Ute Ploier

Interview with Ute Ploier

Vienna-based Ute Ploier has been successfully establishing her menswear label since 2003. January 2004 marked her debut in Paris when she showed her collection A/W 2004/2005 ''electrification'' at the UCAD during the Paris Fashion Week. Since then, she has regularly shown 2 collections per year. Ute Ploier is sold in selected stores in Europe, USA and Japan. Her creations reflect a critical view, blended with humour and irony, on images and expectations of masculinity that clothing builds, expresses, and deflates: Questions of role play, social connotations and issues of masculinity. Her designs feature dress codes and elements from different social levels while remaining wearable and most of all comfortable. Unusual textile combinations and manufacturing techniques are at the basis of her designs.

''Each collection is a story in itself. I am not a formal designer. For me, it’s all about the idea, the concept, the social aspect. There are many male fashion designers who design for women. I wanted to reverse that and experience what it is like for a woman to design for the opposite sex; to create from another point-of-view and outside the usual system.''

Youtube : Backstage at S/S2008

- Regarding your S/S 2008 collection, can you tell us what it was like during the preparation stages?

U: The inspiration for the collection ''time-loopers'' came from the video 'Lasso' of finnish artist Salla Tykka. It shows a young finnish boy practising lasso tricks in his living room while Ennio Morricone plays on the soundtrack. I watched this video on infinite loop at the Biennale in Venice some years ago. By combining the contrast of Scandinavia and the Wild West, it seems that place and time stop to exist.

- What were your initial concepts?

U: My collection was about experiencing various aspects of time: different time-levels such as past, present and future, stillstand and flow, speed and slowness, real time and personal experience of time, memory and utopia. The graphics and prints of the collection feature 3 motives that are connected to time: the surface of tea-liquid, a portrait taken a few years ago and the structure of growing cells.

- How did you feel after it was over?

U: A show is always an extremely emotional moment for me. You have worked so hard on a project for months and it all accumulates in these few minutes. It is a very intense and happy experience.

- What is the most important facet to pay attention to in your designs?

U: My collections often take a look at male dress-codes or archetypes. Why do people choose to dress in a certain style and what is the idea behind that? I combine different dress-codes or remix them with unexpected materials. As a female designer doing menswear, it is important to me to question certain

cliches in our society and push the borders further. However, at the end of the day, my designs are here to make somebody look and feel good. Fashion should be fun, so a humorous element is always there as well!

- Do you have any favourite materials/fabrics and/or special techniques you enjoy using?

U: I develope new craft techniques for each collection as I see each collection as a individual project. As for fabrics, I pay great attention on how they feel on the skin, not only that they look great. To wear my clothes should be a sensual and pleasant experience.

- In the beginning, what actually made you get into designing?

U: It is a creative medium that is very closely related to people. It is this combination that attracts me most.

- How would you describe your style?

U: My style is to visualize a world of its own with each collection. I want create a special atmosphere for each of my projects. It is not so much about a certain look which is just modified every season. It is about taking on a different aspect of masculinity and male dress codes, analyze and remix it. Fashion is about change and it is fast. Any look will go out of fashion sooner or later. So I am not building my work on that. Sometimes I make quite a radical change from one collection to the next. But then life can be radical, too.

- Have you seen any Japanese Fashion Magazines? If so what are your opinions about Japanese style?

U: I was in Tokyo last september and had the opportunity to meet some Japanese journalists. The magazines I got to know e.g. Huge, Men`s Nonno, Studio Voice, Madame Figaro etc. What I really love about Japanese style is how experimental yet classy it can be. Japan is definitely my strongest market and I enjoy the way Japanese buyers select for their shops.

As a designer I feel very attached to my work and I think it`s great with how much love Japanese shops display their products.

- What are you interested in or what is your favorite thing except fashion?

U: Art, Dancing and Sleeping

- What are your career plans, do you have any future goals?

U: To continue establishing my label, maybe take on a womens line in the future.

- Do you have some words of wisdom for any young designers and our readers?

U: Always look on the bright side;-)

Website : http://www.uteploier.com/

Written by Toshimi Takaishi