CLARISSA LABIN

From Dior in Paris to H&M in Stockholm and back to Berlin. The German/Venezuelan designer tells us everything about her fashion and inspirations.

Your career started at London Fashion College. What made you decide to study there?

London is known for its great fashion and design schools. Furthermore I wanted to go abroad and see if it’s really like what people say it was. And I can only concur.

Was the city of London with its fashion-conscious people an inspiration for you

And your work? 
I find London to be a very inspiring city. Women dress more individually. Plus they even try more things. One can say they are more adventurous when it comes to fashion. They mix the latest trends with vintage stuff. If I compare that to Germany, I must say that people over here dress rather boring and dull.

What was your dream job growing up?

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to design costumes for theatre. It was only when I started studying fashion that I realized I wanted to do fashion, really.

Talking about your career. For quite some time you were the Head of Design at H&M’s Divided Black Label. How did working for H&M shape you and your work? And how much of yourself could you bring into the designs?

Working for H&M really shaped me. All the travelling around the world was inspiring, of course. Yet, creating a collection that should, in the end, yield as much as possible and at the same time attract as many people as possible was an important and back then new aspect for me when it came to creating my designs. I loved working for H&M. But now I’m happy to be able creating my own products that don’t have to appeal to millions of customers all around the world and can thus be more individual and more personal. 

How would you describe your designs?
My fashion label CLARISSA LABIN stands for individual yet wearable fashion mostly knitwear.

Your pieces include a lot of knitwear as well as extraordinary patterns and bright colors. Where does that inspiration come from?

Well, knitwear, unusual combinations of color and using 3D- structures are the characteristics of my work. It may be due to my German/Venezuelan roots. I like those a lot and I think it gives the clothes a certain edge to it.

Who is your inspiration?

There are several people who inspire me starting with classic icons like Diana Wreeland who I find amazing. Another person, I find really inspiring is Chloe Sevigny- her style of dressing and combining clothes is cool and individual.

What are you trying to express with your collection Neo Nature?

The first collection Neo Nature is inspired by the beauty of nature and the simple things that are a part of it. If you take autumn leaves for example. They inspire me to transform my sketches into three dimensional, colorful designs that I end up mixing with 80s inspired looks. The result is a clash of nature and New Weave.

How do you feel about current fashion?

Fashion right now is characterized by commercial fashion empires and by globalisation. Therefore it is difficult for small labels to keep up, especially when you consider the prices and the time effort they have to put in. Thus it’s of particular importance for those small labels to stand out from the crowd.

What’s your advice for future fashion designers?

Stay on your grind! Hang in there! You have to have a lot of patience and energy. It’s worth the effort.

                                    CLARISSA LABIN A/W 2010