Журнал Andy Warhol's Interview Россия Interview № 2 | Page 174

172/ ENGLISH SUMMARY
REM
KOOLHAAS
p. 82
by DASHA ZHUKOVA
The Dutch architect builds the world’s cutting
edge art centers—and is increasingly commis-
sioned by famous women.
Rem is a world-class architect, winner of the
prestigious Pritzker Prize, the originator and devel-
oper of daring structures for the most notable clients,
including Marina Abramovi ć , Miuccia Prada, and
Zhukova herself. Dasha and Rem are always some-
where in the sky between countries and continents.
Thus even this interview was done during a working
conversation on Skype.
DASHA: Rem, I know that you have many wom-
en clients. But it’s probably easier to work with men,
right?
REM: I wouldn’t say so. When you talk with
a man, it’s usually a very practical, logically struc-
tured, short conversation. And female clients can
endlessly talk about everything on earth, beginning
with the most general questions and ending with the
important details. But that’s also good! Negotiations
can last longer, but you will manage to discuss all
nuances, every detail. Women are more exacting, so
as clients they are better. But I work with every cli-
ent, regardless of gender, to get excellent results.
LANA
DEL REY
p. 88
by HARALD PINTER
The young singer is laying claim to the title of
queen of pop. Three clips on the internet have
garnered her millions of admirers.
Last year the music world has spoken only of
Lana Del Rey. The “new Amy Winehouse”, “Chris
Isaak in a skirt”, and “Hollywood glamour in the era
of YouTube!” rejoice the critics. The young Ameri-
can achieved success without having recorded a sin-
gle album; she appeared in a couple of self-made vid-
eos, which included skateboarders, drunk girls, clips
from the golden age of american cinema and her
sweetheart. While some journalists were excited
by the original presentation, others uncovered that
Lana is the daughter of New York millionaire Bob
Grant and had already tried to conquer the music
world under her real name, Lizzy.
DWARD
“Ed, I want the very same suit that I wore in the
Duran Duran video!” exclaims Naomi as she rushes
into the studio of London-based tailor Edward Sex-
ton. Her plane for Paris is leaving in four hours. The
fitting will be conducted at a hurried pace.
A couple of months ago, Naomi and other super-
models, who have already come to be known by just
their first names—Helena, Eva, Yasmin, and Cindy—
portrayed Duran Duran band members in the “Girl
Panic” video. Naomi was given the part of lead sing-
er Simon Le Bon, dancing in a red trouser suit.
Campbell explains to Interview photographer Emma
Hardy “It is Edward who made all the clothes for us.
By the way, Ed, I want some more suits, I’ll take the
lead from you. One of them should certainly be
a pencil skirt suit, as for the others—it’s up to you,
I fully trust you.”
It’s unlikely that Edward Sexton’s name would
ring any bell to you. But you most certainly have
heard of the musicians Mick Jagger and Mark Ron-
son, and they had their wedding attire made by
Edward. In order to be led to the altar in a classic
Sexton suit, Jagger’s fianc é Bianca went so far as to
ditch the traditional wedding dress, and wearing
that suit ensured her place as a style icon for the next
forty years.
“I think this red suit is very much like something
Bianca would have worn,” remarks Edward, as he is
pinning Naomi’s jacket sleeve all the way to the
wrist. “There is nothing as sexy as a woman in
a man’s tailored suit.” “I agree, the Jaggers’ wedding
photos are the main chronicle of the 60s. Classic!”
Naomi joins in. This is now what Sexton makes—the
classic of the classic, but at the very beginning of his
career his colleagues called him a revolutionary.
On top of betraying famous Savile Row (giving off
a whiff of mothballs, to be quite honest) and relocat-
ing his studio to quiet and prestigious Beauchamp
Place, he also opened his doors to female clients
and, thus, broke another tacit rule of the chauvinis-
tic tailors.
“When Tommy (Tommy Nutter, Sexton’s former
partner) and I opened our first Nutters shop on
St. Valentine’s Day in 1969, Savile Row could be
described as the most conservative street in Lon-
don,” says Sexton. “Today, you can appreciate the
width of a lapel and the quality of Windsor tweed
simply by taking a look at a shop window. In those
times, all windows had thick curtains, and the heavy
doors opened only when you rang the bell. You only
went there if your father, uncle and grandfather
frequented the same tailor. We rebelled against
that tradition: we came up with an unusual, more
modern suit silhouette and put it on display in
the windows.”
