In today’s world of
fashion, we are faced with many types of designers who offer us their interpretation
of what they think you should be wearing.
The business of fashion is populated with its fair share of those who
possess a modicum of talent. On the flip
side there is a rare segment that can be considered to be the true and genuine
designers as they truly and genuinely design with their own point of view and
not a version of someone else’s. UNIFORM UNION falls into the latter,
more elite group, without a doubt.
Franck Ford and Seven
Loy are fiercely devoted to the art, craft and business of fashion. These are designers who should be recognized
for their design prowess, work ethic, technical abilities and their
perseverance in delivering the absolutely best quality product to only those
appreciate their output. All you need do
is ask their devoted clients: Maxfield
in Los Angeles, Ikram in Chicago, A’maree’s in Newport Beach or Montaigne
Market in Paris and a select few more internationally.
Here, we get the
opportunity to get inside the heads of these two very talented men by means
of a few questions that expose their thoughts
on a cross section of topics , but always with the common thread (pun
intended) of fashion. Franck Ford speaks
for them both mostly…. Enjoy the conversation …
1- What are your most prized possessions?
F ~my diamonds, a valium pill made by Philip Crangi and 2 cowboys at the adductor muscle area on the upper inside
of my legs.
S~My artwork by David Hockney and Andy Warhol
2-If you could come back in the next
life, who or what would you like to be ?
F~again
? ok I do it as a sheikh
S~myself
Would be or is ? It is a modern woman
with taste and no instruction menu made by the press; and a name would be
Liliane Jossua owner of Montagine Market in her high heels on a hardcore Triumph
bike cruising the Avenue Montainge in Paris.
4-If you were not designers, what would you have chosen as a
profession and why?
F~ … an architect... I don’t like power outlets and doors.
S~ … a painter because he loves it, it is his passion
5-When you prepare for a new collection, what is the
process? Do you do mood boards with fabric swatches, sketches and color
preferences? Can you describe the progression?
It starts with conversations,
drawing, photos and moods from any time and everywhere. We have an archive of over a million
ideas/images and we study them to see if there is a theme waiting to be
used. In the end, we order many fabrics
and then we move into draping, shaping and returning to the archive and then
mood board at this stage could be a piece of art for the Tate museum .We go
insane at least twice and then minimalize our styles to make it salable
. We keep a few over the top styles and add basics … at the end we
have a small strong collection of 30 looks ... the day when it’s done we wish
we could do better but we don’t have the Alexander McQueen team .... . It’s
about fabrics and the patternmakers and seamstresses.
6-If you could invite
4 people, dead or alive, to dinner who would they be and why?
F~ Valentino and Grace Jones! I wear yellow …
S~
David Hockney and Petra von Kant
7- If you could be wardrobing a celebrity for the stage
who would you select and why?
Courtney Love in size 6 . why?...
She is Courtney Love and not a joke pop star, but as twisted as we are, we
would also do Madonna a favor and get rid of spikes .
A team of seamstress, patternmakers and
production partners who can do it with us .also the ultimate goal is to
stay as we are and grow into the top 50 doors around the world. For the
other 2000 doors we can do a diffusion line today !!!! a perfume and shoes
etc; … all the USA
9-Being based in California, do you feel that you are
missing out or do you think that fashion is so international today that it
doesn’t matter where you are based as long as you are visible?
Where we are based is even worse, we are in Palm Springs
away from all of it and that’s perfect because we travel and inhale all the
fashion inspirations and do our social contacts and exhale our art and craft in
a design studio. Next, a quick jump in
the pool and mountain views with an amazing green wicked garden and no one can
bother us .
We drive once a week to LA
for production and manage all business on Skype and emails . One thing further to say is Franck Ford flies
for a day to Paris to fix a string on a dress and we are not afraid of distance
and travels. Last week was China for 3 days and next week is India for a
few days and then Paris. Our base is
like a vase, the vase from a genie in the bottle. One click and we are somewhere else
again .
10-What would you like to people to think or say when
they hear the name Uniform Union?
Last week in China they love
the name. In L’Officiel yesterday, they just use UU as credit and we LOVE that.
People should think they are part of our
UNION, family, and our Uniform is our
look. An army of pearls and beads; they should think I want to be a member
on the front and in the front row!
99% .. If we see high waisted camel toe denim short we run into
our oasis and wish for less of that . We really don’t like open toe
shoes. Show people who namedrop are the worst and we don’t like fashion
editors who don’t write about us … haha . We are not crazy about tourists
wherever and practical polyester pants with zipper on the knee that convert them into cargos should be forbidden by law.
12-what makes you happiest?
LOVE & LACE and people who believe in our work because we believe in
others and support everyone we like in their craft or talent. We never go by
trend or who it is. AND THAT WE WANT TO SEE ALL AS OUR FAMILY …. UNIFORM
UNION MAKES US HAPPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c042LWvq8iA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c042LWvq8iA
