Elisa Jimenez Interview

CGG: Elisa, can you tell us about the sign above the runway? Elisa Jimenez: This symbol right here, which looks somewhat like an asterisk, is an ancient symbol for being centered and expanding in all directions. It’s actually so that the models and all the things I was trying to do with this is sort of forward movement. Movement as a re-evolution of industry – a new industrial revolution, a green initiative; in the same way that Ford revolutionized the last 100 years. The repercussions that we have because of some of these things-- assembly line equals child labor; the model T, now we have global warming; the cause and effect. It’s not a judgment, it’s just we need to rethink-- we’re such a smart species-- to re-think how we can both be consumers and yet conscientious. So I was trying to bring that energy into what we were going to do. But also on a personal level by telling everyone in the show, everybody who was doing the show, make your wishes. I’m working so hard to create this environment. Make your wishes, use this energy and this moment to think about all the things that you want to accomplish as a person. Why do we go through all this effort and work if it’s not for something bigger? I mean yeah ok fine, great clothes. And I’m so proud of my man and his line of bags. CGG: So the bags are your partner’s? EJ: That’s my partner, yes. It came directly out of the love affair – it’s a real story. We fell in love and I’ve been doing this and all my artwork for years. And he’s an artist and a photographer, and he started sewing and then he found it so satisfying and he wanted to start doing the work because he wanted to know what it was like. So I got the first bag and then I started encouraging him; and we’ve actually had seven gallery shows this year already, the first way of putting it in fashion and in context. And then-- we go back in five days-- we have another show in Santa Fe that’s more of the surreal couture that I do; it coordinates the marionettes. There are three girls that are actually connected and they cut themselves apart from each other and then they come back together. They’re dancers – you know more of that work. And then a month after that we do a show at another contemporary museum that’s being funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation. And also to have people call you not just because of the show Project Runway but actually the history of twelve years I had before Project Runway – I was known for doing this “let’s have a spontaneous show or let’s have a spontaneous sell and let’s create our environment – let’s make it whatever we want because why not?” And if you have $500 you do it on $500, if you have $5000 you do it on $5000; and to be known to have that reputation. And to have all these people walk away and be like, “Oh that was such an amazing experience;” and have it be about something that’s about fashioning; but it’s about fashioning your life. CGG: When did you start becoming so passionate about being eco-friendly with your designs? Where did this all come from? EJ: I try to be good. I really do. But I have a tendency to be a bit of a trickster, a bit of a mischief-maker. I’ve researched trickster for about ten years. They are people who can go in and out of things and so I figured since I was in fashion – you know Vogue has claimed me, Paper claimed me – all these people helped me have a career that was an accidental career, that if I was going to continue to do that in addition to my artwork that I felt like there was a responsibility with it; and why not since I’m just an independent I can take those risks. Maybe a bigger designer wouldn’t take those risks right away so I started working with these companies – this is the fourth season that I’ve shown 90% to 95% all completely sustainable. So these companies I can say, ‘You don’t know what that fabric is going to do? Give it to me, I’ll test it out, I’ll do the things that I do to it. I’ll wash it in this, I’ll do this with it, I’ll give it structure, and then I’ll tell you how it lasts in three to six months. That kind of thing, it made me feel like if I’m going to do this industry that I’ve sort of been doing as a way of making a living and supporting my daughter and myself for twelve years, I should do it conscientiously. CGG: We’ve heard so many comments from designers when we ask them about being eco-friendly with their designs, and they always so it’s so expensive and so hard to get this stuff – what do you say to that? EJ: Well the truth of the matter is that at this juncture it may be more expensive to get it, but it’s worth it for one. Second thing is, bottom line fact, things have to be introduced into our society as a luxury item first before mainstream will ever acknowledge it. Fact: the hybrid is not the middle class car because I’m middle class and I don’t have that kind of extra lying around. It has to go there first and then there’s an acceptance. Like in Europe, organic is more competitive because there are more farmers so there’s more competition. So if you could have the larger designers like the Donna Karans and the Michael Kors’ making the mills make x-amount. 