Forty years later, Edward (now without Nutter)
continues to live and work exactly the way he wants.
EDWARD: Have you already decided what you
want the skirt suit made of?
NAOMI: Maybe gray flannel with pin stripes?
And an old-school split...
Why do rock stars and media magnates entrust
their suits to Sexton? The answer comes from
Naomi Campbell in the tailor’s fitting-room.
by NAOMI CAMPBELL
DASHA: I heard that you started work with Ma-
rina Abramovi ć on the Performance Center project
in New York?
REM: We are now constructing a building for
long performances that run for hours, sometimes
even days. Therefore we are trying to imagine and
design everything a person would need to watch
a performance for a few dozen hours in a row. For
example, we are considering making capsule chairs,
in which one can relax and sprawl in comfort. So this
light madness reflects not only on the building itself,
but more on its use. In that, we are creating some-
thing unique, without any counterparts in the world.
DASHA: I look forward to the opening. Rem,
what’s the current status of the project for the Prada
Foundation in Milan?
REM: I have been working with Miuccia’s studio
for 10 years already. Everyone knows that we did
several stores for Prada, but it is less known that we
also work on fashion shows, advertising campaigns,
and now art spaces as well. We plan to show artists’
work there, and fashion archives.
DASHA: Since we are talking about female cli-
ents; you should tell Interview readers how I am as
a client.
REM: I would describe you as someone who
takes an interest in projects gradually during the
work process. In the beginning you appeared to be
very abstract. But then I realized that you are the
opposite, incredibly specific. And I understood that
you need to see physical things. You can see only real
objects, even if small. Only after seeing them, can
you imagine the entire building. Is that right?
DASHA: Yes, entirely correct. If I see something,
I very quickly make a decision. If not, it’s difficult for
me to decide, maybe even impossible.
REM: By the way, there is another feature to the
architect’s profession: one must develop a different
approach to each client. You turned out to be the
most meticulous client regarding the material, physi-
cal side of the project. And another thing I like is
that you are in measure conservative and contempo-
rary, that you have a feeling for the classical—and all
this perfectly harmonizes. It’s great to discuss all this
on Skype. (Laughs.)
DASHA: You’re telling me!
p. 54
EDWARD: I like pin stripe but it’s so obvious.
Let’s do something less banal. What about dark grey
flannel with a black grosgrain trim? It is very power-
ful, yet so elegant. It would suit you well.
Edward is firm in his judgment and Naomi sur-
renders without a fight. Sexton’s craftsmanship lies
in his ability to listen to his customers, get under
their skin, understand their life and the thoughts
they think. Only then he starts tailoring.
The Beatles were some of the first who came to
appreciate his passionate attention to every minute
detail of a suit. In 1969, Paul McCartney, John Len-
non, and Ringo Starr strutted in Sexton suits in the
famous crosswalk photo taken for their Abbey Road
album cover.
In the early 1990s, a wise Sir Paul McCartney
sent his daughter Stella, who was a fashion student
at Central Saint Martins, for an apprenticeship at his
tailor. Eight years later, Stella McCartney replaced
Karl Lagerfeld as a creative director at Chlo é and
immediately invited Sexton to work as a consultant
at the fashion house. “Paul knew that was the correct
way,” says Sexton, grinning. “We are from the same
generation. In our days, you first spent some time
getting blisters on your fingers from needles and pins
and then went to art school.”
According to Edward, his fame as the court tailor
of rock royalty is totally unsolicited. “Celebrities love
to talk about their clothing and their tailors: who got
what outfit from what tailor? And the ordinary peo-
ple were dying to find out what clothes they wore.
And I started to get a lot of ink based on that.” When
working on a suit, it doesn’t matter to Sexton wheth-
er it is for insatiable rock-star Mick Jagger, straight-
laced media-magnate Rupert Murdoch or flamboy-
ant Formula-1 president Bernie Ecclestone. “They
all get the same attention, they all get the same, what
they deserve—me, me, me.”
EDWARD
SEXTON