Charlotte Collard interviews Barbara Martelo

If you don't know her yet, you have to know that Barbara is one of the most stylish lady! Usually running with your favorite Balmain jacket or jeans, the stylish woman is certainly more than aware about fashion and must haves! She wear them all and makes you want them all!

I have to say... Barbara is certainly a blogger's must have! And what I adore about her is that she doesn't taker herself too seriously. She is such a nice person and she will never make you feel uncomfortable. She is HUMAN and I think it is the most important.

CC: Barbara, tell us a bit more about your childhood, how did you grow up and what were your parents doing ?
BM: I was born in Madrid,when I was very young my familly moved to La Coruña in the North of Spain where I went to School and when I became 18 I moved back to Madrid to study Law and I´ve lived there since then. My father is a plastic surgenon and my mother is a nurse

CC: Was fashion a destiny or you made it all came true? tell us how you got into the fashion world.
BM: I graduated in Law and started working in the Legal Department of Inditex(owners of Zara)but really it was through a series of coincidences that I ended up working in fashion which had always been MY hobby. My first job was as a fashion editor at Telva magazine.At the time,the most popular fashion publication in Spain.Although it didn´t represent my view,it did give me the opportunity to enter in the fashion world and the most important to attend to the fashion shows. After 6 years I joined Spanish Vogue and three years latter(after I gave birth to my twins)I became freelance. Now I work for Spanish Vogue,El Pais and the best multibrand store in Madrid called Ekseption.

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Panos Yiapanis - Interview

The Man in Black.

by Dean Mayo Davies
Panos Yiapanis is the stylist who injected subculture and emotion into high fashion during the late 90’s and early 00’s, building him into a cult for both pensive teens and insightful, progressive designers such as Raf Simons and Helmut Lang in the process. Ponystep was privileged enough to engage in an email dialogue with the Camden-dwelling, globe-trotting creative. The end results are bathed in honesty, incisiveness and humility, showcasing how Yiapanis’ mind is every bit as sharp as his eye.

Having worked with every major label that matters - yes, including Chanel haute couture - Panos today occupies a further cult: that of the stylist’s stylist, respected (and demanded by) the editors that matter, including Jefferson Hack, Stephen Gan, Jo-Ann Furniss and Katie Grand. As well as designers like Rick Owens and Riccardo Tisci. And that effervescent icon, Courtney Love. It’s no surprise to learn then that his work, whilst retaining its vital intensity, has pushed forward consistently to develop into something more complex. Put simply, the iron fist is now free to play with a velvet glove. And sheathed or not, it packs a punch.

Dean Mayo Davies: Your work has a very precise vision. Instead of doing shoots which look dramatically different from each other every time (like some other stylists), you have an agenda which you mould your models to - they all look like part of the same gang. You make fashion uniform, make it work for you to tell your story. Was this a conscious choice from the beginning, or was it something that evolved?
Panos Yiapanis: Nothing was conscious, especially in the beginning. If anything, it was naïve, in that I came into this job not really knowing what it was I was doing. The images, especially in the beginning, were more a reflection of myself and my surroundings. So if that resulted in creating a sartorial uniform, it did not originally stem from some sense of visual integrity but more from the fact that, in all honesty, it’s all I could do. I never had that wealth of knowledge of fashion history to draw upon or reference. It’s almost taken me the better half of a decade to fully embrace and come to terms with the fact that my limitations and inexperience were my biggest assets. Obviously as my career progressed and evolved I found myself searching for external sources of inspiration, outside my personal experiences and to this day that probably has been the hardest challenge. Finding that ability to develop and expand your vocabulary without drastically changing your aesthetic.

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An old Alexander Wang interview

Alexander Wang on, erm, Alexander Wang.

Tuesday night saw Selfridges, the legendary London department store, hit yet another fashion high. After last week’s ‘meet and greet’ with Jeremy Scott, the iconic store stepped things up a gear with the latest instalment of Colin McDowell’s renowned ‘In Conversation’ series. The designer in question was Alexander Wang - the young Chinese/American who seems unable to put a foot wrong.

