Diane Pernet│BIG SEE Inspirational Visionary Award 2018

Portrait: Mitja Bokun

Meta Megušar Bizjan, the award curator:

A very exceptional and an unusual person, a greatly admired and mysterious fashion icon who is on the list of the 500 most influential people in the world of fashion – this is Diane. Besides having a degree in film directing she is also a fashion journalist (Vogue, Elle, Joyce…), a blogger, a fashion designer, a costume designer, a fashion icon, a versatile artist, and a curator. She has been awarded numerous important international awards and she is a witty, black-dressed angel of fashion world.

She was the first fashion blogger in the world (A Shaded View on Fashion) in times when Google and Facebook were still in their infancy. She is a founder of the first fashion film festival (A Shaded View on Fashion Film) by which she linked fashion design with other art categories. The visionary soul of the “mother of all bloggers”, as she has been named, is characterized by blurring the boundaries between the important and the unimportant ones in the world of fashion. The only thing she is interested in is quality. She has snatched away the door key from the dark guardians of fashion world and allowed free access to information and international cooperation for fashion designers throughout the world. Her unbiased writing and creative activities have had a considerable impact on many young, successful Southeast European designers.

Portrait: Mitja Bokun

Photo credits: Miguel Villalobos, Peter Lippmann

Illustration / photo credits: Joana Avillez, Miguel Villalobos

An interview with Diane Pernet: It’s all about desire

By Meta Megušar Bizjan

Diane Pernet is a truly inspirational and mysterious person. She is also a true visionary leader, she is never a follower, she is always the first one. The first in fashion blogging with her ASVOF, the first in fashion film festival with her ASVOFF, and who knows what new is yet to come from this witty, black-dressed angel of the fashion world.

Diane, you have just finished your ASVOFF 12 edition. How different was this year’s fashion film festival from the previous festivals? You must be brave and stubborn. How did you manage to do that in these weird times?
First of all, thank you for your support and kind words. Starting last February, I became very concerned about doing a physical festival. I was working on another project, curating designers for Year of Qatar in France which had been scheduled for September. However, in early February they cancelled the project due to COVID-19. That was a red light that this pandemic was not going to disappear anytime soon, and so I had to figure out how to make an online festival as captivating as a physical one. As regards ASVOFF 11, I started a collaboration with FNL Network which was uploading fashion films and giving the public a chance to vote, but it was not really creating a festival online. In connection with the ASVOFF 12 edition, we uploaded a four-day event that went online Oct 6-9. 2020, and it took place in four consecutive days. Along with the 36 films that were shown in the competition programme, there were 11 documentaries, 2 competition films, 6 student films, 15 films directed by students or recent graduates on the Artsthread platform (a leading digital platform for emerging artists and designers in 100 countries from over 850 design schools). During our first Lockdown in Paris, I asked people to submit their own Lockdown Home Movies documenting their life in quarantine around the globe, and consequently, 68 such films were made. In addition, I screened the Paris premiere of the film Dos Fridas by Ishtar Yasin, featuring the actress Maria de Medeiros. The feature film was preceded by interviews with the director Ishtar Yasin and actress Maria de Medeiros. The final day of ASVOFF 12 introduced the “Industry Tea’ Talk Series. Roger Avary, the President of ASVOFF 12, presented his directorial debut Killing Zoe which was made in 1994. He has drawn attention to both universally acclaimed films (his Oscar-winning collaboration with Quentin Tarantino on Pulp Fiction and his latest effort- Lucky Day). No matter what emotion he arouses in his audience, the audience never remains indifferent. Eric Daman, the Costume Designer of Gossip Girl, welcomed us to his home and discussed his life of a stylist working on films and the Gossip Girl TV series. He has such a strong impact on fashion that his past collaborator on Sex and the City referenced him for the current Emily in Paris series which is currently number one in France on Netflix. Maxime Plescia-Buchi is a world-renowned tattoo artist who has inked the likes of Kanye West and FKA Twigs. He is an expert at branding and creative direction and always willing to offer his advice generously. Violeta Sanchez is an actress, a model and a muse. She entered the world of fashion when she was discovered by Helmut Newton and Yves Saint Laurent at the opening of a play featured in Paris. Tim Yip is interviewed by the performance artist Daniel Lismore on his upcoming two feature films, one of them being Love Infinity. Yip was the first Chinese to receive an Academy Award for his work as an art director and costume designer in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Ang Lee. Director Gianluca Matarrese talks about the art of the documentary. Along with the screenings of the films in and out of competition, the feature film, the Industry Tea Talk Series, the festival closed with the concert by Bruises. I am also very proud of my jury comprising Roger Avary, the President of ASVOFF 12, and the members: Lillian Birnbaum, Cori Coppola, Maria de Medeiros, Rick Porras, Violeta Sanchez, Joanne Sawicki, Cuba Tornado Scott and Marine Serre. All these masters in their fields will stay online on the A Shaded View on Fashion Film Channel on FNL Network until October 2021 – https://linktr.ee/fnlnetwork

