The Best Advices By The Fashion Legend

Entering a fashion industry has always been like entering in some fairy-tale cave where you need to know the password: “Open Sesame!” And the rules to survive in this jungle have become even more severe in the 21 century: The more diversity — the more creative ideas, the more crisis — the more restrictions… Big data era enabled each and every creative individual to express herself and reach her voice to the rest of the world, increasing the competition in its turn. So what “passwords” did the successful figures in the fashion game possess that made them be where they are? And what mistakes did the talented designers make that never let them reach the top?

As a Beaumonde Magazine Georgia’s special representative at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi, I had an opportunity to meet a number of highly-praised figures in the fashion world, speak to them and ask some personal questions. Let me share those to you, maybe you can find them useful for your career?

Late Hervé Peugnet became famous with his iconic “bondage” dresses under the name of Hervé Léger. He told me his personal story in 2016 when we sat down between the shows at the Museum of Modern Art Tbilisi. His story is a very humane story with lots of disappointments and difficulties: At some point, he lost everything, including is eponymous brand but managed to stand up and start a new life at the age of 43. What was the reason for the failure? “Well, I never listened to Karl Lagerfeld’s advice, when he told me: Never ever start business with your own money!” — He said.

For those who want to hear the real story behind the label of Hervé Léger, I would like to share the fragments from my interview at Beaumonde Magazine Georgia:

Hervé Peugnet was born in 1957 in the Northern France. He started studying the Sculpture and History of Art in Paris in 1975 but quit soon to work as a stylist and a craftsman of hats.

Meeting With Karl:
Peugnet met Karl Lagerfeld in 1981 to start working as his personal assistant for the Fendi fashion maison in Rome. That meeting was a big turn in his destiny: He soon was transferred to Paris, to continue his career for Chanel.

In 1984 he opened his own boutique to sell hats and dresses and the legendary name Hervé Léger was born: Lagerfeld recommended to think of some easy-to-pronounce name for his target groups — Americans were likely to find pronouncing surname Peugnet quite hard. (Another wise advice by Karl: Mark it down!) Personal brand was launched in 1985, though he simultaneously assisted Maryll Lanvin for Lanvin’s Haute Couture shows, creating jewelry for Daniel Swarovski and Charles Jourdan as well.

The Bondage Dress

The worldwide success came in 1994, when he launched his iconic “Bondage Dress”. Peugnet went beyond creative in 1995–97 having started working for theatre scene as well: He became quite close with Roland Petit — a choreographer and owner of the ballet company, together with the French dancer Zizi Jeanmaire. During these years, he created costumes for Marseille Zenith amphitheater and a number of Zizi’s performances at Bercy; For the ballet performance named Camera Obscura at the Palais Garnier Opera and for le Lac des Cygnes (Swan Lake) staged by Roland Petit in Marseille.

1999 was a year of great disappointments: Peugnet lost his rights for the Hervé Léger brand that was purchased by the BCBG MAXAZRIA Group. As a result, he had to work for Wolford on prêt-à-porter apparel, hosiery and swimwear.

The New Beginning
In only a year, Peugnet decided to prove that his inspiration was endless and failures and obstacles needed to be left behind. And he did it! Fashion industry soon got a new name: Hervé L. Leroux and Madeleine Castaing’s mysterious studio on St.Germain resurrected as a fashion house. Iconic draped costumes made of jersey soon conquered the world and new silhouettes were born.

— Why did you quit your studies at the age of 20?
I wanted to leave my parents’ house and start my independent life.

— You started your fashion career as a hat designer. What factors made you interested only in women’s dresses?
Well, at some point, I worked as a stylist as well, before having started sculpturing hats. Hat making on the other hand is quite close to sculpting and making a dress — you need to feel the material and know how it reacts on heat, how it transforms its shapes. I never know what I am going to create with a new material until I experiment a lot, sometimes I just put it aside and choose some new medium…

— Tell me about the iconic “bondage” dresse.
It is all about knitwear technique: An ordinary fabric does not allow us to experiment a lot, while with knits, you can get 3 different shapes or patterns at the same time.

— What advice do you often give to your interns?
Well, I myself, did not listen to Karl and regretted it: You know what? Money always is a problem! When you have it and when you don’t have it :) I always tell my interns to listen to their dreams and make art as long as they really desire. If you really want to achieve something, you will get it, at the right time, based on hard work for sure. So I always recommend they set only one goal — to succeed and work hard for it; You must be able to turn last night’s disappointment into an opportunity today! Fashion business is very similar to art business: People are jealous of you and many of them will not give you the right advice. So the only advice to survive is to enjoy what you are doing.

— Why did you choose French antiques dealer and interior designer — Madeleine Castaing’s studio in particular?
Actually, my sister found it. We were looking for a place where I could tell my new story of my career and it was the right match! My sister discovered it quite by chance, while strolling on St.German. She was inspired by its tiny, cozy atmosphere and convinced the owner to sell the place to us. It really appeared to be as mysterious as Madeleine herself, no-one know about her life really.

— As a woman body admirer yourself, how do you perceive the deconstructed oversize trend that reigns nowadays?
I hate most of it! That is too boring. 80% of today’s designers follow that style and that seems so cheap to me, not harmonized with human body shape. I am a diverse person and praise diversity, for example, I enjoy seeing a woman in a white T, jeans and boots — this style underlines body shapes better then the later.

— What do you think about the modern Haute Couture?
That is not an Haute Couture at all… Only few houses actually still do that, Chanel and Dior among them… Haute Couture entails a very high quality technique that sadly does not exist anymore, so this concept is slowly dying…

— Do you still work for opera or ballet performances?
Oh, no, that’s so boring! Plus, the dancers always complain they can’t move freely… I did actually a couple of times but absolutely do not have any desire to do anymore…

— What made you become interested in drapes after so tight “bondage” shapes?
Drapes give you unlimited possibilities, you are never restricted in any shape this way.

— What is your favorite color at the moment?
To be honest, hard to say… Earlier, I was fond of black, and now I became inspired by blue and indigo colors. I actually achieved quite interesting results by mixing some colors, for example, one dress can look absolutely different in different light. As a result, I prefer the colors that have many shades and seem different in the dark and in the light.

— Where does your inspiration come from?
From my inner personality. I observe lots of photos but not the ones depicting costumes and stuff… I never look at my older works or other artists’ paintings either, I just search deep into myself. In general, I’d perceive myself as someone who always tries to discover something new into himself…

1 — Never start a business with your own money! According to Karl Lagerfeld. Young Peugnet never followed it and regretted.
2 — Follow your heart, not the routine.
3 — Choose the brand name wisely and make sure it will soon become catchy.
4 — Work for successful fashion houses first and gain experience before you start your own.
5 — Don’t always listen to other people’s advices unless you are 100% sure they desire all the best for you.
6 — Be brave and use your disappointments to drive you to success!

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