Iris von Arnim: "I am a countrywoman in the glamor world"
Iris von Arnim's Universe is located under the roof of an Art Nouveau villa in Hamburg's Harvestehude district. Here the fashion designer has company headquarters and private apartment. Relaxed, she sits in the conservatory of the 135-square-foot loft. Above her, a glass roof arches out, exposing the view into the gray-blue sky. And as if the colors were tuned to the weather, Iris von Arnim, 63, with her silver-blonde hairpins, the anthracite-colored turtleneck and the black skinny pants, fits into the natural setting.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: They produce the Rolls-Royce under the hoodies, models that are among the most precious things you can wear on your skin. For that the press gave you the title "Cashmere-Queen". Do you like them?
Iris von Arnim: I felt it more as a joke, but now he is circulating as a winged word.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Why has cashmere become your favorite material?
Iris von Arnim: Because this is the best way to realize my fashion visions. There is no material that is so feminine, exclusive, soft and light at the same time. What hardly anyone knows: the investment is worthwhile only if Kashmir is properly cultivated. Only then will the material get better and better. After the first wearing, nodules appear. Then the pullover must be peeled off and washed with a special razor. The procedure - wear, deflate, wash - is repeated until the surface remains smooth.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Pretty expensive, right?
Iris von Arnim: I try to design pieces that you want to keep as long as possible and of course get wear and tear when worn. So that it also memories of a living life hang, as with furniture.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: You dress yourself modern, but not overly fashionable. Which style influences your work the most?
Iris von Arnim: I'm guided by classics that have a firm place in fashion. Trench, pleated trousers, pencil skirt, these basic pieces are unbeatably good. For me, therefore, it's about refined details, but I do not have to reinvent the sweater. Of course, you can miss a trench puffed sleeve, but for me, a trench must always be recognizable as such.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Are you designing for a certain type of women?
Iris von Arnim: Honestly, at work, I think of the woman I know best: myself and what I like to wear, refined cashmere or other precious materials that survive more than one season ,
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Nice, if you can afford this luxury. But do not you have to follow the laws of the market and produce cheaply?
Iris von Arnim: As long as I make fashion, I will fight to keep the quality I aspire to. Yesterday I just had a miserable day, because I realized how little the ratio of effort and benefits is right. That was when I saw the first hand-knitted parts of the new collection: buttery soft cashmere coats, pure luxury. But who can and wants to buy such a precious piece today? Fortunately, a young American designer was in my studio, she saw the coat and said, "Wow, if I would wear that in New York, I would have many admirers." In such a moment I feel that my claim is correct.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Do not you get in the way of H & M, Zara and Mango, who increasingly democratized fashion in recent years?
Iris von Arnim: Not only Mango & Co is changing the level, at the luxury level, the leveling is also increasing, also through intensive media and marketing presence. The more money is invested - for example, when celebrities run for a label advertising - the more I feel that as a kind of obsession. The new trends are getting so fast into the fashionable chain of stores that a company like ours has to find our new and different ways.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Do you ever doubt how to proceed?
Iris von Arnim: Yes, definitely. Only I have been doing my job for almost 30 years. That's when I learned to concentrate and pay attention to quality. Today, there is a fast pace that does not suit me. For me, the designs are still drawn by hand. And because cashmere processing is so complex and requires particularly careful treatment, I think again and again: Does my work last?
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Is not there a lot of self-confidence in the fashion industry besides talent?
Iris von Arnim: A little bit more must be.Often I get the reproach from my son and my friends: Do not be so small! Right now I am in a phase where I ask myself: why am I in a job that requires me to run always styled through the area? I hate staring, do not want to be a star and I'm not a star. Sometimes I need encouragement so that I can continue with joy.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Will you be clear in the fashion industry?
Iris von Arnim: I always say that I'm actually a farmer, too normal and of course for the funky fashion scene. I am a side beginner who has brought chance to this profession. I answered with the question: what would I like to wear myself? Maybe that was the chance to survive unscathed in the world of glamor. I have remained true to my intent to be authentic in every case. And I was lucky too: in the seventies my kind of knitted fashion did not exist yet. Everything succeeded without effort.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: For some time, the fashion is getting more and more adolescent. Revivals of past trends are in demand, such as the babydoll style. How do you react to that?
Iris von Arnim: Curious! The other day I was in Wolfgang Joops Wunderkind shop in Berlin and bought me so full of lust such a fashionable little hanger in black. As a "Modetante" - although getting old - I afford myself from time to time such peculiarities.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Understandably, your profession is more experimental with fashion trends, has a trained eye for the things that stand up. But how is the generation 40 plus to pick the right pieces from the oversupply of young fashion?
