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One year, one month, one hour, WINNER!
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September 15, 2005
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Everyone, here in the ITS office, is aware of the evidence: ITS is not only an event. One year of preparation, study, contacts and feelings cannot be labelled just as an event. The three days in July are an event, the year before is an itinerary: a long itinerary in which all the ITS team works to create the best conditions to organise the best ITS ever!
However, finalists face a pretty big challenge as well. Their itinerary is a very long process that starts from the moment they work on the portfolio, it passes through the waiting during the preselections, the collection preparation, the final rush because some small details always go wrong, and then there is the stage, the applause and the prizes. ITS aims to be that, ITS aims to support the talent providing many different things, not only money and visibility but commitment and professional prospective. ITS gives a lot to them and demands a lot from them, ITS follows the finalists for months and observes their evolution.
Unfortunately, nobody can truly understand what they feel, their emotions and excitement, at what time they go to bed to finish a piece or what they renounce to get an outfit ready. Now we will attempt to sneak into their mind throughout their ITS year, from the moment they start to work on the portfolio to the catwalk show in July. We will have a look at three moments: one year before the event, one month before the event, one hour before the show.
We asked three of the winners to describe this itinerary. Here are the impressions of Marcus Lereng Wilmont -ITS#FOUR Collection of the Year-, Christoph Froehlich - Diesel Award- and Eli Effenberger - Maria Luisa Award and Special Jury Prize-.
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One year before. How were you seeing your life and career one year ago? Plus, how was your collection?
Marcus Lereng Wilmont. When I initially had the interview with Barbara and Nicola I honestly didn't quite know what ITS was and I simply went to have someone outside college have a look at the work I was doing and give me an impartial view. It was a fantastic talk. They were warm and very frank and appreciative. I felt so good about the interview that I knew I wanted to be part of ITS right away.... My collection, and the vision I had for my clothes was pretty finished in its creative phase- I had known where I wanted to take my designs and creativity+ statement for a while, by then!
Christoph Froehlich. I heard about Demna's success in Italy in 04, and about his great opportunity to reach such a wide public through showing his collection at ITS#THREE. When I decided to apply for the competition I was already working on my collection for quite a while. This was because of the fact that my "ITS#FOUR-collection" was part of my final collection, that I graduated with from the Royal Academy of fine art Antwerp at the end of June 05. At this time my future plans were more reduced to one goal, called "graduation".... In order to reach it I had a kind of structured schedule, helping me to keep a clear mind with all these deadlines and extra projects...and of course the ITS-portfolio as well... But anyway somehow it always works out in the end... My collection itself had a quite experimental approach... The idea behind it was to deconstruct classical iconic menswear into its skeleton and approach something new throughout "interweaving" it with sportswear garments. So a lot of pieces were a fusion of two different garments into one new. Beside the concept there was also the reality with piles of second hand garments, treated with scissors, pinned on my dolls to find my final shapes, seams and volumes.... Once I "found" them, I worked out the patterns in order to reproduce them in the materials I finally wanted them to have. When I applied to ITS almost all the experiments were ready, but still... you always do changes while you actually finalize some stuff...
Eli Effenberger. Being a student I try not to think too much about my career to come imagine that during my studies I have the most creative freedom that I might ever have, and so I thought mainly about what I would like to communicate through my collection and how to go about it in the most visually unconfined way. Back then I did have a strong notion of the image I would like to achieve, but had no real design sketched on paper.
One month before. Describe your sensations when you felt that THE moment was close. Again, how was your collection at the moment? (still to finish, little details? Working hard to make it on time?)
Marcus Lereng Wilmont. At this time I was still in the middle of a tumultuous time. I was the showstopper at the RCA show and it was a big and all-encompassing thing to see it through to the end! Two years of work all come down to about 2 min on a catwalk and the pride you feel is indescribable. Also, I had gone to a lot of high profile interviews so the whole mood was really bizarre - but in a good way! Even if it took up all my attention. It was only in the back of my mind, as a treat, that I after this would go and do ITS because I still didn't understand just how big and marvellous ITS really was!
Christoph Froehlich. One month before ITS I was very, very busy. It seemed to get a bit too crazy for me.... all the finishing, graphical work and a film project for an installation as a part of my final MA-presentation. When the MA-show was done I was already relieved from a lot of pressure... so luckily a bit less than 1 month before ITS all the garments were already stitched, finished... the only thing was just to get some pieces washed and refreshed...From then on I was working on my portfolio, which I wanted to present in Italy to give a visualised version not just of my latest collection but more about my whole body of work.... But still up to the last day before my departure to Italy I was working on some stuff...
