OPENING night

photo : Maria Ziegelböck

... Vienna's 13festival, which I already mentioned because of the fashion panel that will take place later today, will also present the audience with an occasion to see Ute Ploier's first womenswear collection.

The Austrian designer, who started out in menswear ten years ago right after being victorious at the Festival de Hyères, recently presented her first womenswear collection ever during Paris Fashion Week. The collection will hit store shelves in spring of 2014, Ute told me that she also ogles the option of opening a shop/showroom in Vienna at that same moment.

photo: Maria Ziegelböck

Le festival de la mode à Vienne, duquel j'ai déjà parlé à cause de la table ronde que j'y présenterai cet après-midi, offrira aux spectateurs la possibilité de voir, pour la première fois, la collection de mode féminine créée par la spécialiste en mode-hommes incontestée, Ute Ploier.

Ute a récemment présenté sa première collection pour femmes à Paris, et cela dix ans après sa première grande réussite à Hyères, où elle avait remporté le prix du festival de la mode. Félicitations, et encore plus de félicitations pour tant de courage et de bravoure ...

The show will take place on Friday, Nov. 22 at Mak.
La présentation aura lieu vendredi, le 22 nov., au Mak

FLYING fashion VISITOR, misled?

... what a great occasion to revive ParisVienne, which, admittedly, I had neglected these past few weeks and months. Anyhow. There are quite some news: Suzy Menkes (the one fashion critic every fashion critic loves - or loves to hate) was in town to attend the first edition of LINK Jewelry Summit, hosted by the International Herald Tribune. And she wouldn't be one of the world's most prolific fashion writers, had she not seized the opportunity to check out the most luxurious and fashionable sides of Vienna at the same time.

screenshot of the article published by the IHT

But then of course, in a place you are not so familiar with you must rely on the obvious - and on the guides that will accompany you. As far as the obvious is concerned, Mrs Menkes takes a closer look at the city's new "Golden Quarter" in her article entitled "In Seductive Vienna, a New Fashion District" and is quite right when stating that "[w]ealthy Russians looking to invest in bricks and mortar and a swelling number of Chinese visitors have inspired this gilded shopping area in the heart of a city that has been rejuvenated by the opening up of Eastern Europe".

What is of greater interest to anyone warming to the city's radiant fashion scene these past few years though: Mrs Menkes then goes on to examine the local creative crowd and sets out to meet some designers. And I must say, the choices she makes are, at least in part, pretty confusing. While the interest she takes in the work of Lena Hoschek and Susanne Bisovsky is totally justified by repeated appearances of these designers in an international context, I find it interesting that the other names the world's most reputed fashion critic drops in her piece about Vienna are Ina Kent, Madames with a Mission, the Faux Fox fashion showroom and even Barbara Irma Denk with her 7tm initiative.

Mrs Menkes explicitly mentioned Lena Hoschek's work

While Vienna's vibrant fashion hot-spot that the 7th district may well be is absolutely worth being noted (and it has already been, in another piece published by the New York Times, whose "international edition" the International Herald Tribune is - see the "Shop Around" passage of this article) and while the efforts of all the designers that set up shop there can only be admired, I do find it remarkable, and even a little shocking, that Mrs Menkes wasn't introduced to one single designer whose work is aimed at the international market and who does not run a shop or showroom in town.

That leaves me with one or two questions, mainly: who, and why, decided on the people that Mrs Menkes was introduced to, and why did this or these person/s decide to ignore rather acknowledged talents such as Petar Petrov, Ute Ploier, Hartmann Nordenholz, Wendy & Jim or such newcomers as Bradaric Ohmae and Meshit, who can show off recent features in international editions of Vogue etc.? 

fashion by meshit, and many other Viennese labels, 

was not on Mrs Menkes' wish-list

While it is perfectly possible and even excusable that Mrs Menkes does not find the time to thoroughly prepare for a trip to a more "seductive" than actually fashion-forward Vienna, it would have been all the more important (and advisable) for whoever was in charge of showing her around to familiarise her with all facets of Vienna's fashion life.

For after all, the impact of an article drafted by Mrs Menkes is considerable and it might have been of greater help to all the designers that try so hard to maintain themselves on the international fashion circuit than to those who focus on the local market. Mrs Menkes' words could thus have gone beyond the sphere of what tourists can expect to find upon visiting Vienna and have supported the efforts that have been made in the past decade or so. But sadly, a chance has been missed here, and a remarkable one, too ...

