Interview with Gabriel Cetrez

Motivation comes only from satisfaction. If you are not satisfied with yourself or with the circumstances, nothing helps. In order to stay motivated, you have to have a solid basic to look forward. You also can´t force yourself to be motivated for something. So in fact, you have to prank yourself in order to imagine it as a habit.

Nobody can force someone to be something. I believe it comes by coincidence. And this industry is driven by many coincidences and most of them are even not equitable. I had a clear vision, to work only with what I can do best. In my case, it started when I began to draw as a child , later I knew that I need to continue in the creativity and art aspect, to benefit from my skills.

Mainly womens dresses. Menswear bores me to death since everything looks the same and there is not a big diversity as it is for womenswear.
I think this is why the industry is driven more for womenswear.

I personally don´t like the word "young designer". Because the minute someone is called "young designer" it automatically meanes, that he has no experience.
Today there are more newcomers and young designers that suffer to stay in the industry for long time.
So the key is to stay in a working-relationship for a long time. I would recommend to "young designers", they should not start their own business, right after their graduation.
They should start to work for established companies, to get secure experience without any risk. If you start your own business or brand, right at the beginning, you don´t have any time for designing. You will have to work more with the business procedures. And this kills creativity, which is important when being a " young designer".

A good designer is someone who stays for a short term in the industry and than suffers. A great designer stays for long term successful.

Something that catches the attention of the consumer. It should be a realistic idea that matches the spirit of the time.
But there is no principle and rule of " good design" since it is also a question of taste.

People should not invest in good design, they should invest into the designer as a human. This will last for longer and is more important. Many designers suffer lack of support.

I would like to design the womenswear collection for any french or italian fashion luxury house.

You know I´m not a daydreamer, this is something I don´t do, because it is very dangerous. If you dream during the day, you will be distracted from your work!
But even nightmares are dreams. So I would most likely work for the biggest fashion luxury house of the world - for shure, even this question is against my expectations.

Theres no golden rule in fashion, otherwise everybody would be an projectionist and see the trends ahead. You have to stand out from the mass and do things different, by innovative ideas in order to be creative and unique. There is no secret recipe of success in design or anything else. You have to learn from yourself to find what is a secret in your behavior.
The minute I tell you my secret of success in design, it is not a secret any more.

I´m not much inspired by other personalities, because I don´t like to get influenced by other people.
But I like the work of the oldest master of fashion, which name I can´t tell, because I promised not to do name-dropping.

I liked few designers works because of their reinvention , which included for example: Alber Elbaz at his time for Lanvin, Raf Simons at his time for Dior, Roberto Cavalli at his time when he was still working for his namesake brand, but also the current designers at Fendi.

I have always many new ideas that come across when I start with one project, so I think that I should realize them, before I forgett them.
Actually there´s no other way to improve yourself: Never be satisfied with what you did, always look forward to what you can do better.

Something else in art like a cartoonist.

Design is creativity and expressed by an idea of fantasy devoted to a concept of reality. It´s accountable to illustrations.

At the beginning I did all of myself and I was not supported by anyone, which I think was also good, because I never wanted to be addicted by others the beginning.
Later after I continued to work focused and disciplined, my work was recognized by the media and press.
But the biggest supporter has still to come, which should be an investor to finance and grow my brand.

The financial support.

They should present their work where the buyers are attending. Mostly in showrooms.

Future is a strange word, since the minute you plan for the future, it happens the opposite, anyway. I only like the idea of the future in order to have a positive hope about it. But I dont force it as an expectation, since I´m more interested in what’s going on and what is happening right now, instead what has been or would be. And for the question on what is next for me: I look forward to collaborate with other designers and fashion brands as well, including to exhibit in trade shows among the fall/winter and spring/summer seasons.

To work for a luxury fashion house.

Theres nothing more worst than the stagnancy. The creative work is a never ending dialogue which makes it impossible to waste time. I think if I had more time, I would reject more things, and bring other ideas or concepts in. But that’s also not necessarily better. Sometimes you can work things to death when you take too much time.

