Klitos Teklos, former Art Director of Surface magazine is the Creative Director in the New York office of AIR PARIS agency, world-known for its iconic campaigns for Christian Dior, Lancome, Gianfranco Ferre and many other luxury brands. A man who develops and produces global campaigns for print and TV for top celebrities and fashion houses such as Kate Moss, Kylie Minogue, Victoria and David Bechkam fragrances, Jil Sander and others was my first and best option to ask his opinion on the current situation in the global fashion scene. While interviewing him for the next issue of Greek L'Officiel magazine, he agreed to answer to some additional questions for my blog, having to do more with fashion advertising and his view over the fashion industry at the moment.
Why do you think top fashion houses choose to present human figures that have undergone fairly radical cosmetic surgery, have albinism or bodies full of tatoos?
This is simply the effort of some creative communicators to try to push the boundaries of what could get an extra minute of attention. These explorations are not necessarily a new thing, since they are all based, most of the time, on what preoccupies people, their needs and insecurities. We have seen the themes of aging, appearance, sex and gender through the years by many visionary designers, stylists, photographers and art directors. Most notably, Alexander McQueen was one of the people who brought many "dark" moments to fashion, but was able to add a touch of fragility and romanticism to them and make us see them as special instead of "weird". We are not looking at something new here with the new wave of designers. In fact, what's "new" about this is the timing these ideas are being brought back to life. Something can shock or be accepted only at the time people can accept it or be shocked by it. If people can widen their perception of what's beautiful by accepting that there's more than one kind of beauty, then this can have a social impact as well. If these images result only to shocking people and setting these examples of beauty as awkward and displeasing, then it says a lot more about acceptance and individuality in the world today.
Which do you think is the function of fashion right now?
I think fashion right now has an even greater impact than it ever had before because it's been embraced by people more than ever. It influences every single field daily, from the workplace to the fun place. It shapes every aspect of culture. It exposes us to new ideas, makes us look at things differently. It changes our perspective and perception, influences the way we look and feel. It's an integral part of human culture. From the moment that each and everyone of us needs to get up in the morning and put clothes on, at every stage of life, fashion will undeniably be there to influence from the tiniest to the largest degree.
Is fashion "frozen" at the moment?
It may not have been the most creative moment in fashion over the last couple of years but let's not forget that fashion as well as art, design and advertising reflect the sociopolitical changes happening in the world. As mentioned above, fashion and advertising have the ability to influence people but they wouldn't be able to do that without the people. Fashion is an industry and just like all other industries, it needs fuel to function. It won't survive if people don't buy and support it. This financial crisis has surely had an impact on everything, including fashion. And this unfortunately led to creativity taking the back seat to allow for the emergency plans of survival to kick in. Not that during periods of misery, there cannot be progress and innovation - quite the opposite actually since it forces people to get creative. But the truth is that ultimately, very little of the creativity that was produced reached the majority of the consumers since most money-movers resisted investing in the avant guarde and the "new", when survival was the top priority and the risk was at an all-time high. Fashion though is ever-changing and has an adaptibility that very few industries do. So as things pick up, we surely have great things to look forward to. Just take a look at the promising pre-fall collections for 2011: designers haven't recycled previous decades for inspiration or went to some uber-cosmic allien moment that we cannot relate to. Instead they are looking at the present as they turn us into global soldiers ready to fight fot a better future.
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More of Klitos Teklos and also an exclusive photo capture of his impressive international career will be hosted in an interview in the next issue of Greek L'Officiel magazine.
Photo above courtesy of Klitos Teklos and Kurt Iswarienko who shot him. In the first video above Klitos Teklos talks about the development of the Kate Moss Vintage ad campaign. The following two videos are some of the projects that have been taken up by Air Paris agency
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