Again, our guest is a designer and stylist, the owner of the fashion brand VOLIFERT Evgeny Trefilov. This time we are discussing dresses, because, as you know, there are not many of them!
Our guest is again the designer and stylist, the owner of the fashion brand VOLIFERT Evgeny Trefilov, who creates unique collections of clothes and accessories made of glass! Why is the dress considered the main item of women's wardrobe? Is there a place for a vintage dress in the current fashion and what is the “trick” of modern models? Which dresses are suitable for work and which are suitable for publication? How to style them correctly and is it possible to wear dresses with jeans and sneakers? We will talk about this and much more with our guest today! You can find the previous issue with Eugene here.
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Marianna Makarova: Friends, you are listening to the podcast of Burda magazine about fashion, style and trends! With you I, the editor-in-chief, Marianna Makarova, and today we are again visiting Evgeny Trefilov, designer and stylist. Hello, Eugene!
Evgeny Trefilov: Hello everyone, Marianna, hello!
MM: Last time, Eugene and I talked about modern fashion, about style, and we still have one wonderful topic that we would like to talk about this time. We want to talk about dresses! I will reveal a little secret for Eugene: for our students and for readers of Burda magazine this is the hottest topic. The most popular models in Burda magazine are dresses. And here’s the paradox: go outside and you will see that almost all women go in jeans and trousers, but nonetheless, they love dresses. Why?
ET: Well, the paradox has a rationale: it’s understandable, for practical purposes and ideas we take trousers, jeans, I don’t know, some skirts, completely simple things. But our creativity, this is the first, and the second is female charm, it is revealed in the dress. And the creativity of not only the woman herself, her self-giving, her way out into the world, she shows herself, but also the work of the designer, of course, because there are a huge number of opportunities to show beautiful cut, and beautiful colors, and transitions, and overflows, and a lot textures, and sequins, and shmostki, and anything else. Therefore, the dress will never die. We are talking about fashion from haute couture dying and stuff, stuff. This is what we are just saying. We make some predictions, but we will still return to beauty, we will still return to the beautiful, and we will stay with him. It will save us as people.
MM: And the second topic that always excites our students is vintage, vintage fashion. And speaking of the dress, is there any place for a vintage dress in our life today?
ET: Well, of course there is! Firstly, at exhibitions. For example, our well-known Alexander Vasiliev constantly hosts exhibitions. I have also visited several of them, these are amazing emotions. Just imagine: a woman comes out in such a gorgeous dress, is shown in the light. A bunch of men pay attention to her, and she just sits and chooses, so this worthy, that unworthy, this is that Vronsky, and here it is someone else, and so on.And this is all history, this is all emotion, this is all life, real. It’s just that it was once. And it is not for nothing that women inherited their dresses. Remember, yes, it was like a wedding dress, and some evening dresses, it was an asset. This is very serious, very weighty. In our world, unfortunately, everything material has depreciated very much, but it is impossible to depreciate those things, because it was a search, it was an innovation, it was a bold step when, God forbid, you make a hem 2 cm higher and a little open your ankle, everything, the world will simply collapse, everyone will discuss you, they will blame you, and so on. And you are brave, you took it, you got the audacity and you did it, and what a fellow you have become!
MM: Well, then what is the trick of today's dress, modern dress? Here is what you, as a stylist and designer, can offer our women today?
ET: I think that the main function of the dress remains to match the place, event, match the audience that is invited, and match itself. Because the same dress was worn at different times. Over the years, we can’t wear it, and, notice that women ... we all change shapes, change proportions, and, of course, dresses change for us too. And I am very pleased that so many stars - and I always watch how the stars go on the red carpet, on the catwalks - I see how many are being transformed for the better, because they know when to get naked in time, when to take cover in time, when to use light colors in time, when dark colors, when to stand next to the background of that color, when with the background of a different color, in order to advantageously present the dress. But there are people who don't understand a damn about it, and look just ugly, no matter what dress they put on. And my task, I do this, I teach women how to make themselves in a certain dress. Well, if it concerns my dresses, then in general!