I think its important to focus also more on sustainable fashion design, with minimal textile waste. About the fashion industry’s negative environmental impacts and the sustainable fashion design techniques, zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction that can combat this.

I am never satisfied with my current work. I alway look forward to do it better and better.

Im not a projectionist, but I think people consume much faster today, so the question is how do you enjoy something that’s constantly shifting from one point to another? And young designers are judged so quickly. They should be given time to grow, because they need people seriously support what we are doing.

It is done in three weeks, maximum five. Its very important, gathering research — mood boards, books etc. Later I choose things they feel are worth developing. The moment I think this is an interesting thing to try, things go very fast, since I want it to be made in the present instead for future. I dont like to skip projects, otherwise my interest changes to other ideas.

I start immediately. Because one should not be depending to different ambiences. You have no incubation time for daydreaming or ideas that came from nowhere. When you try an idea into a new project, you look at it and think, let's skip it away for a few days and think about it later, this is something I always avoid, since it kills the inspiration. So I capture it and directly implement it into my project.

Theres a quote which says "Only idiots do not change" So I have the right to change my mind everyday. Yesterday I even had another motto as today.

Interesting question. I think trends-set is brought by a current hype and time that is reflected by a certain lifestyle. So it can be both.
But an inspiration comes at a random time, from nowhere, something that cant be captured by a purpose. It happens by coincidence. Also being updated by reading related books or magazines can observe a kind of seeing the trends. I am somebody who focuses on a dialogue between generations - that's the drive of my work. I believe the young generation take the power, they'll take over at one point but the older generation they'll push it away only because of the fear. I'm the opposite, I'm always curious.

That creative process is very technical, so you don’t have much dialogue with people, which is something I dont like at all. The people I work with on a exhibition or show are essential to me, since we are in a constant dialogue either its with my models I work with or, the client or the press. You work with the body and with your brain.
I don’t want to control things totally. I like to control things only up to a point, which I see as my responsibility. I like being creative in collaboration with other people.

I have my moodboard and capture every idea that could be important for my collection by sketches and later illustrated by CAD software. I have my specification sheets including all details such as size measurments, fabric, trims, patterns etc. and I work with my self created tech pack that I send to my technical designers and tailors to produce the garment / dress finally.

I often get asked on when my next fashion show will be and which kind of models I will hire. These kind of questions I even dont response, since I´m not an gossip reporter who provides dangerous half-knowledge.
I am flexible to decide where or with who. I like the results to speak for themself. And sometimes it´s better to answere questions that you have asked yourself.

One should not let feelings overcome to a design realization. Im not an antenna, who captures informations and sends uncontrolled signals to others. When my designs are realized, it shows off in my dresses and the entire collections. I see the results and the feedback from others. I like the level of concentration and minimalism. Design is an environment that always embraces individuality and newness, so in that sense one have to be disciplined, to shut up and let other show off emotions in their mind.

I´m easy to work with. But most of the other designers have an ego-problem. So I don´t believe in co-design. But there are of course some exceptions.
I could imagine to have a design partner who is at a leading position of any big fashion house.

I don´t read from paper, because I feel sorry for the woods that have died for a book. I like to read from electronic devices.
Furthermore I have read so many daily news and articles, that I even don´t remember from which author or publisher it was, because all write the same.

You should always focus on the work and not get distracted. Theres nothing more worst than the stagnancy. The creative work is a never ending dialogue which makes it impossible to waste time.

With the oldest master of fashion.

Sarcastically you can get famous by tomorrow, if you do any scandalous thing. But that is not hard, it´s more hard to stay famous for a long time. But I don´t ask myself for these questions, because to be famous for yourself, you don´t need fame.

I like to visit places where lot of people, culture and architecture are covered , but at the same time I need a reason to travel. I hate to be a tourist, that´s why I need a reason to visit a place. And I only eat what I‘m allowed to. The rest eats the garbage

If you are full of energy. But if you have empty energy, you can charge it, with new spirit and inspiration. Theres nothing more worst than the stagnancy, which is the most contra to creativity.
So I´m pretty perfectionist in this case, since I focus on every single detail of my designs, otherwise I get unsatisfied - which is a good exercise in pursuance to push yourself through the day.