Indeed, in these times of economic crisis his business is something of an enigma, with sales skyrocketing. His accessories have become the most coveted ‘must haves’ around, and more importantly, genuinely affordable. At just 25 years old the boy is something of a fashion prodigy, already heading up a team of 40 staff at his NY studio. And it’s growing. Wang’s fashion empire consists of much more than merely his Women’s line. Versatility (a recurring sound bite throughout the interview) is fundamental to the success of his label. And versatile he is, with a GAP collaboration already firmly under his belt, a newly unveiled Men’s collection and the T diffusion line all proving to be massively successful, the question prevails; what next for Alexander Wang? Over to you Colin…

CM: Those of you who read poetry when you were a child probably know of the quote by American poet Longfellow: ‘Youth is lovely, age is lonely’. Well, I don’t feel particularly lonely, especially not tonight, with all these people around me. Though I am very conscious that we have lovely youth here (points to Alexander). (To Alexander) This afternoon, I went through all of the people I have interviewed and you are the youngest, you are definitely the youngest! I'm very thrilled because you are the hottest star at the moment and everyone is the room is quite as excited about you as they are in America. He’s just so young, it’s incredible. (Audience laughs). You are in fact twenty-five, is that right?

AW: Yes. Twenty-five.


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Martyn Bal - Part 3

Martyn Bal. Fashions new superstar.

Martyn Bal May Not Be A Name Familiar To Most, But Sit Up And Take Note. This Is A Designer That Means Business. From His Razor Sharp Tailoring, To His Astute Business Mind, Bal Is Already Making Waves In The Illustrious World Of Menswear. Ladies And Gents, Introducing Mr Martyn Bal...

Despite the fact that he looks about 17 years old, Martyn Bal has had something of a rocky ride over the last decade. Ten years ago, while still in school, he went to work with Dirk Bikkembergs, before leaving four years later to join the RCA and work on special projects with legendary Italian fashion dragon Mila Schön. He graduated in 2000 straight into Dior Homme, where he worked under Hedi Slimane on a kind of re-branding project that you might have heard of, and then went on to have a bash at reinventing Verri Uomo, only to find himself thwarted by the actual mafia. Well, nearly the actual mafia. Unperturbed, he took a job at Versace, before finally coming back to London to run the menswear division of Burberry under Christopher Bailey. Now, he has emerged with his own brand, made up of tough but sophisticated menswear - quilted leather jackets, sharp trousers, and interesting knits - which he has been quietly toiling away on for the last three seasons. Unsurprisingly, he’s got a fair bit to talk about.

Isaac Lock: So this is your third season on your own?

Martyn Bal: Unofficially, yes. The first two collections for me were really to just build up the relationships and understand where I wanted to go. I just wanted to give it time before I communicated and sold anything. I needed to build up the relationships with factories in Italy, do all of the research, so I think for me the latest collection, the winter, is definitely a nice platform to work from, and to take it from there.


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Hedi Slimane - Interview

Hedi Slimane has a new photo exhibit, Perfect Stranger, at Galerie Almine Rech in Paris. Dean Mayo Davies caught up with the designer-photographer-philosopher-groupie—who defined the millennial zeitgeist for so many—to discuss his snappy ways, his post-Dior days and how the journey must, and will, continue. You heard it here first...

What's the concept of the new show? What can we expect?
It started with a commission from a Spanish contemporary art museum called MUSAC, together with indie-rock festival Benicàssim, which I documented extensively this year.

And the title, Perfect Stranger?
The recognition of a total stranger in a crowd—like a déjà vu, a movie close-up or the description of a character in a novel. I've spent my life documenting perfect strangers. It is also about the construction of an icon, the making of faith and the illusion of community—therefore, the illusion of the live performance and its promises.

Is curating a solo show more challenging than a group show, such as Sweet Bird of Youth?
I am not really into group shows, I have to say. I only did them because they were kindly proposed. They are only interesting to me when it is a full commission of new works, which is difficult to achieve, and there is the same level of commitment and consistency among the artists. Solo shows are more straight-forward. I can keep working on them until the last minute without any kind of personal issue.


Rest of the Interview

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