Tara Subkoff: The press love to hate me so much, because if you do anything differently from the way it is usually done, you make people uncomfortable and they don’t know how to react. Fashion loves to stay true to its form and fight change so much. It’s okay to change the hemline, but it’s not to change the idea or the context. For a creative field, there is so much that you could do. If you make a painting, or a film, it is a choice, you can have your art and you can show it to people, or you can keep it in a warehouse and no one needs to know. For movies, you could  love the weirdest most obscure films, and no one will ever know. But you still have to go out in the world, no matter what or who you are, and you have to get dressed in the morning. I think it is incredibly important. People are like — why are you in fashion? If you look at it historically, it says so much about each period of time. That’s why I really love the whole idea of couture, Christian Dior trying to create like a fantasy during one of the most depressed times that has ever existed, to create something to take people’s minds off the tragedy. So, the whole idea of couture is pure fantasy, like dreams in a way. It is totally not a business, it is about trying to create beauty. Jan-Willem Dikkers: So essentially you are going back to the origin of couture, and instead of looking at the development that other people interpreted and moved forward with, you’re taking your own interpretation from it’s origin. TS: Precisely JWD: And how is that considered? TS: I was very interested in doing something in Paris, because this city has such a love for

fashion. When I showed just the small things that I have done here, it was so much more widely appreciated and understood than it could be in America. America is very much about business. It is all   about moving units, about how many frocks can you sell, how cheaply you can make them and how fast; how you can cheat people as quickly as possible. JWD: And how do you feel about the whole craftsmanship thing that has traditionally become a part of couture? TS: I think it is beautiful, truly beautiful, but I do feel that to take the essence of it and to move forward with it is interesting. We really did hand painting with artists on every single piece of fabric that we used, and it is not possible to duplicate it. JWD: So are you taking a different approach to the craftsmanship? TS: I mean, I do not have the support, I would love to be able to do it exactly properly and even take it further. I do not have a house behind me. I do not have the couturier. So I am trying with what I can. Every piece is hand sewn. We have attempted to truly get to the essence of couture, but probably without the craftsmanship a very fine French house would imply. JWD: How would a house affect the clothes you would make? TS: Who knows what would happen? I just think it would be an incredible support system. It would be excellent because for twelve years previous to this, I was an actress, and I am now even saying that I am a designer, which is really

scary. Usually, I like social engineer better, but I am a designer. I have been designing properly for four years, five years with the birth of Imitation of Christ (which is something very different, I feel it was more of a collective), and then after the first year I did start to design and to produce multiples. JWD: Were the first collections of ‘Imitation’ what couture means to you? TS: Definitely yes. We did everything ourselves, all pieces hand sewn and one of a kind. JWD: So will this couture collection be a one shot? TS: I would love to get the support to do it properly, to do it again. We will see what the future holds. At this point, there are a lot of different possibilities. There is a potential denim licensee agreement that I have, that could move very quickly, and maybe making denim could support doing couture. You know the old Cassavetes style, you do one for them and one for you, and one can serve the other. But right now I am looking for backing  and hopefully will get the support to do things properly. At this point, I have done things, I have been the coolest kid in school, I have done it all really avant-garde, it has been an incredible experience, but I am ready to graduate. It is time to move forward, but I want to keep on doing things a little differently. I showed Spring/Summer when everyone was showing Fall / Winter. It’s

creative expression, that’s the way it makes sense. You don’t have to follow the rules. In every other field I think people do that, and it is celebrated. Breaking the mold is creating a new path and doing something new that is hopefully inspiring. I have a lot of students working for me for free. It would never be possible without them, I am so grateful to all of them. They are excited, and how great is it to be able to excite people that are young and who are starting out? I think that that is the future, right? I really do want to do this and take it seriously. It is incredibly difficult, real hard work, challenging, and fun. JWD: Was there skeptisism about you coming to Paris to show couture? TS: I think it is difficult to come to Paris when you do not follow the form. Like whenever you ask for something, it is very important to say ‘s’il vous plaît’ and ‘merci’. And to not do that is basically giving them the finger, so really I don’t mean to do that. We were not on the calendar, and I’m just somebody that always does things on very short notice. It’s because there is a certain energy in doing something that when everyone joins in, then it all comes together and becomes like a splash. JWD: Did you feel that you were expected you to prove yourself? TS: Of course. Because I think I am doing something that people find offensive. They think I am making fun of something that they work very hard at. It is misinterpreted and confused, because I am not. I am

doing what I can with the means that I have. I really don’t mean to offend anyone. I think you put the ideas on the table, and you can take them or leave them. I think it is more interesting if you look at something than if you don’t. I’m trying to put things out there, and collaborate with people with whom I met and like. Collaboration is like a gift. When I do something creative, I try to incorporate as many things as possible and then it’s not me as much. I feel like, in many ways, it’s like being able to incorporate a lot of ideas that one wouldn’t see otherwise, like struggling artists or whatever. Or even just to put people together in itself, just in a different context. It’s like one feeds the other in a way, you have Chloe Sevigny or ... or people like that who are very celebrated, and then you have people like, say, my brother, who is an artist who just had his first group show in NY. It all balances itself out. You try to put it all out there and hope it will be noticed. I feel like almost eventually I would love to create a kind of association for helping young people with their ideas, and artists and collaborators who can come and ... And also give people the courage to do something then just do it. There are so many people that want to wait for the perfect situation to do something. The perfect situation will never happen. It is never right. So, if you’re starting out, it’s so important to just put it out there. JWD: Do you think it is different to have that approach in Paris than in the States, do you think they are more open in France?

TS: I really think there is an appreciation for beauty in France that does not exist in America. JWD: On one hand it’s harder to break the ice, on the other you find some people more able to appreciate it. TS: It’s more poetic. If you put something poetic out there, they will understand it, it’s their mood. JWD: They’ll understand it, but they will refuse it, whereas in America, they wouldn’t understand it, but they will embrace it. TS: Completely. So that is frustrating, but I also love France so much. It is different here, it’s so romantic. You look down the street, the light, the sky, and every fucking part of the city is inspiring. You’re in a beautiful place, and it has been beautiful for a long time. So the problem is a little bit that there is more complacency. There doesn’t seem to be the same need to make something. If you don’t make

something, you can go to Notre Dame, or to Versailles, or to a cafe, and it will be better than what you could make today. It’s like it’s so beautiful and my great-great-great-grandparents made that so I will just enjoy it and ... work at a restaurant. I feel that the American thing that is good, but is getting ruined now, is risks, of saying let’s do it. And also the feeling, which is a little messed up and egotistical, that I can do it and make it happen. JWD: Would you do show Ready-to-Wear in France? TS: It’s so over crowded! I would get so swallowed up ... JWD: You also have a bit of a dialogue already showing in the US. TS: I feel like they love to hate me in NY. JWD: But they’re waiting to see ... TS: What’s next so we can take her down a little more? It is always exciting to take

the piss out of someone, you know I am an open target, but in a way it is nice because it is where I was born, it’s where I am from. I am a New Yorker, so it’s nice to show there, my family and friends can come and see it. JWD: Is the open target approach part of your fuel? TS: No. I just put myself out there in a big way. If you put yourself out there with ideas and walk around naked, you’re an open target. It is not fuel for me anymore as it used to be. I am still angry, but I feel like now I’m 32 and it’s hard to be punk at 32, I’m ready to be an adult. I feel like I have come to that, I feel like I have done something, I am ready to mature and do something else — and I would like the support to be able to do it in a way where I can advertise — and play the game, have them play the game back with me. I’m really fucking good, and I have a lot of ideas.