No, because I even didn´t knew about it. I wanted to continue to work with creativity.

I´m not a fortuneteller, this question is even against my physics. I never look into the past and also not into future. I only live at the present and the - Now-.
Neither I will be involved in thousand of years, nor I will have to play any certain role. I only like the idea of a good hope for the future.
I´m even not shure if this world still will exist in thousand of years, so thankfully me and you, won´t have to deal with this question.

CEDRESS is a ready-to-wear label, founded 2011 by Gabriel Cetrez. In the context of high fashion the main aim is devoted to prét-a-porter collections, that include womenswear and menswear which are wearable and afforable to customers for any occasions.

Creativity.

Both menswear and womenswear. Although Mens fashion is more complicated than womens. It's also very challenging. It's about self reflection and the idea of the mirror being perceived by other women and men, the challenge of gender issues. It's something I keep trying and investigating also with the idea of a unisex collection, which is really interesting to see that theres no gender equality. For me it was very clear it could not evolve unless it was given more freedom - unless it looked at what women or men want now. Not communicating in the same way automatically meant freedom - taking inspiration from different environments but keeping the inspirations apart of what others are designing. I don’t want to control things totally. I like to control things only up to a point, which I see as my responsibility. Our world is constantly moving and rolling. I stepped over that when I scaled up. I like being creative in collaboration with other people. That creative process is very technical, so you don’t have much dialogue with people, which is something I dont like at all. The people I work with on a exhibition or show are essential to me, since we are in a constant dialogue either its with my models I work with or, the client or the press. You work with the body and with your brain.

Its the mens suit since I like to implement different patterns wheter they are checked, dots, stripes or playful prints. Today there are way too much standard suits in unicolors, without special prints and patterns - which is boring to me. In most cases, you see business-mens or office-workers, every looks the same with black suits and white shirts. Like penguins. And the streetwear of the young-generation today, is inspired by pseudo-professional hip-hoppers. Menswear is not in the same level as womenswear and never has been. Therefore I prefer to create for women. I think that women are more intelligent and have a better definition of style , but that's why mens have to be stronger. I wish it was where women’s fashion is, a new identity for men in the same way they do for women. Not that men’s fashion be subject to the same seasonal upheaval, but that it break out of rigid adherence to the standard sartorial strata of sweater, pants, overcoat, underwear. Men’s wardrobes are ferociously pigeonholed. In this case I like the idea to create unisex collections, as the mens shirt which also can be a blouse to a women, so the question is not anymore about gender equality and no dresscode is needed.

At the SS15 season, I sketched an illustration bicolor bodycon dress for the Just Cavalli SS15 collection.

Lace, Chiffon and silk such as crepe de chin implemented with multicolor patterns.

Mostly in the mornings, since at the evening the energy is lost due that the day is over. I believe in empty energy, for example when I get bored by an audience or daily routine, I have to escape to a travel, to find new ideas and inspiration. Thats why I also change workspaces and rooms in order to charge new spirit. Theres nothing more worst than the stagnancy, which is the most contra to creativity.

I´m pretty perfectionist in this case, since I focus on every single detail for a pattern from my collections, otherwise I get unsatisfied - which is a good exercise in pursuance to push yourself.

Energy. But this should not concern others of course.

I dont like that word of emotions, since the minute you speak about emotions things get misunderstand as too sensitive. Because when you are too much of emotions, other competitors will benefit from your uncontrolled emotion. Its like the self-pity peoples, who bore other with their problems. Which I avoid due to the responsibility I have to the fashion community. Its difficult to find a balance, one should not let feelings overcome to a design realization. When my designs are realized, it shows off in my dresses and the entire collections. I see the results and the feedback from others. I like the level of concentration and minimalism. Fashion is an environment that always embraces individuality and newness, so in that sense one have to be disciplined, to shut up and let other show off emotions. Im not an antenna, who captures informations and sends uncontrolled signals to others.