ACADEMIA, not macadamia

from Ute Ploiers fall 2005 collection "Pioneers"

... yes, darlings, that's right, ACADEMIA and not MACADAMIA is on our menu today as I finally received confirmation concerning the soon-to-be fashion professor at Hetzendorf Institute's bachelor course in fashion design upon inquiry for my article in today's edition of the newspaper. Ahum. According to what I heard, after initial hearings the competition was reduced to a final selection of three, and after weeks of to and fro, UTE PLOIER has now finally been confirmed as the institute's next creative director. CONGRATULATIONS, I say, and after collecting previous teaching experience in Basel, Ute is definitely going to do an excellent job. What's more, she is based in Vienna and will therefore be able to provide sensible guidance for her students starting next fall. The final decision does however raise another question, and that's whether Andreas Bergbaur, who had also applied for the job (among others) and who is a very prominent member of Vienna's fashion scene (being one of the founding members of Unit F - fashion office, the local equivalent of, say, the British Fashion Council), has nevertheless made up his mind and is prepared to come back to Vienna or whether he'll stay in Milan at Jil Sander where he currently holds an important position. And, should he come back to Vienna, there may be other interesting jobs within the scope of CREATIVE INDUSTRIES SUPPORT for him, I guess, and even, right, why not..., yep, any ideas ? ...


... après de longues négotiations et beaucoup de suspense concernant le choix d'un successeur de Johannes et Wally / fabrics interseason à la tête de l'institut d'études supérieures en création de mode à Vienne/Hetzendorf (techniquement, c'est associé à l'Université des Beaux Arts de Linz, économiquement c'est la ville de Vienne - c'est une construction assez compliquée, donc tout à fait typique pour l'Autriche...), il paraîtrait, non, on vient d'avoir la confirmation finale que UTE PLOIER a été désignée comme futur prof et directeur créatif de l'institut. FELICITATIONS, ma chère (cela s'entend qu'on a entendu des voix pas très favorables avant de sa nomination, mais vous savez aussi bien que moi que l'envie n'est pas un très joli moteur pour quoi que ce soit...). Et puis, maintenant que l'on sait que c'est Ute et qu'elle va sûrement faire un boulot excellent à Hetzendorf (elle a déjà fait des expériences dans l'enseignementa l'Universié de Bâle en Suisse), reste à voir un petit détail : que fera donc Andreas Bergbaur, qui a déjà, pendant de longues années, enseigné à l'Université des Arts Décoratifs à Vienne avant de rejoindre Jil Sander à Milan (où il était emmené par Raf Simons), et qui a été l'un des membres fondateurs de la tout-puissante institution UNIT F, équivalent de l'ANDAM en France ? Car une fois qu'il a signalé d'être disponible pour une position importante à Vienne, je me demande s'il restera désormais en Italie ou si, par contre, il y aura peut-être AUTRE CHOSE, une autre position qui pourrait le tenter en Autriche, car là aussi, si j'y repense, la direction créative de Hetzendorf n'est plus ce qu'il y a de plus TOP DE LA GAMME depuis tout récemment, mais là, naturellement, c'est juste moi qui suis en train de me poser des questions - et l'on verra si c'est à juste titre ou non ...

FASHION professors

... just in: since the fashion duo __fabrics interseason will not renew their contract as fashion professors at Vienna's Hetzendorf institute, autumn 2011 will see a new creative director of the fashion bachelor course. This Friday, April 1, public hearings will take place, and the candidates are as follows:

10 am - Helga Schania (Wendy & Jim)
10.45 am - Ute Ploier
11.30 am - Edwina Hörl
12.15 pm - Anna Aichinger
13.00 pm - Andreas Bergbaur


This is of course a very attractive list of highly qualified candidates, with more or less teaching experience to date. Most remarkable, I find, is the (re)appearance of Mr Bergbaur on the Vienna fashion parquet, since he currently works at Jil Sander marketing and used to work at the University of Applied Arts as Raf Simons' assistant ...

BROKEN surface

two looks from Ute Ploier's current "Lens" collection produced and distributed by Topman

... more or less by chance I found out that the collaboration between Austrian menswear designer Ute Ploier and British retailer Topman (part of the Arcadia group, hence a sibling of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge) continues in 2011. After participating in a special shirt project in the past and launching a first winter collection as part of Topman's Lens programme, Ute is back in British business with a capsule collection for summer, which is based on her 2008 summer collection "Time Loopers". I vividly remeber sitting together with Ute and searching for a convenient title for the collection, what set us on the track of TIME was one of the inspirations she used for the t-shirt prints, which is the BROKEN SURFACE of tea that you leave without stirring for some time and where an oily skin forms on the surface which is then fragmented once the cup is moved - a beautiful image, don't you think? ...

