Vol.137_Laura Gerte
Laura Gerte
Interviewed by Cinjay Lee
From Berlin, Germany & Paris, France
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You talk about your story, your memories, nostalgia through fashion. Compare to your mother tongue, how do you feel when you are to express through fabric and garments?
I have always been in love with the transformative aspect of fashion or rather clothing in general. How wearing certain items makes you feel certain ways, how you can fool and irritate people yet conform and hide through clothing as well. Dressing up, creating characters through garments and hiding in the fantasy world that fashion can be has always been my favorite game.
To me, clothing is the most accessible form of expression and that’s what I love most about it. Clothing is a non-verbal communication tool that we all use everyday and that no-one can separate themselves from.
In my design I usually strive towards three ideals - fun to create, fun to wear, fun to look at. I want to make things that other people want to interact with, that inspire them and that they want to incorporate into their own creative work.
Since when did you start to get interest in digital printing?
I explore cultural references through print and started using digital prints in my designs a little over two years ago. In the way that I use it, it’s flatness that attracts me. The fake dimensional and the fake reality aspects go along really well with my aesthetics. I contrast these to extremely textured surfaces and screen prints, which always feel a little more analogue and warm. This contrast of analogue and digital is very important to me, living in both worlds and feeling neither here nor there.
For my prints, I always try to find something that’s easily recognizable and universally understood - everyday objects or references that we connect with instantly. It is also a great way for me to bring humor into my design.
What is the most important process when you are designing?
To me, every part of it is important, honestly. Being open-minded and curious throughout the research phase but later being able to know when to stop and move on to the next step; the design process itself, experimenting with fabrics and shapes; the pattern and toiling process, the print development, the decision about which fabrics and colors to use, and the assembly of it all. I love both the creative and the craftsmanship parts of it. To make on object with your hands; seeing everything come together is rewarding and humbling at the same time.
Where are your concepts coming from?
Usually I start experimenting with fabrics, textile manipulation and prints before I think of garments or an over all concept. I draw inspiration from everything around me - people and signs on the streets, movies, my friends, atmospheres and feelings, situations, the internet. I try not to be too selective in the beginning and instead just gather inspirations.
After a while it comes together and I find a bigger theme that connects some these inspirations and lets some of them go.
To be honest, I think concept is overrated in the way fashion is taught at universities today - first and most of all, fashion is superficial. If the garments aren’t appealing to people - in whatever way that may be - you can have the best concept in the world but no one will care. I think it’s both a blessing and a curse in fashion.
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