But at the same time I’m also a human being; someone with complexes and feelings; someone who has a lot of questions about my name, and I’ve been trying to find something to make it easier on myself for the past year Methods. So, covering my face means I don’t need to care about how I look in photos, on the Internet, or at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s not hiding behind [a mask]; it’s to make it easier to work with the focus, and the spotlight that comes naturally with the work I do. It’s something I have to get used to and learn how to cope on my own. When a brand vision exists, it has an impact: the people behind the vision are put in the spotlight and somehow become part of the celebrity culture, knowingly or not. It’s part of my job, but I don’t feel part of it. It’s something I haven’t really been able to express in the right way, because everyone wants to be famous, but I’m an introvert who really just wants to be in my studio.
The decision regarding my decision to use my name is a very personal and to some extent artistic choice. I just feel like using my name is more appropriate because like wearing a mask, it makes it easier for me to process my position and what it stands for. Sixty percent of the time [my last name] is either mispronounced or misspelled, and I have a little bit of a problem with that, which has to do with my previous project [Vetements]. I want to separate myself from my past career and present myself as a Demna.
How to bring back the emphasis on the craft of creating and making clothes March What will you show and how?
The set of the show will be deliberately simple, so as to focus on the collection and really attract people’s attention. I save it for the essentials: collection, sound, light. I’m so excited about it. It’s more in line with who I am, who I’m becoming, who I’m evolving into. It is also closer to the heritage of the house. We show a lot of clothes, clothes that involve a lot of work.
Can you elaborate on what the collection actually looks like?
This is an evolution. When I worked in fashion, I had a very direct connection to tradition and to Cristóbal’s pieces, which hadn’t quite translated into ready-to-wear. I think the March collection will have a lot of these elements. I want you to be surprised by what you’re going to see, but it’s going to be three parts: one part is actually based on cutting and a lot of experimenting, cutting, deconstructing and rebuilding, which is my foundation in terms of clothing. There’s going to be another part of the job that’s all about silhouettes and really more stylish, very, like, shapes. In the third part, I feel most connected to the heritage of the house, not so much with fashion, because I don’t want to have that overlap, but with the way I see modern elegance. There are definitely things that I don’t think we do much in the ready-to-wear shows.
