Friday, February 12, 2010
Legend
Nothing saddens me more than learning that yet another legend departs from the world.
So I got an email from my old school in Paris today informing me that Alexander McQueen is dead. He is only 40. Cause of death appears to be unnatural.
At one stage, he lectured at our school. I didn't have the privilege to be taught by him when I was there.
The news that most saddened me was when Yves St Laurent passed away. That year, when I went to Paris, he had retired from Rive Gauche. I had the privilege to visit his museum and archives not accessible to the general public. It was an eyeful for a budding design student like me to be able to witness the years of years of couture and milinery collection one sees on the runway on TV. I was a few millimetres close to these items, only we were not allow to touch them as we walk through the narrow aisles of wadrobes with hanging outfits in chronological order from the time they first made their appearance on the fashion runway. I stuck out my index finger and secretly swept it past the sights of my outfit to re-affirm that my experience there was real. I was in Paris and this close to these outfits adorned by supermodels and designed by this fashion legend. Then my teacher, a talented man who used to work in one of the legendary French couture house before being headhunted by JPG noticed me and shook his tsk tsk finger at me to refrain from me from my action...
*****
Amidst a significant crisis in my life due to my not-seem-to-be-working-well business, I find myself gaining solace and contentment from designing, sewing and creating new garments.
Coincidentally, the other day I received an out of the blue email from a fashion recruiter. He got my contact from my school in Paris and wrote to see if I was interested to apply for a product developer/ designer job in Shanghai for a high end Swedish knitwear company with presence throughout Europe.
I love knitwear and most importantly, I am equally serious about the quality of the knitwear that I used to wear and by. So in that sense, I do know something about knitwear. I was in fashion retail for awhile and we sold knitwear so I do know what sells.
It's a bit like the law of attraction. The stars are trying to get aligned in my interest.
No one from the old school ever write to me officially. Well, apart from old friends who write the occasional personal email to see how things are going on my end and vice versa.
But it's strange.
Two emails from my school in 3 days.
My Parisian experience is eons ago, like some 5.5 years. I almost need to pinch myself to confirm that it was real- me organising a magazine event at Maxim's, drink moet champagne and rubbing shoulders with fabulously tall and beautiful people... then those thankless days working quietly (mostly alone) in the atelier listening to "It's a lovely day" as the rain pitter patter out of my window on Rue Remur and those hapless one night stands, affairs, drunken, weed high nights...
I almost think I have been dreaming...
Feels like I had lived another lifetime.
Nothing saddens me more than learning that yet another legend departs from the world.
So I got an email from my old school in Paris today informing me that Alexander McQueen is dead. He is only 40. Cause of death appears to be unnatural.
At one stage, he lectured at our school. I didn't have the privilege to be taught by him when I was there.
The news that most saddened me was when Yves St Laurent passed away. That year, when I went to Paris, he had retired from Rive Gauche. I had the privilege to visit his museum and archives not accessible to the general public. It was an eyeful for a budding design student like me to be able to witness the years of years of couture and milinery collection one sees on the runway on TV. I was a few millimetres close to these items, only we were not allow to touch them as we walk through the narrow aisles of wadrobes with hanging outfits in chronological order from the time they first made their appearance on the fashion runway. I stuck out my index finger and secretly swept it past the sights of my outfit to re-affirm that my experience there was real. I was in Paris and this close to these outfits adorned by supermodels and designed by this fashion legend. Then my teacher, a talented man who used to work in one of the legendary French couture house before being headhunted by JPG noticed me and shook his tsk tsk finger at me to refrain from me from my action...
*****
Amidst a significant crisis in my life due to my not-seem-to-be-working-well business, I find myself gaining solace and contentment from designing, sewing and creating new garments.
Coincidentally, the other day I received an out of the blue email from a fashion recruiter. He got my contact from my school in Paris and wrote to see if I was interested to apply for a product developer/ designer job in Shanghai for a high end Swedish knitwear company with presence throughout Europe.
I love knitwear and most importantly, I am equally serious about the quality of the knitwear that I used to wear and by. So in that sense, I do know something about knitwear. I was in fashion retail for awhile and we sold knitwear so I do know what sells.
It's a bit like the law of attraction. The stars are trying to get aligned in my interest.
No one from the old school ever write to me officially. Well, apart from old friends who write the occasional personal email to see how things are going on my end and vice versa.
But it's strange.
Two emails from my school in 3 days.
My Parisian experience is eons ago, like some 5.5 years. I almost need to pinch myself to confirm that it was real- me organising a magazine event at Maxim's, drink moet champagne and rubbing shoulders with fabulously tall and beautiful people... then those thankless days working quietly (mostly alone) in the atelier listening to "It's a lovely day" as the rain pitter patter out of my window on Rue Remur and those hapless one night stands, affairs, drunken, weed high nights...
I almost think I have been dreaming...
Feels like I had lived another lifetime.
