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She reads Frankie, Russh and Vogue Italia. Her favourite shops are St Vincent de Paul, a landmark bookseller in New York called Strand Books and a taxidemist in Paris. Popular culture is an influence; so is Rock and modern-day Japan.
With Bianca Spender, the youth market has come to Carla Zampatti.
Bianca is the 30-year-old daughter of Carla Zampatti, the Australian fashion icon. In 2006, after working together for a few years, mother and daughter came together to launch a separate label within the family company, Bianca Spender for Carla Zampatti. It tied in with the company's plan to broaden the appeal of Carla Zampatti, to a wider, younger, market.
"It happened organically," says Bianca in an interview with Living Creatively. "I did some designs and Mum had been looking for a designer [so] she said 'maybe you could come and work with me'."
They decided to "try it out for a season and hoped it would work". If her designs didn't sell, Bianca says, she "would go and do something else. It had to be so there were no favours." So she did a small collection initially and it sold quite well. Well enough that their business relationship not only worked, it grew.
"My mother is an incredible mentor," says Bianca. "She has given me one hundred pieces of advice along the way. I am very lucky. She is always looking for something new, new ideas, and she is an incredible businesswoman."
Speaking about her collection, Bianca says she has tried to create her own style, distinct from her mother's. "I think my label brings a freshness and quirkiness. I choose my own fabrics, colours and themes. There will be things they [the Carla Zampatti team] like more or less and then I negotiate and make it fit for me and them. But we are always amazed, despite the differences in our design, that there is this common thread - quality, elegance, femininity, sophistication and feeling fantastic in the garment."
Bianca Spender for Carla Zampatti is a strong mix of classic design with an avant-garde twist.
"My designs have an attention to detail with a focus on shape, form and tailoring. This gives them an understated but beautiful style," says Bianca.
"I see my customers as between 25 and 40, women who are a little bit off-beat, who appreciate the tucks and twists and collars, the detail. It's women with a strong aesthetic sense. They are looking for clothes that express something a bit more unique."
"I have a very subtle colour palette," she continues. "My designs are in mainly muted tones, powder and nude shades - greys, mushroom browns, creams and off-whites. Sometimes they'll have highlights of pure colour like red and blue."
There's also "a soft drape" to a lot of Bianca's pieces, which she attributes to her love of creating garments on the dummy with fabric. "I find it very inspiring working with the qualities of the material and how it folds and drapes."
After graduating from the prestigious Fashion Design Studio at TAFE NSW [it's alumni includes Akira Isogawa, Alex Perry, Lisa Ho, Wayne Cooper and Nicky Zimmerman], Bianca headed for Europe - first Italy, then Paris where she worked at the Martine Sitbon maison for three years.
"I went to Italy and worked for four months in an apprenticeship for an Italian patternmaker who taught me the importance of cut, fit and precision, the first very important lessons," says Bianca.
On her return to Sydney in 2003, she joined the design team at Carla Zampatti, bringing with her a strong European aesthetic - a love of cooking French and Italian food (she does a mean mushroom risotto), an appreciation of art and culture plus fluency in two languages. Then she poured it all into her designs.
"Since I was little I've had a strong idea of what I like and did not like. My time in Paris was central to developing a clear idea of my aesthetic and style; it is something I am always learning about," says Bianca, who names Balenciaga, Madeleine Vionnet and Yohji Yamamoto as inspirational for their design innovation and stellar technical skills."
Bianca says her design is influenced by new ideas that she finds in art and popular culture. "Photography is a particularly rich medium as you can observe history, people and places that you would never otherwise encounter."
When designing, Bianca starts by developing a theme from her research. "This acts as a reference and guideline to the mood I want to create in my new collection. I then develop this mood, looking at particular details in clothing that reflect this."
"I think the most challenging part of the process is making everything fit perfectly. You may have a beautiful design but if it doesn't look one hundred per cent on a body you have not reached your goal, and as I'm a bit of a perfectionist this is quite hard. It's a real challenge. We have a high standard at Carla Zampatti and I am ambitious with my designs."
"Also, it's a challenge to create a dynamic collection where all the elements come together and have a real synergy. It is not about each individual piece, all the designs have to work with each other."
Japanese and Rock culture inspire Bianca's Autumn/Winter collection. "Each season I reference different movements or aesthetics, looking to create something special and unique," she explains. "I think great designers create their own aesthetic. They make something new, a look and feel that becomes their signature that they are recognised for. I'm starting on Spring 2008 now."
The future for Bianca, who is also the company's marketing director, is bright - and possibly more independent of the mother ship. She is growing her collection so she can open up more Bianca Spender stand-alone stores. There is one in Myer in Sydney and she would like to open a boutique.
"Fingers crossed it will open in 2008. But it has to be in the right spot, have the right atmosphere, somewhere where there are good book stores and art galleries." And possibly a taxidermist.
By Carolyn Ford |
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