27 Jan 2010, Posted by admin in 20 Questions,Fashion, 0 Comments

20 Questions With The Blonds

Job Title: Creative Director of The Blonds

Carter Cramer: Just by looking at you and your partner/co-designer Phillipe Blond, it’s obvious that you’re both larger-than-life characters. Tell me a little about who the Blonds are, and what your brand stands for

David Blond: Well, we didn’t set out to become these characters of ourselves, but it is a personal sort of thing that we’ve come into. The way we feel about fashion is, it’s an outward expression and has to do with what you think of yourself and how you see yourself. You can tell a lot about a person from the outside, and the clothes they wear. Our clothes help people express themselves and become someone else for the night, or reinforce themselves, like a little show girl, or whatever girl you want to be

CC: You described yourself as having become a character. Would you say you’re half designer, half performer?

DB: Most people in this industry do become caricatures of themselves because it’s all about the exterior and what that exterior [looks like]. You naturally cultivate these exaggerated images of yourself. You have a part that you play, and it’s really not on purpose

CC: What were you and Phillipe like growing up?

DB: I think that one of the things we both have in common is our attraction to animation, movies, and that we both played with Barbie—obviously. We both are and always [have been] dreamers—very creative, always doing something artistic in nature. We were both into shoes growing up. We’d run around in our mom’s shoes. My mom had this one particular pair, which I loved—a wooden wedged-heel that was carved, like a sculpture. I loved that shoe

CC: And what’s your background? How did you get into fashion?

DB: I studied merchandising at a school in Florida—the International Fine Arts College, then decided to move to New York, did visual merchandising with Macy’s and Saks [Fifth Avenue], working predominantly on window displays. Phil grew up in New York City—after moving here from Puerto Rico—attended FIT, did freelance fashion work—mostly sketching—and freelance makeup artistry. Then Phillipe and I met, and it having [a label] was something we wanted to try, and he was already doing fashion illustration, so once we got together we decided to launch the line

CC: Tell me a bit about how you two met

DB: We met in New York—and it’s kind of a funny story. We were both at this club that neither of us would ever have been at normally, the Roxy, but we were. And I used this really lame pickup line on him. I asked if he was a dancer, because I was out with all these kids who were from the ballet, and just assumed he was one of them. And so we’ve [been together] for eight years now

CC: What’s it like working with your boyfriend, being together both intimately and in a working environment each day?

DB: Sometimes it’s amazing, sometimes it’s very challenging—to put it politely! I think when we disagree creatively, or on any work issues, it has a tendency to seep into our personal life. It’s hard to compartmentalize what happens in the work place and not bring it home

CC: Do you think you and Phillipe will get married?

DB: Yes, I think so—at some point. But the way I feel about gay marriage and that issue is that I’m not going to go that route until it’s legalized in all the states. In order for it to be real you don’t need a piece of paper, but I definitely think we will once it is legal

CC: Where in New York do you and Phillipe currently reside?

DB: The East Village—we love it there. We’ve been in this area for about three years now, but when I first moved to New York I did a stint in Brooklyn, but then came back to the East Village. I feel it’s really inspiring in this neighborhood, and it has a different vibe. There are so many types of people in this one neighborhood, which is like all of New York City really, but there is definitely a unique aspect to this area. You’ve got these great Lolita kids running around, and girls coming down from wherever trying to be all Sex and the City—it’s just really diverse. There’s always a movie being shot, or photo shoots going on—it’s great

CC: Can you tell me about some of the particular looks we saw during your spring 2009 runway show this past September?

DB: We have a tendency to get inspired by music, and that’s the basis of this last collection. When we were in [the creation process], we were listening to a lot of Donna Summer and Pink Floyd, so the palette came from Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon,” mixed with [Summer’s] disco-nightlife feel. Basically, we want our wearer to look good in her outfit and have the best night ever

CC: What’s a typical day like for you both?

