Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana

Read the interview with an exceptional talent in Millinery: Alexandra Gold. For those who want investigate this particular branch of fashion or those who are always looking to be marveled. Watch out for September's Fashion Weeks!

Q. How would you define your work?

A. I think of my most recent collection as urban luxury. As a designer I look to find a new role for millinery and  accessories. I try to combine luxury with youth. 

A lot of millinery tends to be very "lady" but that is not very me. Instead I prefer to think about attitude but with a sense of playfulness thrown in there. 

 

Q. When and why did you first start getting interested in Millinery?

A. My interest in Millinery developed over a period of time. I used to be a makeup artist so working with the face was already a natural instinct for me. Designing hats was really just an extension of that. I started playing around with ideas and it grew from there. I enrolled on a course and then went on to work for designers such as Noel Stewart, Philip Treacy and Stephen Jones before doing my MA at royal college of art in London.

 

Q. What has been the one single piece you did that gave you the most satisfaction?

A. I have to say it is my graduate collection as a whole. There are certain pieces that I am more sentimental about than others but the greatest satisfaction was seeing it all together on the runway. I decided that this time I wanted to create the whole look from head to toe so I also designed and made the clothes along with other  accessories like gloves. Seeing exactly what had been living in my head in action was the best feeling.

Q. What are your current or future projects?

A. At the moment I am working on a collaboration with a pretty big company here in London. we are currently preparing pieces for there upcoming show for London Fashion Week. 

Q. Where do you get your inspiration from?

A. When I design a collection I usually start by thinking of the person or character I would like to see wearing it. I often like the idea of a bad girl in a nice place but the last collection was perhaps more about a posh girl trying to look a bit more street. The use of horse tail hair and fur along with the play on baseball caps came from this.

I am often inspired by subculture of the past and present. In particular I like to look at the way young men dress within these groups. Often when I think that when a women looks best in a hat she is usually wearing a man's hat. Music also inspires me a lot. Every collection has a soundtrack to it somehow.

Q. What do you think of fashion, is it something to use, abuse, or be used by?

A. Fashion should be whatever you want it to be. For me it is a way of getting the ideas out of my head and hopefully onto someone else's. the problem is the word fashion is so ill defined. I prefer to think about style and design. To me these are very separate from trend in that they are timeless. 

I also believe in quality. A lot of fashion seems to revolve around immediate gratification, people buying poor quality because they want it now and as much as they can get. I prefer to wait, buy less and love it forever.

Swide's 5 Q&A:

fur or feather? Fur all the way. It is the sensuous of all materials. My graduate collection was sponsored by the Kopenhagen Fur company.
comedy or drama? Comedy and drama are often the same thing in my experience.

to hide or to seek?Seek. Hiding never works anyway.
create or destroy? Naturally I would say to create but sometimes to create something truly unique or special you can not be afraid to destroy.
hats or fascinators? Hats. Without a doubt

Interview by Acelya Yonac

 

For private sales of Alex Gold's creations please contact: gold_alexandra@yahoo.com  

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