MM: But last time we talked about the fact that Eugene makes wonderful dresses from glass. Still, let's say these are dresses for special occasions. But for every day, what do you suggest again to go to our listener, our reader, for example, to work?
ET: The dress should, of course, be practical and comfortable, but at the same time, no one cancels the sexuality of this thing. It just should not be too loud, frightening, screaming and alluring. It should be neat, but it should have softness, femininity and a desire to calm, smile, I do not know, the dress itself, even with its lines, should smile at the person. I always have feelings from things that are psycho-emotional, and therefore it is very important for me.
MM: If we are talking about lines, maybe we will talk a little about cut. Still, you are a professional designer and have trained this professionally, and our students are sewing on Burda patterns. What cut is closer to you? Maybe you’ll also reveal your chip for our readers. What do you advise to bring to the cut, which can immediately somehow change the image?
ET: Well, how to say, change. Each has its own specific standards. To whom it’s going: someone’s sleeve is a "bat", someone is a regular set-in, someone is a raglan, we all have different figures. Simply, if we talk about everyday clothes, then, of course, we need free dresses. For this, it seems to me, in general, it’s time for everyone to have whole-sleeved sleeves for a long time, I do not know what to bother with these set-in ones.
MM: Really? And here, by the way, many of our readers, again, love dresses that are exactly in shape, yes, sheath dresses. Although I honestly tell you, I prefer loose dresses. They are practical, they are more convenient and very comfortable in them.
ET: I absolutely agree, and at one time I also started with sheath dresses. My first things that were sold in stores, even in my native Togliatti, when I was just gaining momentum as a designer, it was really a sheath dress.And later, of course, I did a lot of this too, having arrived in Moscow, and all the dresses were shaped, everything was cast, and everything was beautiful, tight and so on. But now we live so dynamically that we want to move, not paying attention to how we look from the side, and sometimes folds and creases ... And even sometimes, if we crouched and something was pulled somewhere, and began to diverge seam, but God forbid, we scored half a kilo somewhere on vacation, but it all affects. Sheath dress became good only for a strict office, where there is a certain dress code, where there is a perception of a business image. In ordinary life, in an ordinary office, everything should be gentle, elegant, aesthetically pleasing and, most importantly, comfortable. And I think we need light colors.
MM: If we are talking about the upcoming season, autumn-winter, for you what colors are in the top?
ET: I have a clear statement for myself that I do not want to decide on any clear concrete colors, I do not want to limit myself. In addition, because I work with a specific material, it is glass, and when a client comes to me, the ratio of his color type to the dress that he will put on is so important. Therefore, purple, pink, red, green, black, whatever it may be, the main thing is that it looks spectacular. Although I will not hide, yes, the first dress I made was clay of this color, with golden splashes, it was right in the trend, right what I needed exactly that season, I got. Well, it turns out, I don’t know, I just have some kind of inner flair, the whole press always writes about this: no matter what dresses he makes, they just have to appear somewhere on the catwalk, they immediately fall into trends! Well, that’s how we designers work, it’s embedded in us, like some special program in the brain, from, I don’t know, the Lord God or the aliens who brought us here, and it works. Therefore, what I do, I never think, I do it on the machine, I do it just calmly, freshly, inhaling and exhaling, and relaxing, and everything turns out.
MM: What is your attitude towards prints? Do you also treat them with caution or do you still love some fresh, interesting combinations?