DB: Nothing typical ever really happens. Our schedule is all over the place, which is what I prefer. I prefer how each day is different, and without a routine. Today I was working on an Ecco Domani sponsorship application, and everything was happening at the last minute, with a deadline of five pm. So that’s actually what I was doing before you called. We’re also working on a project with Pat Fields and Absolut, for the unveiling of their holiday bottle. We’re supplying the costumes and looks that will be on display for the launch

CC: You say you primarily create and outsource costumes?  For whom or what have you created pieces?

DB: We’ve done costumes for Madonna, Beyoncé, Fergie, Rihanna. For Rihanna we did her look for Fashion Rocks, the corset, and for Fergie we did the corset she wore in the MAC campaign, with all the metal chains. [Corsets] are our specialty, and what we’re known for I guess

CC: What makes your corsets noteworthy in the industry?

DB: The fact that they are always different and unique, handmade, one of a kind, and completely different in their own way. We take a lot of pride in their detail, and the corsets are something in particular that Phillipe and I do ourselves, exclusively. We don’t have anyone else involved in that. It’s extremely labor intensive. Once we get past the base garment there is the embellishment, which is a layering process that can take anywhere from two to six weeks—from sourcing the materials to actually completing the garment. For Madonna we did a lot of black leather with white lacing, and something that had a wrestling belt but with Swarovski crystals

CC: What do you draw upon for inspiration when designing a collection?

DB: Art, film, music, animation. And Phil gets a lot of inspiration from his shoe collection

CC: Tell me about the shoe collection!

DB: It’s predominantly Louboutins, and they take up almost a whole room in our apartment. He has upward of 150 pairs of Christian Louboutins, and then a bunch more from other designers. We actually worked with Louboutin for the last two seasons for our footwear. Phillipe never goes below five inches

CC: Do you and Phillipe have any style icons?

DB: There are so many women who inspire us. I think in particular it’s Betty Davis, Marilyn Monroe—any of the woman from that era of Hollywood. And then Cher, of course. Today there are women like Kylie Minogue and Madonna—I hate to say that because it’s so cliché, but it’s true. Diana Ross, too, and Rihanna right now

CC: Other than yourself, who are some of your favorite current or past designers?

DB: We admire Thierry Mugler and Bob Mackie. Today—Versace, [Roberto] Cavalli, Rodarte, Gareth Pugh. They all have a strong aesthetic and a great point of view. I enjoy seeing anyone who pushes the envelope

CC: Where in New York do you like to hang out?

DB: The Cock! No, I’m kidding! We don’t really have a place. Well—Café Orlin. We’re there almost every day for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We used to hang out at Spa back in the day

CC: Where is the Blonds line heading?

DB: I think we will expand with eveningwear, then ready-to-wear and accessories. It’s all up in the air, and we’re not sure what to expect, but we’re ready. We want to be a major lifestyle brand. I’d like to create a lifestyle for people to enjoy and be a part of. I can’t describe that lifestyle in one word, but Phil always says, ‘you don’t have to be blonde to be Blond’—that’s his quote.  Because people are always asking if Blond is for blondes, or do blondes have more fun? But it doesn’t matter, because it’s about having fun and living your life in the way you choose, and being free to make your own choices

CC: You two had a show recently during fashion week. Tell me about it

DB: Yes—it was at the Altman building.  And the story behind the show was about music. We had just seen a show by Joey Arias, who’s a performance artist who sings and sounds like Billie Holiday. He does this show with this guy, and it’s about a woman being abducted by aliens and mutated into this Amazonian creature. So we decided that the “girl” of our spring ‘09 collection was an alien who fell to earth as a blond, and happens to fall into a great party in to the middle New York City. So the girls [in the show] were really robotic and had these long blond wigs. It was like this army of blonds

CC: Lastly, how did you come to spell your line, the Blonds, without an ‘e’?

DB: When we originally tried to name the line, we went through so many different possibilities, and we started looking around and seeing what was in front of us, and blondes and words pertaining to blondes seemed to be everywhere.  Plus we were both bleaching our hair, so we chose that name and dropped the “e” because that’s how the masculine version is spelled—without an “e”

–Carter Cramer