“Montse Liarte, Fashion Design graduate of BAU school, worked as a personal assistant for Lutz Paris and for Elisa Amann She has taken part in forming “Projecte Bressol” , an initiative belonging to Dinamizacion’s Plan for the Catalan Mode of Catalunya’s Autonomous government of Catalonia. Montse Liarte is the winner of the Gilles-Rosier 2007 award for Best Collection.

An interview with Fashion Designer Montse Liarte:

Your clothes occasionally reflect a masculine approach of designing. Is this an answer to the catwalk stereotype or an attempt to address a new asexual audience? What type of woman is your audience?

It is true that my designs often have a masculine image; this is due to the kind of woman they are aimed at. A woman who looks for comfort without giving up feminity, a woman who gives importance to the whole garment, to its structure and to the details of its manufacture, escaping from ornaments. This definition leads me to create women designs with a certain masculine look.

Your collections have an urban feel. Is the city part of your field of inspiration? What are your inspirations and influences?

I guess the city influences me, at least unconsciously. The fact of living in the city and walking every day through it takes part of your personality and your expression manners. In my opinion, everything surrounding you ends up making an influence on you.

At the time of creating a collection, I can be inspired by several topics; there is never a particular subject by which I get influenced. I think every designer has to pay attention to anything in the day-a-day life, because influence can come up from whatever.

The colour schemes in ‘Fly the Bird’s Way’ collection are mostly earthy and monochromatic. In the ‘Passe Recompose’ collection on the other hand pink and red colours are included. What does this mean for you?

Colours are a very important aspect on my collections’ concept. A determined concept always binds a colour range. While Passé Recomposé is based in the femme fatale, a concept based on femininity, the collection Fly the bird’s way is based on flight aerodynamics, a more industrial concept. And that is reflected in their colours.

What is the philosophy / concept upon which your collections are based?

My collections are based on traditional dressing values but bringing them up to date. That is, I usually use classical tailor’s trade, but doing it up by experimenting with pattern making.

In 2007 Montse Liarte was awarded with the Gille-Rosier Paris prize for ‘The Catalonia Emerging Designers Award for Best Collection’. How did this affect you?

This award was the key in my career, as it allowed me to spend a year working in Paris. There, I really learned a lot about the different departments that make up a company, departments like Design and Marketing, which are so distanced one from another, and others like Sewing, Pattern making, Production… They are all so different but so important at the same time inside the world of fashion.

How did working in Paris with designer Lutz and making collections for the brand ‘Desigual’ affect your design?

Working in different projects helps you to be more open-minded. Also it prevents you from becoming withdrawn in your own style or particular fashion vision. It is a way of learning.

At some point in your life you had to make a choice between Optics or Fashion Design and you opted for the latter. What made you go for fashion?

I opted for fashion because of the possibilities this world could offer me, since it allows me to express myself in a creative way. And that made me feel fulfilled and more comfortable with fashion.

Is Fashion Design Art or a stylish commodity?

For me, design is a mix between art and product. It is art because there is always the presence of creativity behind design, but this creativity has to give a product. So the best thing is that a balance exists between the two things.

Click to see: “Fly the bird’s way”. The New Autumn-Winter 2010-11 Collection by Montse Liarte

Credits & Copyrights

Designer:
Montse Liarte
Barcelona, Spain
www.montseliarte.com

Source:
+34 Pressroom
www.34pressroom.com

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