I have the ultimate respect for them for what they built, and to have had such an important role in fashion in this country.
Talk a little bit more about balancing these two brands. To be upfront about it, I see it as a real challenge to manage two distinct design teams. How do you plan on nurturing both labels?
Most of my career, I worked for other designers. Most of my career, I was crafting brands that were not my perspective. That’s my training. But also because of how specific Diotima is, I actually find [managing both brands] not that challenging. It’s actually quite fun: I can be really ridiculous over at Diotima, I can be really more radical over there if I want to be. Not that I’m not going to have interesting ideas here. But there is a formality here that doesn’t exist over at Diotima. I like this kind of push and flow. This is a really long-winded way to say it, but one of my favourite filmmakers is Raoul Peck. He made two films about Haiti after the earthquake. One is a documentary, and one is a film, and it’s kind of loosely based on Teorema [by Pier Paolo Pasolini], which is my favourite film. I saw him speak at the Metrograph, and he said that he made both films at the same time, because where he found limitations in the documentary form, he moved to the film, and where he found limitations there, he moved back. And I always found that so inspiring.
Are you working with a stylist?
Yes, Marika-[Ella Ames], who styles with Diotima. It’s unspoken at this point, we understand each other, and she’s so, so, so talented. I’ve just been so lucky over at Diotima to work with people I really admire. And I’m just so excited by this show; I have Julia Lange casting and Betak is producing it, and Marika styling it. I’ve been really lucky over there. And I’m really excited to have her here and continue our creative dialogue, but in a new world.
Will it feel like a Proenza cast? Or will it have a little bit more Rachel in it?
I think it will be a little bit of a mix. I think that’s more than anything, where I hope to point to the future.
I’d like you to talk just a little bit more about what you think you can do here that you can’t do at Diotima?
Like?
Like, oh, are you really excited to dress somebody for a red carpet? Jack and Lazaro would often dress celebrities, It-girls.
Maybe one day I’ll dress Isabelle Huppert. That would be goals. What I’m more excited about… you know, I love craft so much. But I hate when people think about it as an aesthetic, like crafty or nostalgic, or whatever. For me, it’s not an aesthetic, it’s a practice. What’s nice about craft here is that it can be really quite technical. It can be a technique that’s made by a very specialised machine that maybe I don’t have access to with my resources at Diotima. I could develop insane textiles that maybe I couldn’t do over there. Here, there’s really so much I can do. So that’s really exciting, more than anything.
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