Share with us you career profile.
After finishing school in Munich, I decided to move to Spain to study fashion design in Barcelona. 5 years later, I completed the fashion design school ‘Felicidad Duce’ and then I decided to move to Berlin to get new inspiration. Pretty soon after my arrival in Berlin I had the chance to present my final collectionat a fashion fair, where I luckily got very good feedback from stores and press. That was the moment I decided to continue and rushed into having my own label ‘isabell de hillerin’. Since then I´m showcasing a new collection twice a year during Berlin and Paris Fashion Week. I am very happy to be able to do what I love, in my studio in Berlin –Neukölln.
What inspired you to become a fashion designer?
I don’t really remember what inspired me in the first place. I started to draw dresses as a child and one step followed the other. I never had a plan B, so I´m happy that I actually became a fashion designer.
What is your designing philosophy, what do you keep in mind while designing?
Sometimes I have a vision of a certain feeling I want to create, or I´m imagining a woman in a particular moment and situation. But every time I´m starting with the first sketches of a new collection there are subconsciously bubbling ideas in my mind, but it always takes me some time to define what that really is.
What is your brand all about?
‘isabell de hillerin’ stands for a mixture of subtle elegance, minimalism and traditional elements. There is a common thread in all my collections: traditional handmade fabrics and embroidery from Romania & Moldova. These unique material sandem broideries became an important part of the identity of ‘isabell de hillerin’. The idea is to strengthen this traditional art is an industry, to work with local manufacturers and to support the production of handmade materials by implementing their cultural skills in a modern fashion context. Folkloric details combined with clean cuts represent a position between new design and tradition – the exclusive signature of my Berlin based label ‘isabell de hillerin’.
How has your brand evolved over the years?
There has been hours, months, years of hard work, struggling to become visible for the fashion world…. but now things are happening really fast!
Which markets are you currently catering too?
Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and hopefully many more coming soon
What would you call the “Defining moment of your Career”?
Actually the defining moment is not so long ago. In July 2012, I got a call from the German VOGUE, that the Editor- in-Chief Christiane Arp selected me as one of the six Newcomer Designers in Germany. After presenting the spring/summer 2013 collection at VOGUE Salon during Fashion Week Berlin, I got the honor to have a two pages feature in the November Issue. I would have never thought that this is going to happen to me and the fact that now VOGUE is supporting my label, is still incredible and I´m very grateful for that.
Definitely a wonderful moment, which is defining the rest of my career.
The business cycle is not easy to endure. Can you name a Guru who guided you?
I think I have been inspired by a lot of people, but I really don´t have a Guru who guides me.
How do you help men/women in the becoming torch bearers of fashion and style?
I´m not guiding or helping anyone with what I´m doing, but I can give the choice to combine fashion, style and consciousness. My label translates traditional values and patterns in a new way. That´s the only thing I can tell.
When you see your dresses looking good on an individual, how do you feel?
I love it.It´s so great to see people wearing my designs, in which I put a lot of thoughts.
In case of an unsatisfactory customer, do you accept criticism; ever lose your temper? Its` always good to hear other opinions andI am very grateful for any kind of criticism, good and bad. It´s funny but I always stay calm and also if I would like to lose my temper sometimes, I´m just not that kind of person.
Your competitors in business, are they a threat?
Of course there is a lot of competition in the fashion business, but I don´t see that as a threat. Why should I? I´m happy to hear that other colleagues have success with their business and of course I´m happy if I can say that as well about my label.We all want the same, so we should help each other, don´t we? To share experience, knowledge and contacts is better for everyone than to waste the energy to fight against each other.
How do you see your work, five years from now?
I could imagine to start with a men’s wear line and to make some more accessories. There is so much happening at this moment and I´m very curious myself to see my fashion label in five years!