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Designers /Christopher Kane
SHAREAt just 26 years-old, Christopher Kane has already had five highly acclaimed shows at London Fashion Week and been described as one of the brightest stars of British fashion. Thea Garland meets the designer in Paris to talk cartoons, gorillas and sex appeal.
As I round the narrow, cobbled streets of the Marais in Paris, dotted with its cool boutiques, stylish cafés and galleries, I wonder what kind of man can take The Flintstones, Planet of the Apes and a little of Raquel Welch, (circa One Million Years B.C.) and come up with one of the most talked about collections of London Fashion Week. That man is Christopher Kane and his show, dominated by semicircular geometric cutting in leather and organza, bubble-gum bright cashmeres, marabou trimming on chiffon and digital prints of gorillas, was certainly a hark back to the prehistoric. In the most modern and sexy context, that is.
I find ‘Team Kane’ tucked away on the quaint rue du Bourg Tibourg, just down the road from the renowned Mariage Frères, the holy grail of tea and all things delicious. Kane is installed in his showroom, clad in black, clearly tired from a relentless few weeks, but happy to talk.
“I don’t know how the inspiration came, I just had words in my head. The first thing that came to me was ‘prehistoric’. I always loved dinosaurs as a child, then I got to thinking about the Flintstones and Bamm Bamm and bright, bubblegum colours, then I’m thinking One Million Years B.C. with Raquel Welch. I went home that night and Gorillas in the Mist with Dian Fossey was on and I was like “wow!” and it kind of went from there.”
This never-ending succession of thoughts and inspiration from film has been one of Kane’s driving forces from the beginning, with references in previous collections to Gone with the Wind, The Silence of the Lambs and Carrie. But Kane pushed the notion of “cave girl on the run” to new heights for SS 09, with Lara Stone opening his show, the “busty and beautiful” Raquel Welch of the day.
Running with the prehistoric theme were the show-stopping ‘stegosaurus’ shoes and an obsession with scales which evolved into the scalloped shapes that were evident everywhere. When I press him on this he explains that this was also born out of a desire to create a new sleeve.
“I played with the shape, knowing I wanted to use the idea of scales. I know people have done scallops in the past but they don’t own it. I wanted to put my imprint on it, do something different.” This concept of ownership of an idea is something that comes up a number of times in the course of our interview. Kane has produced some of the most directional clothes seen at London Fashion Week since he began just five seasons ago, and is quite defiant about authenticity and creating something that is unique. “I don’t want to be seen as a copy cat,” he says. “I am really aware of that. There are so many ‘Jack the Rippers’ out there. When I’m watching a show, I’m like, how can you possibly get away with doing that? And yet no one even comments on it.”
On the same note, he is loath to be compared to other designers. When I mention that in the past his collections have echoed those of the ‘King of Cling’, Azzedine Alaïa, he protests that he didn’t even know who Alaïa was at that stage. “I’d heard of him in Clueless,” he says smiling. “But he doesn’t own that skirt – it’s just too bad, you can’t take ownership over a skirt or a fabric. Now I love Alaïa, what he does is phenomenal but back then I wasn’t even aware of him or his work.” When we talk about some of the big fashion houses, he is staggered that they can ever produce a bad collection. “I mean with all that money, all those resources, when you have 400 people on knitwear alone you could do anything you wanted. Here we are (referring to his small team working in London’s East End) and we still produce something different each year.”
And that he does. When he had barely finished his MA at the prestigious Central Saint Martins College, Anna Wintour invited him to a meeting that set in motion a trip to Milan to meet Donatella Versace. Sitting backstage, chatting away while she was getting her makeup done was nothing short of “amazing” for Kane.
“Donatella is an incredible woman, really glamorous and sophisticated,” he effuses. This, however, did not stop him from turning down the offer of a job at Versace headquarters; he was adamant that he wanted to work on his own label, but does now consult for them from time to time. He raves about the Versace archive and suggests that it is the only fashion house that he might like to work for one day, but that is a “long way off.”
Kane seems to understand women, particularly the strong, sexy, “ballsy” type. He adores Carine Roitfeld and everything about Paris Vogue. “It’s so sexual, there’s an energy, a prowess about it.” And then there’s Miuccia Prada, who he has always loved for her “incredible style.” Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons is also near the top of his list. “I’ve always admired Rei, she is a true thinker who challenges conventions.”
Looking over at the racks of garments, it’s hard to dispute Kane’s talent, even under the pressure of needing to cement his identity as more than just a creative force who can come up with something new each season. “Pressure is good,” he assures me. “It keeps you on the straight and narrow, makes you want to work even harder and achieve more.” Work ethic is certainly something Kane has in spades. Maybe it’s a result of his Scottish upbringing. He is the youngest of five children and credits his parents with instilling in him an understanding of the merit of hard work. Best pal and older sister Tammy, herself a designer, is also Kane’s business partner and he praises her for much of his success. “She helps with everything, running the financial side of the business, creating fabrics, ideas, designs. We’ve always lived and worked together. We are a team... we share everything.”
He is passionate about his home country, Scotland, and talks about growing up there and the arrival of satellite TV as a teenager. “We were the first family on the street to get satellite. I remember watching Fashion TV, CNN Style, The Clothes Show and it was like ‘aha’. I grew up being a really creative child but I didn’t really know what a fashion designer was, that they even existed before then.” As the likes of Gianni Versace, Thierry Mugler and Helmut Lang trotted out their wares down the runway, Kane became obsessed. “It was then that I started to draw dresses.” He cites Galliano’s graduation show as the moment he knew he wanted to go to Central Saint Martins and become a designer, “I knew I had to go there. I wanted it so badly even then.”
Although Kane seems to be taking his meteoric rise in his stride, I wonder if, even with the unbridled determination and focus that is so much a part of him, he is at times taken aback by how fast it all happened. I get a hint of this when he talks about designing costumes for the “adorably lovely” Kylie Minogue.
“It was insane, there she was jumping around in my dress like some kind of little Tinker Bell,” he says with almost a touch of disbelief. This is one of qualities that make Kane so incredibly likeable. Despite the almost constant acclaim from the fashion world and with the likes of Chloë Sevigny and Kate Moss wanting to wear his dresses, Kane is stunningly down to earth. Measured, with a wonderfully quiet confidence, there is a humility about him. “At the end of the day, it’s me and Tammy, back at our flat in Hackney. It’s a business, there’s no ivory tower.”
With a store opening in New York in early 2009, for the unstoppable Christopher Kane, I have a feeling these are just the opening scenes.
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