Have you ever heard of Syd Mead? No? You’re probably familiar with the films he drew for: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Tron (1982), Aliens (1986), and more recently Elysium (2013) – does it ring a bell? Syd Mead is now 83 and he has spent his whole working life imagining the future. He’s kind of a reference of sci-fi and of futurist architecture.
Jean-Baptiste Truong, student in Institut Français de la Mode in Paris
More often than not, we imagine the fashion designers living in their ivory tower, and creating only for people of their kind. But fashion is a real business, deeply anchored in reality. Jean-Baptiste Truong tells us about it with great lucidity. After a Master’s degree from a Business School, he worked in New York with fashion buyers, then left the world of fashion for cosmetics, at MAC and Chanel. This year, he decided to go back to his first love, and entered the Institut Français de la Mode. According to Business of Fashion, this Parisian school is in the top 3 of the best fashion schools in the world!
Remember the name of Akris: you’ll often come across it on As A Muse. The designer behind the brand, Albert Kriemler, is crazy about art, and has drawn his inspiration for his collections from several artists. For his Summer 2017 collection, Akris pays tribute to the oldest of contemporary artists: Carmen Herrera. This 101 year-old painter from La Havana only achieved success at 70! She’s an inspiring example of dedication to her art, even though she didn’t sell any paintings for most of her life. The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York offered her a retrospective in 2016. Good things come to those who wait!
Ha, Magritte… My favourite artist. I was very happy to hear that the brand Opening Ceremony is now using his work as its muse, even if the simplicity of the collection is a bit disappointing. But Magritte’s paintings are so powerful and iconic that they’re self-sufficient. Since there isn’t much to say about the way Humberto Leon and Carole Lim appropriated the work of the Belgian artist, I’ll just tell you a bit more about… Magritte! Have I told you that he is my favourite artist?
Julio is one of the marvellous people I met in London. He used to be an actor, theatre director, and costume designer in Brazil but at some point he realised that clothing was his main media of communication. He decided to move to London to study in the most prestigious fashion school in the world : Central Saint Martins. He is going to share with us his vision of fashion and tell us what you learn in such a famous school.