ET: I really love prints. There is an unforgettable classic, and crocodiles, and zebras, and leopards, and bird feathers enter it. And all this has always worked and will work, this is the unshakable classic that we will never give up, and women will always attract men with these wild prints. This is normal, absolutely normal, I like it. Of course, the only thing I would note for myself is that I want more storms, a splash of colors. Here, right here, there are bright, some kind of daubs directly artistic, I was in such an amazing mood when I watched a film about the Dior design house, when they decided to create a canvas from the paintings of artists. Repeat and from this canvas already make then dresses. I think that not only they have already done this, but many have already done this. This really looks like artistic perception and the interconnection of fashion and art in principle. We cannot tear fashion from architecture, from the history of the world in general, from costume, from any design interiors, all this is interconnected. It’s impossible to put some old car on a chic beautiful street and give it as if it’s fashionable, cool, it’s impossible, everything should be harmonious.
MM: And if we return to the topic of the dress, I’m still very interested in how to style the dresses correctly. This is normal for you “dress + sneakers”, something that young people love and wear now again. Or, for example, a dress under which leggings are put on, and sometimes even jeans. What do you say about this?
ET: Yes, I myself experimented a lot in my time with the same things: a dress with boots, for me it was completely normal once, and now a dress with sneakers is also quite fancy, and with jeans.And by the way, when I did my first models, it was something between a dress and some tunic and a shirt there, that is, it was kind of strange average length, and there were trousers under it. Imagine, it was in '98, and I already did it, it was a very long time ago. Therefore, it has long come into our lives, we have been using it for a long time and we appeal calmly, dressing in this way. Yes, it's cool to look for something new! And the world, modern fashion, it is just alive by the fact that it uses some non-trivial combinations. Horns with hooves are already outdated, let's make horns, I don’t know, with a tail, understand? And then, well, as you can, bird's tail and horns, but it looks cool. Any photographers will confirm to you that it is necessary to put exactly what does not fit into the frame, it seems that it crumbles to hell, but! We look at it - and this one catches us!
MM: I understand that the dress will always find a place and time, but apparently the dress can be present in the wardrobe of every woman after all. So you advise, as a stylist, how many dresses and for what occasion should we have, every woman?
ET: Let's look at it from a sexual point of view. Just imagine, a man takes off your dress, he does it cool, elegantly, understanding what he is doing. Now imagine that he takes off your pants. This will be more pleasant for a man, and when he sees a new dress - new emotions. Again a new dress - new emotions. Taking off his trousers, he won’t feel any excitement, because it’s difficult, it’s difficult, you still have to bend over, you see, that’s why the dress is the most amazing weapon that women use from ancient times to attract a man. Why do we basically need a fashion - to attract each other. Why do we basically need fashion - in order to establish ourselves in our environment, at work, at home, among friends and so on, etc., to establish ourselves as a person, to raise our self-esteem. And the dress is the main weapon. Therefore, dresses can not be many. Well, let it be, I don’t know, 10 in the wardrobe, but they should be all very spectacular, all very beautiful, and you should wear each with pride, and not just put it on and scratched it.
MM: I just want to say that all our readers who love, worship dresses, sew them, and then they are very worried, and if there are too many of them in our wardrobe, they can now rejoice, there are not many dresses ...
ET: By the way, I wanted to say about the specifics of my things, which is completely accessible to everyone ... People can make their own covers for my dresses, and in this regard, a woman who works with Burda magazine, respectively, can calmly do on these patterns for yourself covers. Well, imagine, this is a brilliant dress and under it it can be red, and black, and blue, and green, and straight, and flared, and very, very strong with some frill out there. This is a huge space for imagination, for implementation, and therefore here is not only my work, but also the work of people who then buy it.
MM: It’s amazing when we can combine such a handmade miracle that Eugene represents and a handmade miracle from our readers, because I believe that everyone who does something with his own hands, he joins this miracle of fashion, and I I urge everyone to sew with Burda, go to our website, use our electronic patterns, and learn from our online courses. And by the way, we have an amazing online course on creating a Chanel dress, classic, using classic technology. Stay with us, and we wish you as much as possible to enjoy what you do with your own hands. The designer and stylist Evgeny Trefilov was with you, and I, the editor-in-chief of Burda magazine, Marianna Makarova. Goodbye friends!
ET: Bye everyone!