Iris von Arnim: The style of a woman, even an older one, is very dependent on character and charisma. If she is extravagant as a person, she also has extravagant outfits. At a certain age, women should be careful not to style themselves too well established. Are hair, make-up, jewelry, clothes too perfectly matched, one looks slightly elderly. In contrast, leggings, high heels or babydoll dresses can give fashionable basics the fashionable kick. The mix has to be right. Properly combined, young trends in older women can be erotic and at the same time elegant.
Fashion from two decades: sophisticated wrap dress made of gray wool jersey from 1989 and purple cashmere sweater from the current collection
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Does it happen that you find yourself irresistible?
Iris von Arnim: Sure, I still catch myself. Recently I came back from a fun evening with friends in a good mood and began to browse my wardrobe. With a few kilos less I fit again into old favorites, which I now recombined. The "Electric Light Orchestra" played on the radio. In such a situation, I feel that I'm in the right job.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: And what makes you want to live?
Iris von Arnim: Every day. Especially since I realized how limited my time is. That was when I got the diagnosis of breast cancer. The disaster hit me so surprisingly 12 years ago that I blamed myself for not having taken enough care of it. Luckily, the cancer had not spread, and no major surgery was needed. I am grateful that everything is okay until today.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: An experience that has reinforced the critical distance of your work?
Iris von Arnim: Illness means limitation, many things do not seem so important anymore. At that time, I understood that even the most beautiful work in the world must be measured.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Were your Prussian origins and education helpful in overcoming life crises?
Iris von Arnim: Certain old-fashioned virtues have been taught to me as a child. Reliability, decency, politeness were a matter of course. And it was never about the goal, higher, further, to be faster. I had to get along early without parental support - my mother died when I was three years old, I lost my dad when I was 16 - but the early imprints gave me enough foundation anyway.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: qualities that you could pass on to your son ...
Iris von Arnim: He has accepted a lot, I can say that with gratitude. He was eight years in the US, four in college and four in an investment bank. Although he had to stand alone there, he shows a very social behavior. He says his opinion and explains where his generation wants to go, but he never gives himself up.
Close relationship: Iris von Arnim and her son Valentin
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Were not you as a young girl in America?
Iris von Arnim: After the death of my father I went there for a year to school. Relatives wanted to adopt me, what an orphan from post-war Germany could have been heaven on earth. Everything was huge: the house, my room, my car. And yet I longed for "good old Europe". After my return, I tried to find the right profession, but I could not decide between photographer, journalist, PR-woman and advertising assistant. I was a bit baseless, you could almost worry about me then.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: So you hardly knew family life?
Iris von Arnim: Right. And maybe that's why I raised my son alone. Back then, 28 years ago, I decided against marriage and focused on building the company. Time coincided with the birth of Valentin. Before that was the '68 era, as a staunch hippie I smoked joints, sat on the flokati, heard the stones and knitted sweaters in psychedelic colors.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: And then you suffered a serious car accident. , ,
Iris von Arnim: Yes, I spent months in the hospital afterwards. To pass the time, I knit the most imaginative creations. I would never have thought that this would become a business idea; but the sweaters became a success.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Did you actually visit your birthplace in Silesia after the fall of the Wall?
Iris von Arnim: Yes, when I arrived, my heart really opened. I saw the wide landscape, the morbid castle from the 17th century, all this touched me. The moment I entered the courtyard through the gate, I felt like I was sucking home.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Behind your house in Hamburg there is a piece of wild meadow with a mighty oak on it - does that remind you of your home?
Valentin has now joined his mother's company
Iris von Arnim: Of course, the meadow and the tree embody a piece of home in the city. I come from the countryside, if my life had been a traditional one, if I had married, if I had become a housekeeper, had five children on the top of my skirt. Which, by the way, also had quality of life, just another.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: But your present life leaves more room for creativity and freedom of thought?
Iris von Arnim: Sure! I think you can not get everything from life. Family life, a happy partnership, success in the job - the balancing act hardly anyone gets. I admit, "being older" would sometimes be nicer with a partner. On the other hand, some couples also block their personality development. I think you can only make peace with your own possibilities. I am very content with myself. Sometimes she is there, sometimes not. But one thing is for sure: I can not live several lives at the same time.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Sounds reasonable, right?
Iris von Arnim: Maybe, but who knows what the future holds? So far, I have done well with the following philosophy of life: Elsewhere, the grass is not greener either.