50 yards of that brown that you saw in the runway – it’s sea cellulose, it’s made out of algae. It feels like silk. It’s so stunning and beautiful. The white that you saw that was heavy, it’s denim. It’s done by the American Cotton Growers – no dye, all organic. These types of choice, if you have a Levis, they’re starting to move into the green and the eco. Those kinds of designers, those kinds of choices will help move the industry forward. CGG: Where do you find these materials? EJ: I put them in the program so people could find them. (laughs) No I go online. I do a lot of cold calling because I figure nobody knows me, I have nothing to lose. I did actually personally call Ford to see if they could somehow bring a hybrid car so that I could somehow tie that in. You know it didn’t go anywhere; it’s ok, I have nothing to lose. You can google OrganicFabrics.com but also there is a showroom of sustainable fabrics called C.L.A.S.S.; they sponsored some of the fabrics in the show. I wrote that in the program. Ingeo I’ve also worked with for about three years. Both of those companies are out of Milan but they have platforms in New York so they are accessible. There’s Wild Rose fabrics that come out of Oregon. You can google Bamboo Textiles that come out of Hong Kong – the lighter brown of the mini-dress, that’s bamboo and soy. These types of things – I even googled organic hardware so even like recycled metal kind of looks like organic cotton. Just you know, try your best. The Nike shoes, it’s called the Considered Product line, all recycled. Love that! CGG: I’ve heard you talk about this imbibing process that you do with a lot of your clothes, can you tell me a little bit about that? EJ: Well with all my artwork and installation, which I started doing 20-something years ago, I felt like the best way I could influence people or incorporate them – I wanted to have them enveloped would be through smell because it’s incredibly powerful. It’s scented. So this collection was scented with eucalyptus, sage and honeysuckle. The honeysuckle came from Montana, the sage came from New Mexico because I started the collection in Montana but then was urban nomadic and went back to Sante Fe to finish the collection. And then eucalyptus in general is the stimulation and putting people at ease, because you’re working with all these people and you’re asking them to trust you for three hours, five hours. The imbibing process was just an extension of making the clothes a second skin – something a woman felt evocative in so that it’s more about the wearer over that which is worn. And in essence even though this collection is a departure, I’m still coming from that place because I really don’t feel comfortable with the wonderful powerful woman walking into the dressing room and saying ‘I’m too big for this.’ I want them to be experiencing something a little bit more. My bar is very high. I may seem eccentric but the bar is high because I want that woman to love that dress for years and years and years. I want it to be the favorite dress – you clean your house, you have your babies; please what a great compliment. CGG: I want to know what’s one piece of advice that you can give young people who are trying to find their own sense of style, keeping in mind staying eco-friendly? EJ: It’s very interesting because I actually had the incredible opportunity this summer of working at a summer camp, teaching sewing ironically enough. I’ve been sewing by hand forever and ever. And let’s face it, turn of the century, all that stuff that everyone admires, the dawning of vogue, all that stuff was hand sewn. Machines came after. All that high couture, that whole thing. That white dress you saw that was completely Ingeo – hand sewn, little tiny shell buttons all the way down old style. That being said, advice to young people: remember who you are, make choices that you want to make and can be proud of twenty years from now. Think that way. If you don’t have access to the material, especially when it comes to the eco and the green, and this is what you want to do, there’s this incredible thing called the internet and it’s opened up the world for you. Some of the fabrics I worked with tonight were 8 dollars a yard, some of them were $50 a yard. So there’s a range and it’s out there – some have minimums some don’t. So research, be smart. We’re women; we are biologically adept to multi-tasking, verbal communication, and researching. Maximize. CGG: How do you raise your daughter to be a conscientious citizen and consumer? What advice would you give to other kids? EJ: My advice with my daughter, raising her, was that she was raised around women like us. And when she was at impasses, which now is a treacherous time because she’s a pre-teen, when she’s at an impasse and she doesn’t know what direction to go for her to follow her heart. At a very young age she recognized that there was light and there was dark and you should always make the light choice because you can always go higher. But let’s face it darkness is so overrated; it really doesn’t look good in the long term. And for young people in general, you will be tempted by all many things and you may think it’s ok to try it just one time. There are some things that once you make that choice, you don’t ever get to go back – ever, at all. That’s what you need to know. So be very careful before you make those choices that everyone else is telling you is perfectly fine, it’s so fine, just one time, one time – no. CGG: Can you tell us a little bit about what you’re wearing? EJ: I’m wearing an Ingeo hand-cut halter apron and it’s trademarked and it’s paper. I do a paper line called Radiant; you wear it one time but after it’s worn one time the value actually increases because you had an experience in it. So at first it may start at this price point but the more it’s worn, it actually gets more expensive. But if you bought the piece it’s the idea that you would save it. I made a book called Green Wedding and I made a completely paper disposable wedding dress. And then I’m wearing shorts that my friend Caroline Marx, who is a costume designer for High School Musical-- because I worked on High School Musical with her-- she bought me these shorts and I always wear something a friend gave me to empower me. And my man helped me pick out my boots, and then I’m wearing my man’s backpack that has two trees on it, so that it would be he and I and we would grow well.