PARIS SHOWROOMS| The Art of Handcraft SS15

This season, Fashion Scout Paris returns to its showroom in the heart of Marais. We are celebrating the talent of 22 exciting new UK and International designers across our two floor showroom space.

SS15 sees a focus on the return to the art of handcraft and traditional process. Today we feature designers Cats Brothers, Le Photographe and Mariana Jungmann whose work all interprets this theme in their own way.

CATS BROTHERS

Cats Brothers where founded and handmade in London and are a brand heavily influenced by street culture and music. They bring a crafty twist to fun and wearable streetwear with the addition of embroideries and knitwear panels. We spoke to Lindsay, the designer behind the brand:

What inspired your SS15 collection?

This collection is inspired by the idea of dressing up, disguises and joke shops. It is very playful. I always tend to make my collections fun and playful, it’s kind of my style!

I know it is hard for a designer to pick but what are your favourite pieces from this collection?

My favourite pieces are always sweatshirts and the t-shirts. They always tend to be the staple pieces of my collections.

How do you design and develop your collections?

This is actually my first season when I develop my own prints which has been very exciting. Overall, more thought is put on texture, prints, embellishments, technique of fabric and generally whatever is happening on the fabric rather than the shape.  So far all production is kept in Hackney, London and I hope I can keep it that way. Being a knitwear designer and focusing on the good quality of knits I would love to be able to produce the knitted pieces in Scotland.

Do you like the idea of adding accessories in your collection to complement the outfits?

Yes, this season we have a few clutch bags with exciting patterns. The idea behind having the clutch bag is that it acts as an additional layer to the outfits. I love clashing patterns so someone can easily add a striking patterned bag to add excitement in the outfit.

MARIANA JUNGMANN

Brazilian designer, Mariana Jungmann has always been inspired by renaissance lace since a small child. The particular shapes of the lace help to identify it as traditionally Brazilian, used in many households as tablecloths and to decorate the home.

How do you manufacture your clothes?

I design the lace and then I send it to a community in Brazil, which produce the lace. Then this gets shipped to the UK, where I assemble the garments and it is afterwards produced in Europe.

Is ethical fashion an important aspect of your brand?

I support the lace making community in Brazil, not only financially but I also teach them some techniques that I know, which they can use when producing the lace. I also believe in slow fashion and how it can impact the world. I only use natural fibres since they are more biodegradable.

What message do you want to put forward through your brand?

I want to say to women that they can still be feminine and be strong. You don’t have to wear a suit to prove your power. Looking feminine, vulnerable and sexy doesn’t reduce your strength.

LE PHOTOGRAPHE

Le Photographe defines its style as being a fusion of modern embroidery techniques, graffism and embellishment within draped forms and structural cutting. Their pieces include intense sections of hand embroidery.

What is your brand about?

Le Photographe is about creative cutting. The designer, Chris, has been pattern making for a very long time so the techniques and the shapes used in the designs are a very important aspect of the brand. The pieces are feminine, wearable and portray beautiful embroidery.

What sort of techniques do you use in order to produce the garments?

Everything is handmade. So techniques used are hand-weaving, hand-beading and fabric manipulation. We want to bring luxurious techniques to simpler fabrics, in order to bring out the best of every fabric. Some garments in this collection have taken numerous hours to hand-make. For example, the silver duchess gown took 2200 man-hours to produce!

What is the concept behind the SS15 collection?

Nature and fresh colours are the theme of this collection. The prints are mainly inspired by magnolia flowers and they are portrayed in various different ways according to the technique used in each garment.

Cats Brothers, Mariana Jungmann and Le Photographe are on show as part of Fashion Scout’s Paris Showroom. You can view their collections at 23, Rue Du Roi De Sicile, 75004 until the 30^th September 2014. Opening hours are: 10am till 7pm daily, closing at 5pm on Tuesday 30^th.

INTERVIEW| ZDDZ

Self-described as “sharp and intelligent”, ZDDZ is a Russian-born label that has taken up residence in East London. The crossover from continent to island has only stemmed to ignite the creativity and unique flair in the brand’s aesthetic, headed up by designer Dasha Selyanova. Worn by Rita Ora and Lianne La Havas, and with a feature at Fashion Scout this season, we caught up with Selyanova to discuss her latest collection and life at the helm of ZDDZ.

What influenced your collection for SS15?

It's inspired by Lycra-clad cyclists, gas mask covers, shop display windows and printed nail polish tops. For the print I used outtakes from newspapers - 'Quiet Life', 'Zero Tolerance' -and put them across the garments in a way that a trashy fruit or nail polish packaging would look like. It was in order to show that political promises do not mean a thing today, to devalue them.

How important is your Russian heritage in your design process every season?

It’s hard to personally define whether you or your work carry some ‘national characteristics’, if there are such at all. I believe people from outside the label will be more qualified to judge. I am not particularly inspired by either Moscow or London. I mean, I could be doing it in New York or Baku and it would still be ZDDZ.

Who is the typical ZDDZ customer?

Someone who is OK with going against the grain.

Prints and motifs are often contrasted against neutrality, becoming a signature look for ZDDZ, can we expect more of this?

I'd say as long as my inspiration comes from the city and its textures, it is going to look like that, because that’s what the urban landscape looks like to me. But I might get pregnant and start making pink chiffon dresses, who knows! Life is unpredictable.

Ladies street wear isn't highly catered for. Was this something you were conscious of when setting up your label?

No, not at all actually. It's just when I was 15 to 18 years old I was the only girl in a group of local rappers in Saint-Petersburg, so I wore a lot of street wear, but boy's street wear. I still do that, but it felt quite natural to want to give it a feminine twist. I am still a girl and I like to look a bit sexy. Fuba baggy pants are not always flattering on a girl... I wanted to make the garments that would convey a 'boy's message', but so you could definitely see that it's womenswear also. 

What does ZDDZ mean?

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What's next for you after Fashion Scout?

I’m working on an exciting collaboration with a digital media artist based in London. Also, we are doing Aurora Fashion Week in October in my hometown Saint-Petersburg, so that's what is next I guess, the show must go on! I’ll also be working on the AW15 collection. I also want to spend more time drawing, I miss it. It feels like this label takes almost all, or most, of my time. I would like to be able to do something else. I really enjoy working as an illustrator and after Fashion Week I am aiming to do more of that. That's the plan at least.

By Clarissa Waldron, (@thisisclarissa).

Photographs, courtesy of ZDDZ