Well, if its unique and never seen before of course. Something that is playful and artfully implemented. It should be a realistic idea that matches the spirit of the present time. Many collections I see from other designers are very inspired by the past or future, which is something that always has been in history of fashion. The history of fashion is the history of longing. Nobody is born stylish. Everybody wants to be a little memorable, and some would like to be somebody else, or more like the self we see in the better part of our minds. It’s about one hundred years since fashion took its place alongside literature, painting and music as a way to look for the social essence of one’s era. But a given, poetical reality like that of the weather, or the light peculiar to a certain hour of the day.’ So I tried to recall the passage, with the origin source, that has started with the nature before anything else

I think its important to focus also more on sustainable fashion design, with minimal textile waste. About the fashion industry’s negative environmental impacts and the sustainable fashion design techniques, zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction that can combat this.

Im not a projectionist, but I think people consume much faster today, so the question is how do you enjoy something that’s constantly shifting from one point to another? And young designers are judged so quickly. They should be given time to grow, because they need people seriously support what we are doing.

The Fall Winter 2015 season in january at Berlin fashion trade fair and the spring summer 2016 season fashion show in kiev. The exhibition for the Fall Winter 2016 Season was in Berlin again and the next summer 2017 season I want to take place ieither in London or italy.

Its not that I love to use much of nature prints, but I like everything that is brought from it since its natural instead unrealistic. In the beginning of my first collection I started with flowers, which included mainly orchids that reflects the purist of feminine fashion. Than I captured a lot with my camera and implemented it into my collections as patterns. But an inspiration comes at a random time, from nowhere, something that cant be captured by a purpose. It happens by coincidence. Also being updated by reading related books or magazines can observe a kind of seeing the trends. I am somebody who focuses on a dialogue between generations - that's the drive of my work. I believe the young generation take the power, they'll take over at one point but the older generation they'll push it away only because of the fear. I'm the opposite, I'm always curious.

The characteristics of my style and designs are awlays modern and in the present time. I like fashion that is is wearable to any occasion, rather than a special haute couture costume that never finds the streetwear. But at the same time I don’t judge others style, like to suggest that the woman should be like this or that and that they stand like this. I want her to be inspired by a look, or by a type of look, or by another woman with that look, and not by an collection of 40 looks that are beautiful together. I think the biggest luxury today is freedom of choice. When a woman sees one piece in one way and then sees it again in a different way, she can see different possibilities. A minimalstic style can show in a way that you think its perhaps boring but at the same time can get a modern trend.

I live in Germany, but was born in Sweden. My cultural heritage is Aramean. But one should not make an political drama about the heritage, since I dont analyse the history of the past, neither I was involved on that time nor I can give any speculations about things that I haven´t seen. In this case I´m pretty much cultivated than the culture itself. Here I have to quote " Heritage to me, is where I want to be and where I feel free. " I´m not bounded to an specific place.
Regarding the second question, about the pros and cons of designing in my country of Germany was that we long time had no established fashion council yet, allthough other countries like Italy, France do have councils for fashion since long time allready. Now luckily this has changed and a council has been created, which supports German fashion design and emerging designers, where I would like to participate as mentee.

Its important to have a designer that has both talent on designing and sketching but also the experience in the business of fashion, to analyse the market of supply and demand, on which he can create new trends sucessfully.

The first process is the sketch by paper and later illustrated by CAD software. I have my specification sheets including all details such as size measurments, fabric, trims, patterns etc. and I work with my self created tech pack that I send to my technical designers and tailors to produce the suit or dress finally.

My bicolor plaid suit on which I wear one collarless shirt with 2 large necklaces including gold crosses and rings and a stature of a city, which I visited the last time. I dont like to wear ties on a suit, therefore I wear many different necklaces instead.

