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subscribe to style file blog via RSSCusto Barcelona Wants To Give You Whimsy
February 17, 2009 5:05 pm
It all started on a bit of a whim. Brothers Custo and David Dalmau’s year-long motorcycle trip around the world in 1980 was meant to be a youthful rite of passage. The result, however, was Custo Barcelona, a lifestyle brand with outposts in locales from Qatar to Kiev. “That trip changed my life,” Custo says. “I was planning to be an architect, but suddenly I felt drawn to designing clothes. I knew we had nothing in Spain that looked like the bold, psychedelic T-shirts I saw in California.” Expect the brand’s signature twist on bold and psychedelic this Thursday, when its print-based Fall ‘09 collection comes streaming down the Bryant Park runway. Rather than show on European home turf, Custo says he prefers the “energetic hub” of New York. Compliment taken. Style.com caught up with the designer to learn more about his brand’s smooth-sounding entrée onto the global fashion radar and inspiration culled from peacock feathers.
What were your inspirations for your Fall? I’ve heard peacocks feathers are featured quite prominently.
Peacock feathers are just one element of the collection. Beyond that the collection is about newness and freshness. As always, it is about mixing prints and textures and colors to create a new idea. This time I’ve also referenced artisan techniques for a rich, handcrafted feel.
Why the unending affection for prints? What do you think they do for a woman?
Prints are color in motion. They take on a life of their own. There is so much seriousness out there—so much that is neutral and monochromatic. A woman needs an outlet for her creativity and her whimsy. I want to give that to her.
You recently collaborated with Brooklyn-based artist Brittan Blasdel on an installation piece on view in your Spring Street store. How did that come about?
Brittan approached us because she saw that peacock feathers were one of the prints in my Fall ‘09 line, and she had created an installation featuring a peacock feather. Her piece is made of silver and gold thumbtacks, creating an interplay between the soft image of a peacock feather and the harder edge of the medium, and that’s a juxtaposition that I play with all the time.
You’ve done quite a few collaborations. What has been the result of some of those?
Perrier bottles, a customized Hummer, a Motorola phone, and a custom regatta sail for an Estrella Damm sailboat. Especially exciting was my upholstery design for the reissue of two cult chairs for Gruppo Industriale Busnelli. The original designs are on display in MoMA’s permanent collection.
So what should we be looking to purchase from Fall ‘09 Custo? What’s the signature?
Definitely the coats—opulent, adorned, and of course, feathered! Ultimately we just wanted to celebrate the joy of dressing up.
tags: Custo Barcelona
