Your latest collection has been recently presented at the Lviv Fashion Week. What was it inspired by? Are we going to see the same pieces of clothes in Łódź or are you preparing some new outfits?
The FW 2016/17 collection is called the Shining Square, which refers to the shine and lights of New York but also the sheen of crystals, beads and other fabrics I used as well as squares – checked wools that dominate my collection. My inspiration is multicultural character of New York, the eclectic city spirit, which connects all continents. It is Chinatown-Manhattan and Williamsburg-Brooklyn seen with my eyes, filtered and translated into clothes. The full collection will have its premiere in Łódź. Some clothes will be available on display at my stand in the Fashion Week Showroom.
Trips, shows, over 70 publications in the Polish and international press – there is a lot going on just one year after your graduation. Did you expect it when you suddenly decided to change your life completely and finally devote yourself to fashion four years ago?
I’m very happy with every step forward but it’s just the beginning. I know that I cannot stop and celebrate my success for too long. My goal and my plans reach far beyond that. In order to achieve them I need to work really hard. I’m completely focused on what I’m doing and nothing is more important than that. I love all my duties and I often regret that days are so short and I’m too tired to work more. (laughter)
Having all the experience, what would you tell your younger colleagues who are still to decide what to do in their lives and who, as it was in your case, don’t believe in themselves and their talents?
You cannot be afraid and waste time. The way our life develops depends solely on us. Besides, no risk, no fun!
I always wanted to be a designer. All adults, starting from my family, through neighbours, to a priest who visited our house, looked at me indulgently and said that “life would verify these plans very quickly and that I should study something practical”. At the beginning of the 90’s such an attitude could be understood. Now everything is changing. The world is wide open and finding customers is extremely easy. There’s Internet, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other cool stuff. The whole world is only waiting for us and the things we can offer.
Against all odds, I believe that a success in designing or anything else is not that difficult to achieve. You just have to love doing something so much that you won’t stop doing this regardless of criticism and adversities as well as applaud. You have to be ready to devote all your time to what you do. It’s not even a matter of talent. If I fixed windows every day of my entire life, I would be a master in fixing windows. Apart from the fact that one day I realised that German language, journalism or film were not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and that what I did want was designing clothes, I wasn’t prepared for the profession. If you’re motivated you can learn everything and the key to success is… WORK.
You have to have a clear goal and never give up. If we are to compare ourselves with someone else, it should always be someone who is the best. It’s all about time and being studious. First we should invest and not make money.
You should also be understanding for yourself. Not everything that we do has to be perfect. Sometimes it can be awful. But you cannot stop because even these awful things make us grow. You cannot blame your projects for being immature if you design your first or even fourth collection. We should take things easy. We will learn everything and at some point we will reach the international level and start making money. (laughter). You cannot satisfy everyone. The important thing is to feel that what we do in a given moment in time is the best thing we can do. We don’t stop, we continue to work, we develop, we have requirements towards ourselves and we don’t behave like a diva. Otherwise we will have no friends left! Resting on one’s own laurels and getting lazy is out of fashion! (laughter)
What, apart from the skills, did you learn while studying at SAPU? Which experiences are you using at the moment?
I think that apart from the skills the school was a huge lesson of humbleness and it taught me how to be systematic. If I can remember correctly, during the first semester of the first year there were around 200 students and only 60 of them got their diplomas. SAPU is not a typical school. When I was studying, I partied from Thursday through Sunday and good grades were still not difficult to get. At SAPU I devoted my whole week to the school and I hardly ever went out. It was probably the result of my approach and my ambition – I spent lots of time working on everything and I tried to do it that best way I could. Besides, I had lots of classes and homework, which I think was very good. I wanted really hard to be best at everything and I finished the school with very good grades, much above the average. There were many talented people in my year. Some of them graduated from art or sartorial schools. When I noticed that someone was better than me at something I was very impressed and motivated to get as close to this person’s level as possible, although this person has been gaining experience for many years. In the best possible scenario I wanted to outdo this person. It had nothing to do with unhealthy competition but with testing yourself and setting your targets high. And talking about humbleness – many a time I didn’t manage to do something as good as I would like to. Someone else could do it better without investing so much time and energy. This was a lesson in being humble. I was learning how to cope with failure and focus on constant learning. I’m still learning and I will be doing this all my life.
In the future do you see yourself designing haute couture, theatrical, film or avant-garde clothes in a more everyday version? Or maybe you are thinking about a completely different form of expression?
My collections will definitely vary because I’m open to every idea and trend. (laughter)
For the charity auction at the Journalists’ Ball you designed a dress for Angelina Jolie. Is she one of the celebrities you would like to design for?
Of course! I would be very happy if Angelina wanted to wear my dresses and it would be a great pleasure for me to design a gown for her. However, for me it is not important if my clothes are worn by actresses, lawyers, secretaries or students. From the marketing point of view, it would be best if it was Angelina who wears them but I would like to design clothes for everyone. (laughter) For the charity auction I chose this particular character because for many women she is a hero not only because of her femininity but mainly due to her charity activities and what she did in her fight with cancer. Besides… Angeline Jolie is much easier to draw than Meryl Streep. (laughter)
When does your online shop start? Will it sell clothes and accessories from the collection that won the competition organised by SEAT and FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland? Or is there going to be a completely new collection available?
The shop is my weak point. I planned to launch it last year, then at the beginning of this one and I’m still postponing it… I’m starting to think that I take on too many responsibilities and slowly accept the fact that I will soon have to share my work with someone else. At the moment, my company, Waleria Tokarzewska-Karaszewicz, is a one-person business. I do everything by myself – designing, constructing, sewing and embroidering. What suffer most in this situation are e-mails and contacts with people. There are more and more things to do. There are days when I don’t know what I should do first. But my independence is not caused by paranoia. It’s simply difficult to find a person who would be trustworthy, responsible, with a professional attitude and precise, for whom a given word and deadlines are sacrosanct. A delay in opening my shop is the result of multiplying responsibilities. The shop is practically ready but the problem is that I have no time to send orders. Apart from collections, photo sessions, fashion shows and my work as a stylist I also have individual orders from my clients. I have to organise myself from the start. (laughter)
Shining Square should be available around September, together with clothes and bags from my previous collection. Some of them will be available in 2-4 copies but some only as single pieces.
What I can reveal is that my fifth collection, spring/summer 2017, is ready in my head and I slowly start working on it. I’m not the queen of strategy but I think that logistically I planned this one much better and that more people will be able to buy clothes with my tag. (laughter)
“Shining Square” FW 2016/17 collection by Waleria Tokarzewska-Karaszewicz will be presented on April 23, 2016 at 8.00 p.m. at Expo Łódź – for more information, please visit: 14th edition of the FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland | FB
Official designer’s website: Waleria Tokarzewska-Karaszewicz | FB
Photo © Anna Karahan – Special show of the winner of Seat’s contest Waleria Tokarzewska-Karaszewicz at 13th FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland.
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