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THE FRENCH
INSTITUTE Alliance Française in New York City provides
a small audience the chance to attain a designer’s viewpoint
of the fashion industry. Four hundred viewers at the Florence Gould
Hall listen to a 45-minute talk between the designer as well as
Pamela Golbin, the Chief Curator of the Musée de la Mode
et du Textile at the Louvre Palace. Towards the end of the talk,
the audience already feels as though they know the designers on
a personal basis. To fill in the gaps for certain unclear aspects,
guests have the opportunity to ask questions in a 10-minute Q&A
session. Such talks permit the audience to get up close and personal
with the faces behind the high-end brand names.
This year, the series of talks are held from March 16 to April 4, with three iconic figures from the fashion industry: Tory Burch, Lorenz Bäumer and Oscar de la Renta. We spoke to Golbin, the host of the Art de Vivre Fashion Talks, to attain her perspective about the fashion industry.
Lucire: How much does fashion mean to you?
Pamela Golbin: Well, it’s been my life for the past
twenty years … since I started at the museum. I love fashion
but what I love above all is people; fashion is a wonderful way
to understand people. You know, everybody has to get dressed in
the morning and it is a second skin. So whether you like it or not,
it does say something about you and historically it puts things
into context, into perspective and most importantly fashion is an
industry. So it has an incredible dynamic, it is creative …
it brings together so many different fields all at once. That has
always been very exciting.
I’ve heard that fashion has always been a part of your
life, as well as a part of your family’s life; could you tell
us in what way?
Well, the women in the family have always been very strong and
confident women. My paternal grandmother has been a client of haute
couture since the 1920s; she is now 99 years old … so, it’s
been a long time. My mother was also and still is quite a lover
of fashion. But it’s always been a tool to better express
yourself, so for me and my sister, it has always been a wonderful
and creative tool as wel l… it’s been a very positive
experience in our lives.
Between New York and Paris, are there any major differences
in terms of fashion?
Oh … very much so and I would add Italy for that matter, Milano.
You know, in Paris the haute couture system was born, and the fashion
system was born, thanks to Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman
… What he brought to fashion was a creative aspect, he sold
himself as an artist … So Paris has always been the creative
centre of fashion.
When it comes to New York, it came much later,
obviously … It is more product-based. Historically, in New
York and in America the space was so much bigger and there were
so many more people to dress. It’s a very different vision,
it’s more about quantity. That doesn’t mean there is
not quality, but from the offset it was how to dress the largest
amount of people at the same time.
It is an ‘industry’, whereas Paris was
more hand-based, it was an artisan who created it …
Historically, Italy has also been the centre of
fabric and textiles since the 14th century. In each case, they have
a very different point-of-view, but together they compose of the
incredible industry that it is today: the fashion industry.
You have also published many books pertaining to a number of
major designers including, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino and Balenciaga.
What is the main goal that you aim to achieve when you publish such
books?
For the most part, these books come in conjunction with an exhibition
… They are not exhibition catalogues, they are books …
What really interests me is the person, what did this designer bring
to the fashion language? I always think of fashion as a language:
it is obviously not an oral language, but it is a very complex and
sophisticated visual language with all of its rules …
Every designer has brought something to the table.
And so when I start working on a designer, I always try to figure
out what his or her specificity is. And then the work behind what
they have done. What characterizes them? So all of these books,
whether they are retrospectives or more thematically based, they
are always about the person: what is that person’s voice?
You are currently hosting Art de Vivre Fashion Talks with such
a great series of talks with designers including Tory Burch, Lorenz
Bäumer and Oscar de la Renta. Can you give us your perspective
on the talks as well as on the designers that will be featured this
year?
I started these talks four years ago because I thought it would
be wonderful to have a platform, kind of a master class, where informally
I can invite designers from all fields to come and talk and just
have a very close presence with an audience.
Over the years, I have been able to invite all
sorts of designers, whether it was for menswear, Veronique Nichanian
for Hermès, or shoe designer, Bruno Frisoni for his own line
but also for Roger Vivier, as well as incredible women like Donna
Karan and Diane Von Furstenberg.
And now, for this season I thought it was interesting
to follow how to define a signature style. So these three designers
are so different: I mean between Tory Burch and Oscar, they are
two extremes in the fashion spectrum, but they each have found their
place in this incredible industry and each have found their own
iconic language. How to decipher that language? And of course Lorenz,
who is not even in fashion but in jewellery design, has created
incredible designs not only for Chanel first and now for Louis Vuitton
… It was really how to convey what a signature style is and
how each one found their own signature style in a very different
manner.
How long does it take you to prepare these talks?
It takes very long because it is not just, ‘Oh, I can just
go up and ask questions’. Forty-five minutes on stage to keep
the tension … you know, these are people who give a lot of
interviews to a lot of people and to be in front of four hundred
guests is a lot. First of all, to be live, you can’t be cut,
you can’t rewrite, you can’t control what comes out
… to give that personal touch is a discipline … it is
a lot of work.
I know some of the designers very well and I’ve
followed and I’ve worked within different capacities so it’s
much easier obviously, but there is always a lot of work that goes
behind these talks, to make them seamless and seemingly easy.
Are you already preparing for next year’s Art de Vivre
Fashion Talks?
Yes, you know, the calendar is filled … designers, unlike
artists, have a lot of rendezvous with the press, with the clients,
with production, that are very tight every year so their schedule
is completely booked … We really have to work a year in advance
to get them to come in.
Are there words of advice you can give those who want to dive
into the fashion industry?
The word starts with a w: work … The parties
and the red carpet are just not even one per cent of the work…
to get there is just incredible … Talent is very important
but perseverance and discipline are even more important to survive.
It is not just a one-shot deal, you have to stick around. • |
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‘And now, for this season I thought it was
interesting to follow how to define a signature style. So these
designers are so different: Tory Burch and Oscar [de la Renta] are
two extremes in the fashion spectrum, but they each have found their
place in this incredible industry and each have found their own
iconic language. How [do we] decipher that language?’
Some of Pamela Golbin’s books
Lola Saab is Paris editor of Lucire. |
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A fount of fashion knowledge Pamela Golbin, expert, author, curator,
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