the original: "Time Loopers" was Ute's spring/summer collection for 2008

... c'était plus ou moins PAR HASARD que je me suis rendu compte, récemment, que la collaboration de la créatrice autrichienne UTE PLOIER et de la chaîne britannique TOPMAN continue cette saison. Après avoir pour la première fois contribué au programme de FASHION LENS en automne dernier, Ute récidive avec une sélection basée sur sa propre collection d'été en 2008, intitulée TIME LOOPERS. Je me souviens qu'à l'époque on s'est retrouvés dans son studio en discutant d'un possible titre, et la notion du temps qui revient, du temps qui passe en continu, nous est venue en partant de l'inspiration initiale des dessins utilisés pour les t-shirts, à savoir la surface cassée du thé qu'on a laissé reposer dans une tasse sans le boire et où une sorte de membrane s'est formée, laquelle se casse tout de suite dès que la tasse est remuée ...

the image video to Ute's current summer collection "Nightswimmer" was shot by Jork Weismann - more of a work of art rather than representative of her collection, as it were

... lo saprete sicuramente, ormai, che apprezzo molto il lavoro della stilista viennese Ute Ploier. E' successo più o meno casualmente, parlando con lei recentemente per un articolo sulle giovani donne con figli che continuano a lavorara nella moda (sua figlia Matilda è nata a novembre dell'anno scorso...) mi sono reso conto che la sua collborazione con la catena britannica TOPMAN, parte del gruppo Arcadia insieme a Topshop, Evans, Dorothy Parker e Miss Selfridge, continua anche in questa stagione. Nell'ambito dell'iniziativa FASHION LENS, che rappresenta una possibilità di presentare una selezione di modelli creati da più piccole griffes a carattere più o meno avanguardistico, ha già contribuito una CAPSULE COLLECTION l'anno scorso, ormai sono usciti dei modelli basati sulla sua collezione primavera/estate 2008, intitolata TIME LOOPERS. Mi ricordo com'eravamo seduti nel suo studio, quasi quattro anni fa, parlando di questa collezione e cercando un possibile titolo. Quello che ci ha messo sulla pista dell'idea del tempo è stata l'ispirazione per i motivi stampati, cioè la superficie del tè lasciato a lungo in una tazza, dove si forma una specie di membrana che poi, quando la tazza viene mossa, si scioglie, si spezza, viene frammentata ...

FASHION PROTESTATION

photo of a photo by Kira Bunse, published in Die Zeit

... Austrian designer UTE PLOIER, an extraordinary talent of course and successful enough over the years to collaborate with Topman, Gössl and La Redoute, is among the designers (the only one from good old Austria, mind you) who created a slogan tshirt (everyone familiar with the German tongue: read THIS ARTICLE which I wrote some time ago about slogan t-shirts - the online version features a really terrible version of a nice photo featuring a beautiful friend of mine...) for the current issue of Zeit Magazin. It reads "Einer gegen alle/One against all", and the typeface was created by Nina Ober. Lovely work. By the way, shouldn't you already know: Ute is, since November 2010, mother of a cute little baby-girl. Still, she managed to be present in Paris with a fall 2011 menswear collection, so really: hat off!

... en feuilletant le dernier nuéro du supplément de Die Zeit, j'y ai retrouvé un t-shirt créé par ma designer préférée, UTE PLOIER. Elle est la seule Autrichienne à être invitée pour ce projet, et le résultat et tout à fait formidable (le sujet a été créé en coopération avec la graphiste Nina Ober, soit dit en passant). Félicitions pour Ute, qui, depuis novembre dernier, est mère d'une jolie petite fille ...

... la stilista viennese UTE PLOIER, forse in questo momento l'unica a essere conosciuta a livello internazionale, dopo progetti realizzati per Topman et La Redoute, è stata invitata dal settimanale tedesca Die Zeit a creare un'edizione speciale di t-shirt per l'edizione attuale (il motivo è stato concepito in collaborazione con Nina Ober). Mi piace tanto, è peccato che sia un pezzo unico, vero?) ...

ON TOP

... I'd already mentioned this special collaboration between Austrian menswear designer and the UK-based retailer Topman earlier this year, whe their joint project was about to be launched. Now (and I've got a piece in the newspaper about this today), the Fashion Lens by Ute Ploier collection has hit the shop floor and Topman's online shop.



Je pense que c'est tout à fait extraordinaire qu'une designer autrichienne ait été invitée pour contribuer une série limitée de vêtements sélectionnés, repris de ses anciennes collections, à la chaîne britannique. Après Marios Schwab et Peter Pilotto - tous les deux ont reçu un soutien du British Fashion Council lequel collabore, de son côté, avec Topshop et Topman pour le programme Newgen -, Ute n'est que la troisième Autrichienne à figurer sur la liste des designers invités par le groupe Arcadia. Et la première à travailler pour Topman.

