LUXURY 24

«I am more than a fashion artist. Just like an artist I use different media, from film to mechanics, to express concepts and to develop a narrative. Actually the result are always clothes, and I am well aware of that».
These words come from Turkish-Cypriot designer Hussein Chalayan, born on 1970, one of the most visionary and radical talents in contemporary fashion. Since contaminations between fashion and art start to be very common, but not always well developed, Chalayan is one of the few designers who can afford to come out with such a bold declaration without sounding pretentious or selfish. The anthological exhibition From fashion and back that London's design museum dedicated to his work at the beginning of the year has demonstrated Chalayan's unique ability as a manipulator of materials, silhouettes and technologies, his unique flair to mix fashion design with ideas from anthropology, science, philosophy. Over fifteen years of work, Chalayan, who was born in Nicosia but schooled in London at the prestigious Central Saint Martins college (the same school where such great artists as John Galliano and Stella McCartney studied) has created robotic dresses that change form in a click, jackets that look like they were molded into concrete, dresses that double as furniture, but also wearable stuff that is intelligently simple as it is inventively complicated. As a creator who is able to evolve constantly, Chalayan has never stopped experimenting, without succumbing to the temptation of art for art's sake: on the contrary, he has recently found an unexpected lightness and freshness. His futuristic intuition didn't go unseen, and Puma recently nominated him creative director for Sport Fashion. Apparently serious Hussein Chalayan is on the contrary acute and chatty. He loves change above anything else.

Mr Chalayan, would you be able to define yourself?
I am a typical specimen of modern anthropology: a person with a layered background who lives in a city that, on its turn, is a cultural meltin' pot. I am very curious, and definitely a social animal. I like to understand, or at least try to understand, the world around me. Cultural displacement which played a central role in my earlier collections is a part of me: being bi-cultural, to me, is very enriching.
How do you conceive each collection?
It depends. It can all start from something political or from anthropology; it can be a continuation of what I did the season before or a contradiction of it; it can be an attempt to see known things in a new way. In my work the starting point is always mental. Then, at one point, I let the visuals take the lead. The mental part is just for myself.
Do you accept the "conceptual" label that is usually associated to your work?
I'm more than an experimental designer. It's true that my method involves concepts, but the result is not conceptual: it's just clothes and I'm always well aware of that.
Do you approach your art or fashion projects in the same way?
Yes I do. It is the same world. All my work stems from the desire to offer new points of view on things.
What inspires you?
Adventure. Trying new experiences. The opposites in life. I like to deceive expectations and enjoy a sense of anarchy. I don't like stereotypes but again I think this depends on my cultural background. In every field, from creativity to sexuality, I try to explore new ways.
Are you both serious and playful?
I am very serious when it comes to work but I try to keep the ability to laugh about myself. I'm passionate about ideas but also about more trivial things. As everybody, I am not one-dimensional. I have many facets.
Over the last few years your language has changed a lot. Is this because you grew up, or because of the new financial stability?
I am always the same person, with the same head, but, just to say, I am wearing different hats. What's new stimulates me: going into new territories, exploring new kinds of women. Today my collections are sexier and more body-conscious than they were in the past, but sensuality has always been part of my language. Working for Puma has given me a financial stability that certainly helps.
What's your vision of the link between body and dresses, and what's about that one between dresses and environment?
Dresses help self-confidence and posture; they help you compose yourself and write a behavioral grammar. this extends from the body to the environment.
Technology plays a big role in your world. You see it as an aid, a tool, an accessory?
Technology for me is something magical. Up until now I have only created prototypes, but I am convinced that my visions, if developed in an apt way, can turn into reality. The future of fashion, from fabrics to constructions, is in technology.
As a futurist, do you think that fashion will ever get rid or its obsession for the past?
The past always informs the future. Of course the language of modernism is beautiful, yet in fashion, apart from the 60, it was always about looking back as the 70s looked back and the 80s too. Nostalgia is a very human and familiar feeling, so the situation will hardly change.
What is classic, to you, and what is modern?
Modern for me is personal style, dressing in a way that suits you as an individual. Modernity is not a formula: it means being informed, to see many things and be exposed to many things. Modernism is the esthetic of function. In fashion, of course, modernity is always relative, because fashion is by definition ridiculously transient. Classic, on the opposite, is what is timeless and has a function. Classic is a cultural attribute that derives from repetition, and for this reason it is a concept I am very interested in.
Do you feel part of a school?
A kind of. I feel isolated but it's not my choice. Concernig with my job I am probably more similar to an artist. Raf Simons, Veronique Branquinho and Stefano Pilati are the only designers I feel close to.
How would you sum up your work?
I try to understand the world around me and find new ways to look at it: a balance of structure, form and dynamism.
One hundred years or more from now, how would you like to be remembered?
As a person who tried to link different worlds through the activity of design, working to fill the gaps between different practices.