I have a schedule every day that begins at the morning and runs through the end of the day, and every hour needs to be filled. First what I need to do when I wake up, is to have breakfast of protein cereals which never includes any sugar or bread or hot drinks like coffee or tea, only sugarfree soda-drinks and water. Nothing else. Also I dont eat sweets, chocolate or candys since this seems like plastic to me, something I cant eat and dont touch. Afterwards for example, from 09am to 14.30pm, it´s mainly the menswear collection, fulfillment of orders and customer service and much of work on the marketing. Later I have dinner which is often frozen foods with vegetables. From 15.30 to 20.00pm it's working on the womenswear collection among the product analysis and maintenance and the communication by email traffic with my manufacture partners. Everything is timed - the whole week incuding weekends. If there's a delay in a project, the whole day is "fucked up", since I dont have time to start from scratch again. You have no incubation time for daydreaming or ideas that came from nowhere. When you try an idea, you look at it and think, let's skip it away for a few days and think about it later, this is something I always avoid, since it kills the inspiration. So I capture it and directly implement it on all the collections. You have to prank yourself in order to imagine it as a habit.

In my case I began with the age of 20 only, nowadays it has been since 7 years. It took me a lot of energy and exhausting patience, that not everybody can bear with, since you run a business and at the same time need to be creative, which needs a lot of perseverance which can be a nightmare for a young person and lot of stress. So the suggestion that I would give to emerging designers, is to start working in an established fashion house rather than being self taught independent. They will need to find their own experience and personality. Therefore it is much easier and less stressful to work as an employee without taking the risk of an independent who often works more than only 8 hours.

You will have a great deal of responsibility and important business decisions will face you each and every day. The buck stops at you and the business should always be at the forefront of your mind, not just an afterthought, which makes it hard to be creative in designing and at same time managing the business. This is a disadvantage for many other designers or creative directors since they spend too much time on finding inspiration for their work rather than realise their project.

This is a question that is even against the physics. Theres no golden rule in fashion, otherwise everybody would be an projectionist and see the trends ahead.
You have to stand out from the mass and do things different, by innovative ideas in order to be creative and unique.

The heritage of sketching the designs by paper. This shows of the talent.- If you dont have it, forget about it.

I have my moodboard and capture every idea that could be important for my collection by sketches and illistrations and CAD specification. Later it will be realized by researching on fabrics and patterns.

To me its a full time job even on weekends, so theres no way out, I have to take the risk and I like it, since everyday is something different.

It is done in three weeks, maximum five. Its very important, gathering research — mood boards, books etc. Later I choose things they feel are worth developing. The moment I think this is an interesting thing to try, things go very fast, since I want it to be made in the present instead for future. I dont like to skip projects, otherwise my interest changes to other ideas.

I often get asked on when my next fashion show will be and which kind of models I will hire. This is a question I dont like, since I´m not an gossip reporter who provides dangerous half-knowledge.
I am flexible to decide where or with who. I like the results to speak for themself. And sometimes it´s better to answere questions that you have asked yourself.

Apart from that you have a shedule of 365 days per year where you run a business which is allready more than chalenging, I think the most important job experience was to see how I could manage to conduct a fashion show with a team of casting directors, hair stylists, make-up artists, on which I demonstrate what kind of tonal palette I wanted for the look of my models. The creative directors on which I had been in a constant dialogue to coordinate every single details in the right place and order, for the stage building. The DJ´s on set who mixed the music for the runway, in the genre that I prefered. At the same time you need to communicate with the press members and prepare the invitations. In addition, a tailor and seamstress needs to be hired since a dress may not fit and needs quickly a cut or alteration. Altogether it´s time a consuming effort which is also very expensive, for a show that is always less than 15 minutes only.

Future is a strange word, since the minute you plan for the future, it happens the opposite, anyway. I only like the idea of the future in order to have a positive hope about it. But I dont force it as an expectation, since I´m more interested in what’s going on and what is happening right now, instead what has been or would be.
And for the question on what is next for me: I look forward to collaborate with other designers and fashion brands as well, including to exhibit in trade shows among the fall/winter and spring/summer seasons.

For the next spring summer 2017 season a new womens accessoires line will be enhanced, which includes sunglasses, watches and luxury clutches.

by e-mail to service@cedress.com

One should always challenge yourself in order to reach your next goal. This is an extremely exciting and energizing situation to be in. You should always focus on the work and not get distracted. Theres nothing more worst than the stagnancy. The creative work is a never ending dialogue which makes it impossible to waste time. I think if I had more time, I would reject more things, and bring other ideas or concepts in. But that’s also not necessarily better. Sometimes you can work things to death when you take too much time.