You were the first fashion blogger with your A SHADED VIEW ON FASHION blog, and you were the first to start with fashion film festival with your A SHADED VIEW ON FASHION FILM. It seems you like to invent, start, to be the first. What drives you to do that?
I follow my instincts. I was making fashion films with Disciple Films from 2000-2005, and in 2005 the Eley Kishimoto brand commissioned me to make a film for their menswear launch during the Gumball rally. Instead of just screening my film in Los Angeles, I decided to make a fashion film festival in 2006 and I called it You Wear it Well. I did that with one of my guest bloggers who writes for my blog which I launched in February 2005. During my Fashioned-Out films, I met a model Anina.net and she asked me if I wanted to try a new software for Nokia mobile device called Life Blogging. That is how I documented Adventure of Pleasure, filming it on my mini dvd camera. Prior to that, Disciple Films and I were asked to make films for Galeries Lafayette which they put in their store windows during the 3 + weeks of the collections.
As to what drives me, I think it is just organic. I am curious to try new things, but more importantly, to do things that I love. For me putting together fashion and film seemed like coming full circle. I was a fashion designer for my own brand in New York for 13 years. Prior to that, I had obtained a degree in filmmaking. I’ve loved both – cinema and fashion my entire life, so a fashion film festival seemed to satisfy my desire for both.

You are a fashion designer, photographer, film director, costume designer, fashion journalist, fashion icon, first fashion blogger, you did first fashion film festival, you have your own line of successful perfumes and you are an active member of many juries. How do you manage to do all that? What do you like most about your work?
That is a hard question indeed. I launched my Diane Pernet Paris Perfumes almost 6 years ago at JOYCE Gallery in Palais Royal. Mike Figgis, the Award-Winning Film Director of Leaving Las Vegas (Nicolas Cage won Best Actor), made 4 films for the promotion of my perfumes. I loved creating perfumes and I look forward to creating more. I made five fragrances: the woody To be Honest, the oriental Wanted, the citrusy In pursuit of Magic, the ocean-fresh Shaded and the warm rose scented Love Affair.
It’s been a while since I was a designer for my own brand. I did it for 13 years and at that time I could never have imagined doing anything else, but when I moved to Paris, I did many different things. If I have to choose just one thing that I like the most, it is creating my ASVOFF fashion film festival. It is a platform where I can shine a light on talents in the worlds of fashion and cinema. As for how I find the time to do everything … you know that old saying: “If you want to get something done, ask someone who is busy.”

It seems your soul wants something new every minute. Are you easily bored or just a very curious person? It’s interesting how your professional life is like fashion, changing all the time, but your statement iconic black appearance is timeless, static and stable. It is changing only by minimalistic shades. Do these two opposites give balance and freedom to your life?
Good question. Let’s just say I’m always curious and at the same time I like to feed people information that might inspire them and also, I like to be inspired. Before I became a fashion designer, my look changed all the time, but when I started creating, I found that distracting and I created my own kind of uniform which I modify ever so slightly, but continue to wear through time. I think once you find your look, it is your look. For example, take someone like Azzedine, his look was a Mao suit, it never changed, it was ‘his’ look. It does give a certain freedom for sure, and maybe it is boring to street photographers.

You come from the USA, you lived and left NY, your heart finally settled in Paris-France. You are some kind of metropolis wonderer. How do you see Southeast European region? Is there something typically specific in terms of fashion? Any suggestions for young fashion designers from our region?
I think that because countries like Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Austria, Greece, Romania don’t really have a history of fashion, they are less constrained than countries that do. Therefore, I think they are more experimental and also want to express themselves personally, and sometimes that takes into account politics and history, but they are interpreted in a modern way. Maybe the key word is modernity, less about vintage and more about looking towards the future. As for suggestions, keep it personal and now considering the necessity for making collections that are eco-friendly and sustainable, I would say try to produce locally and work with artisans. Take something from the culture of your country, but make it appealing in a universal way. Choose your textiles carefully, be transparent in your production, less is more. Be creative, work with technology, eliminate waste and experiment. Do it on a small scale. I believe everyone should scale back since we don’t need fashion pollution. Think about what you personally desire in clothes and then create from there, because in the end it is all about DESIRE. Without desire there is no need for more clothes. Make it beautiful, whatever you consider beauty to be. Make it well, make it last.

What inspires you now? What are Diane’s next goals?
What I’m thinking about right now is how to enrich my channel on FNL Network. It is a platform that can reach millions and what interests me is to promote my vision of culture around the world. I’ve never only been interested in the fashion capitals nor only in fashion, because in reality everything we do is fashion, but not everyone sees things in the same way. I want to give my vision on my platform, and I want to help to promote talents that I discover in the arts. In order to do that I certainly also need sponsors to support my channel, so that will also be my focus. In order to support others, I need to support myself.

Jury president Jean Paul Gaultier at the awards ceremony Centre Pompidou, ASVOFF 8

Diane Pernet by Jean Paul Gaultier

Photo credits: Alan Gelati (left)

Check out Diane Pernet’s amazing blog: A Shaded View on Fashion by Diane Pernet