Evidentemente, il lavoro di Ute Ploier per Topman viene a un punto dove abbiamo appena assistito alla presentazione della ultima collezione della così stylish "Katie" (come viene chiamata affettuosamente dal grande Karl...), dunque vediamo che anche lì (per non dire: soprattutto lì) viene attribuita più importanza alle vedettes che fanno il loro piccolo contributo, e non si tratta affatto di sostenere che questo sarà l'ultimo passo di Ute verso la celebrità definitiva a livello internazionale, comunque sono convinto che una tale collaborazione può contribuire sostanzialmente al fatto di rendere più conosciouto e più riconosciuto un talento della scena dell'avanguardia. E ciò, sarebbe già qualcosa, vero? ...

SUMMER NIGHT 2011 - Ute Ploier

... marvellous. I just arrived in London and try to get myself in a "swinging" mood, but "from Paris with love" came these wonderful image shots that accompany Ute Ploier's spring 2011 collection. Images photographed by Jork Weismann, and the model is designer-to-be (1st year student in the class of Bernhard W.) Julian Cech. If that's not something, then I don't know...

preview: Ute Ploier and Christian Weber for Gössl

... when I recently talked to Ute Ploier, she already told me about her collaboration with Gössl Trachten off the record. Now this piece of news has been made public, and we are all eagerly waiting for some first image material.


These two images are a preview of Gössl's fall 2010 collection realised by Christian Weber (women) and, of course, Ute Ploier (men). The interesting thing is, once this collection hits the floor, it will finally be possible to purchase Ute Ploier in Austria - as her mainline (which is totally incomprehensible to me) is not on sale in this country.


And I'm already in line and virtually about to press the "book now" button for my plane ticket to London just in time for the presentation of Ute's collection for Topman...

faq 04 : interview avec Robin Schulié

photo : Manfred Unger

... sur le numéro de faq magazine qui vient de paraître, j'ai publié une interview avec Robin Schulié, le très charmant jeune homme qui travaille pour Maria Luisa bien sûr.

Puisque l'original est en français, pourquoi pas le mettre sur ce blog, me suis-je dit. De toute façon cela s'adresse à un cercle de lecteurs bien exquis. Vous voici donc le texte...

PV : Lorsque vous avez sélectionné les designers qui seraient présents dans le Guerilla Store du 9 festival, quels étaient les critères les plus importants ?

RS : Une certaine cohérence générale : une identité propre et forte, équilibrée par un produit juste et justifié.

PV : Est-ce que vous avez pu découvrir ou redécouvrir des talents autrichiens dont vous ignoriez l'existence et qui ne montrent pas leurs collections à Paris ?

RS : Oui et non ! Je connais pas mal de ces marques, mais peu – et c’est le cas en général pour d’autres pays, pas seulement pour l’Autriche – ont une stature internationale et peuvent se comparer à d’autres marques présentes à Paris et rentrer en concurrence avec elles. Paris est un "filtre" au jugement très difficile qui laisse passer peu d’erreurs. Je ne crois pas au mythe du créateur inconnu et incompris qui ferait des collections sublimes dans sa chambre et que personne ne verrait ou ne reconnaitrait – c'est un stéréotype venant du monde de l’art qui ne s'applique pas à la mode. Quand une marque propose un produit intéressant, il est rare qu'il ne se fasse pas connaître rapidement d'une façon ou d'une autre. Vienne est une pépinière à talents, mais très peu peuvent se lancer dans l’arène internationale.

PV : Parmi les designers autrichiens présents à Paris, et il y en a une bonne trentaine, quels sont ceux qui vous paraissent particulièrement intéressants ?

RS : Le concept de "créateur autrichien" est un peu vague… est-ce la nationalité, est-ce le fait d’avoir étudié en Autriche qui fait de quelqu'un un créateur autrichien ? Comme Nicolas Andreas Taralis par exemple, qui a une esthétique très autrichienne ? Evidemment, certaines marques ont une stature plus internationale, comme Wendy & Jim, __fabrics interseason et House of the Very Island's…, mais il faut aussi compter sur Anna Aichinger, Christina Berger, Awareness & Consciousness, Ute Ploier… Il faut aussi leur laisser un peu de temps pour grandir hors du cercle viennois qui a peut être tendance à être un peu étouffant…

J'adore quand il mentionne l'atmosphère étouffante de cette ville ! Combien il a raison, Robin...

ce texte et d'autres choses ds. faq 04, en vente dès aujourd'hui...