story by Alexandra Dawes
interview by Charles Beckwith
photos by Adrianna Favero
photo editing by Alexandra Dawes
Designer Johanna Ulurasjarri for Leifsdottir sent out a collection titled “Catalonian Affair” for Fall 2010 at New York Fashion Week.
Heavily inspired by her recent trip to Barcelona, flamenco dancing, bullfighting, and Salvador Dali, Ulurasjarri was driven to direct her attention towards more soft and graceful types of fabrics.
The overall highlight of this season’s collection was its fantastic wearability; in addition to the ruffles, textiles, prints, deep, bold colors, black lace, and the fluid, incredibly slender silhouettes.
Throughout the collection was a heavy use of textural tights and black lace to reemphasize the overall Spanish theme of the show. Elegance and glamour gave Leifsdottir an incredible sense of drama, power, and femininity for Fall 2010.
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modaCYCLE editor Charles Beckwith interviewed the designer back stage.
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modaCYCLE – Have you been doing this collection since the beginning?
Johanna Ulurasjarri – Yes. I was the one who launched the collection and came up with it.
modaCYCLE – And it is under Anthropology and somehow related to Urban Outfitters?
Johanna Ulurasjarri – Urban Inc. is the parent company and I have been Anthropology’s design director for several years and they gave me a chance to do this dream come true collection two years ago so now I am the Creative Director of Leifsdottir instead.
modaCYCLE – I’ve noticed there is a lot of great detail and there seem to be a lot of ideas in play. What was your central theme and what did you run with in creating this?
Johanna Ulurasjarri – Well, each collection we do–I am all about storytelling and coming up with concepts–that is what every detail, the prints, everything is for. This time around, I got fascinated by the work of Salvador Dali, the Surrealist paintings, and also his life. He was such a flamboyant, grandiose character, with his curly mustache–he was just nuts! I have always liked these iconic people and I also went to Barcelona because I wanted to be in an atmosphere where he lived in because he lived most of his life in that area. I went to see a bullfight for the very first time in my life and that was scary, but absolutely breathtaking–kind of wrong, but beautiful. It is like costumes, at the same time warriors and dancers, it is like choreography, with savage animal, it is just quite stunning. So, flamenco dancing, which is coming through with the movement of the clothing, the most sensual element. I just go all this down as a life loving, deep, passionate ode to the Spanish inheritance, art, and culture.
modaCYCLE – Wow. It is really impressive. I noticed the earrings that are fabric. What are those?
Johanna Ulurasjarri – We have a very talented stylist, Pastel, who has been styling our shows from the very first show and she as well as all the other creative people who help me with the collection, we all get so inspired by the story. The story gets the stylist going, the story gets the hairstylist going, the story gets the designer going, the story gets the assistants going. That’s where the detail comes from. She did an incredible job. We’ve been asked if we are selling them. We are not, they are just for the show.
modaCYCLE – They are fantastic. Just all the little details are beautiful and add so much to an already strong and obviously very versatile collection.
Johanna Ulurasjarri – Thank you. I hope you enjoyed everything.