Eli Effenberger. A month before, my collection as a whole was already done, as I had a school deadline before, but since the work for the school deadline was hectic I was really happy to have the extra time to realize parts of the collection I never had the chance to give the time, I felt privileged to have the opportunity to show my collection once again, and to professional people whom I respect very much. Also at that time I remember getting increasingly anxious and worried knowing the complexity of many pieces in my collection, so I was trying to work towards making the pieces a bit easier to dress and understand.
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One hour before. What's done is done. Would you have liked to change anything 1 hour before the show? How did you feel one hour before hundred professional people see and judge your creativity?
Marcus Lereng Wilmont. I was so happy about the treatment I got from the ITS staff. They took away all the nerves because they where so professional and kind. I simply enjoyed my time and the challenge- getting to present something I intensely loved to amazing judges that I had only read about and never dreamed of meeting! The other contestants were a tremendous side of ITS as well. They where the most incredible people there! Even though we where in competition together we all tried to support each other- which is very different from the schools that I have attended! Truly inspiring! And I owe them a lot.
Christoph Froehlich Problems appeared the last day before departure, because of the fact, that one pair of pants did not get back from the dry-cleaning on time I had to change one silhouette (luckily I had some extra pants) when I did the fitting a lot of things seemed not to work out... so many mistakes with the first dressing up...so little time to explain things... and so many Italians, seeming not to understand what I wanted to explain...at least the models were quite cool... so that was already a big joker to let things look good. Half an hour later we had the discussion of our collections. Very scary... Although I had already experiences in explaining my collection to a wider audience still it was different to stand in front of the jury and all this press people, with a microphone hearing your voice yourself. Honestly, it really made me a bit nervous...and made me forget a lot of things which I was planning to explain... Than the rehearsal. Everything looked already quite as good as I thought that it should look... The projections on the back wall were really, really nice... just the music.. but hey, in the end it was just about letting things going and enjoying it. One hour before the show there was nothing what you could change any longer... things had to go on... we just could relax on our chairs in front of the hangar having a beautiful view over the harbour of Trieste...
Eli Effenberger. For the most part, at that time, I don't think I could have done much to achieve a better presentation of the collection as it went on stage, but I do remember thinking of my coming collection, and about a different approach in making it, realizing the many difficulties I had in presenting the current one.
WINNER. Vicky, the master of ceremony, is reading your name and there is no mistake. It is you. You walk up to the stage and all the people clap your collection. Tell me what you thought.
Marcus Lereng Wilmont. It is almost impossible to describe it in words -the hug I gave Barbara on my way to the stage says it all. I couldn?t believe it! So much hard work and stubborn creative vision, so many times that you have been tested in your beliefs and ideas. All of a sudden the people you respect most turns around to you in an unbelievable setting and say... " you where right to believe, we recognise your ideas- and we enjoy and find beauty in what you have shown us!" You want you cry or scream or simply explode.... but of course you are much to embarrassed to do that at the time- so you simply try to fully enjoy and remember the moment forever in one of the small rooms in the back of your mind where all your best memories go!
Christoph Froehlich. The ceremony... All the people were getting nervous... Although a lot of my participants told me, that I could be the winner of the Diesel Award, I did not want to believe in it until I heard the announcement. There were a lot of nice collections, and a lot of them deserved to win... But as part of the game unlucky enough there are just a few to get a prize... to be honest, already participating was a great honour. When the price got announced, it really felt good. I was really happy... finally some real positive feedback for the things I was working on, giving you the impression to be on the right track. It was really nice. The moment on stage I hardly do remember... It just went so quick... The prize got announced, I walked down, shaked hands with Renzo Rosso... I just felt very, very happy. Thanks and respect to all the ITS-team for this amazing experience
Eli Effenberger. I felt my heart flickering wildly. Just as one might feel trying to explain something personal, and not feeing capable of making it clear, or thinking of it having anything of interest to people you greatly respect, and then suddenly getting an approval -being understood! I was truly honoured.
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However, their ITS does not finish in July. The stage, the applause and the congratulations of July are just a small part of what is waiting for them after the summer. Indeed, ITS prizes are thought of in order to provide them with something more than visibility and financial support, they are tailored to be concrete opportunities to enter the fashion world in a very professional way: about the new collection to present at ITS#FIVE (ITS#FOUR Collection of the Year), the Diesel capsule collection (Diesel Award) and the showcasing into Maria Luisa Boutique in Paris (Maria Luisa Award). Furthermore, we are talking about the press coverage they get in the following months, the contacts they make, professional people they meet and, last but not least, the experience of challenging themselves in an international competition which gathers talents from all over the world.
Thus, for a finalist, ITS is a very long itinerary, with a starting point and with no defined end, because ITS is a chance, and it is up to you to make it last!
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