TIMUR KIM:14.09 at 5:30 at Vauxhall Fashion

Timur Kim only just graduated from the MA Fashion at Central Saint Martins and already has his own label. Born and raised in St.Petersburg, Kim started his career by showing his first collection at the age of 16 at St.Petersburg Fashion Week. In 2006 the talented designer moved to London to study at Central Saint Martins where he was offered a place at the prestigious MA Fashion course under Louise Wilson. Praised by many for his casual yet elegant denim MA graduation collection, he won the esteemed Chloe award as well as the Pringle of Scotland award – twice. This Friday Kim will be showing his first collection on the LFW catwalk as well as showcasing his collection in both London and Paris.

Interviewed for 1Granary in 2012 – 1Granary would like to thank Timur Kim for a fun interview and we wish him all the best!

Tell us about your new collection: your inspiration, techniques

Oh gosh! There was no such thing as inspiration in the beginning. We just wanted to achieve the pieces we would like to wear and we would like to continue on with the graduation denim-idea but make it like more soft, more elegant in a more fluent way. My CSM A/W 12 graduate collection focuses on bringing sophistication, wear-ability, and modernity together. I like denim, because of the texture, I tried to achieve more with this new collection. To me the denim print is how I see denim, in real life. In my new collection the denim is more fluid, the way I want to see denim.

Basically my new collection is a progression on my graduate denim-based collection, but more accessible.

Also, somehow I found a picture of these old eighties trousers with loads of patchworks. We copied the idea of the trousers but instead used vintage denim and made it new, simple, easy and bold. This picture was the starting point and we just went further with inventing stuff. I was thinking about how we could mix denim and make weird mixes, it was then that I came up with the printed denim on silk and the patchwork on silk. I mixed these prints up with lace to make it all look unexpected.

Please tell us more about the lace prints

The prints are based on my Russian roots, the prints are old vintage Russian orthodox lace prints. I like the brutalness of the Russian lace. It is not really gentile like fragile lace it is quite stiffened and brutal. Furthermore I chose for the camouflage print to make it even more brutal.

What is your favourite piece from your new collection?

I really like the printed denim stuff.

What is the name for the show?

I don’t create a name for the collection, that’s outdated. It’s not about the name but about the pieces.

Do you have a muse? What ‘kind’ of women are you designing for?

My work is not about age, it’s about attitude. Women are all different but I have in mind the cool young girl who wants to be elegant. But I think my clothes can be accessible to anyone. Although this collection is more for the young girl.

What do you have in mind for your next collection, any ideas yet?

We will move away from denim, in a more fluid way. No more blue, my next collection is going to be slightly different. More weird textile combinations definitely, transforming the textile. I had some ideas for the new collection… But I am not going to tell you!

Can you tell us about CSM? How did you get into Central Saint Martins?

I didn’t now CSM until I was 16. But one of my friends from NY went to CSM and she told me about it. Also, I did some research and found it amazing to see the famous CSM alumni. Most of the talented people in the fashion industry are graduated from CSM so then I really wanted to go as well.

I didn’t know anything about the MA Fashion and Louise Wilson. Only when I got into the BA I started to admire Louise Wilson and her work in the MA course. I became fascinated with the MA graduates and their coolness and quality of work. So from my first year in the BA I always wanted to go to the MA.

How did you get into the MA Fashion eventually?

Basically, I went to the interview with Louise Wilson in my final BA year even before I graduated. I showed her my BA collection and my work from Russia, that I was able to make a collection, that I am able to work hard and know the industry. Louise Wilson did not say anything about my work, she just looked at it but I got in on the same day.

What is the most important thing you learned at CSM?

There are no rules! You can do whatever you want as long as it looks good. And it does not really mather how you approach things, how you get things done. Who cares?! It just has to look beautiful in the end, no one cares what happened in the middle.

Do you keep in contact with the other MA students?

Yes off course, we all try to stay in contact.

Did you always wanted to become a designer?

No! First I wanted to be an architect, then I wanted to be a doctor, then I wanted to be an engineer, then again I wanted to be a doctor and eventually a designer.

Are there any designers you admire?

I like New York designers, all the newcomers like Altuzarra. They have this drive which we can’t achieve in London because we are quite stuck with the same things here, we cannot move forward from this British style that is dominating in London. The British style is quite repetitive. In NY they’re just doing cool clothing. To me New York is good, hard work but original. The collections in NY are cool yet wearable.

What are your future plans, after this collection.

I want to get sales. It has to be commercial. Like we are not doing art, if I wanted to do art I would go to the fine art. My work is more of a mixture between art and the commercial stuff, it should be wearable. I am doing the product. I want to dress women not to dress stands. You can’t be a designer these days without sales, because you need to work and to pay and need a financial background. I tried to find a sugar daddy, believe me I tried, but they are all morons!

Was it always you dream to create your own label?

If you would have asked me this question six months ago I would have said ‘yes I want my own brand’, but now it is not that important to me to stick my name to the pieces. It is more about feeling yourself at the right place doing the right things.

Did you ever considered working for a brand?

If someone would offer me a really cool position as a design director I would go, it’s easy to work for a brand, you can do anything you want. If it’s going to be a good position, then yes I would go.

What is your ultimate dream?

I don’t know what I want, at the moment I am just doing what I know. We’ll see, you never know: there is no plan!

Images source: http://www.timurkim.com and 1Granary.com