there's some of the amazingly detailed patchwork knits from f/w '06 that still work well!

i always thought there was something charming about a particular style of menswear being worn by women - it does fit anatomically well, but there's something more relaxed about a slim men's pant than the full-on womenswear thing. there's more cool and nonchalance about it than the obvious does-it-make-my-butt-look-good question that is inevitably there with most womenswear.

 

[Waldner]

i like that limited collection. It's funny he made it for Why are you here, one of my favourite shops in Osaka which I used to frequent weekly when I lived there a couple of years ago. Going back there in October and I will definentely be checking this stuff out. Thanks for the info tricotine

 

[mass]

i just bought the quilted leather bomber from /a/w 06 i hope it fits well... can't wait to receive it.

great news also... i knew he did the line for whylip, didn't know he did anything in addition. thanks!

 

[tricotineacetat]

i just bought the quilted leather bomber from /a/w 06 i hope it fits well... can't wait to receive it.

great news also... i knew he did the line for whylip, didn't know he did anything in addition. thanks!

do you mean the patchworked blouson? an excellent buy... what a great piece, congratulations!! though it's actually not quilted, just meant to have that slightly loose 80ies bomber shape, which i think is a lot fresher anyway than the shrunken, slimane-esque proportions - and gladly possible to wear all year round due to the lack of quilting

please post a picture of yourself in the jacket, it would be a great example to show how the clothes fit on a man as the jacket in the show was only a larger size than the girls - the girls' are italian 40 and the boys' are 44, which would roughly translate to a trim 46 men's for the sportswear.

 

[mass]

yes that's the one, will post pics as it should be arriving sometime next week. i hope it fits like on jamie... the one i got was a size 40; i'm not sure about the sizing between pieces, because i had a blazer from s/s 05 which was tagged a 36 and it fit pretty much exactly like a dior 44. maybe it was mislabeled.

i also wanted one of those sweaters from that season with the thumb slits, which i believe you have. gorgeous pieces... but too rich for me.

 

[tricotineacetat]

it probably depends on how broad-shouldered you are - i do have two of his blazers in 40 that i used to fit at some point, but as i already said, that was before i grew bigger shoulders and now it looks a little uncomfortable if i put them on - even though arms and waist fit perfectly well.

the blouson, as most of his sportswear and knits, should fit a tad bit more generous as that is intentional. i wear a small in the patchwork knit and it's fine, though it could be an idea longer - it's nice to have a second layer underneath though, so that doesn't make it a big problem. it also isn't that 'bold' of a statement, at least in the black colourway - the detail is more in the different knit patterns and some sections having either hairy mohair yarns or lurex running through the wool... it's nice! i'll try to take pictures if i find time.

 

[mass]

here's a quick ugly pic i took. i wonder why the production model doesn't have the 2way zips... anyway the construction is amazing. jacket fits very much like i wanted. it's a sz40, i'm about 175cm and a little under 59kg. only problem is the waist pockets are really high! and no internal pockets... not a big deal.

 

[tricotineacetat]

Thanks for posting, mass!

The jacket fits you very nicely... slim, but not overall tight-ish... just a very nice, straight shape for an 80ies bomber jacket style! It's weird, though, to hear that the second zip doesn't function on this one - I think I recall the jacket I tried at Maria Luisa functioning perfectly well on the second zip, not just like a decoration...

 

[Inaya]

Amazing, mass!!