YOU FOUNDED YOUR BRAND VAUTRAIT IN 2020 BRINGING TOGETHER TRADITIONAL CRAFT AND TECHNIQUE WITH A CONTEMPORARY ANGLE. WHAT ENCOURAGED YOU TO FOUND YOUR BRAND WITH THESE VALUES? WHAT DOES YOUR APPROACH TO DESIGN LOOK LIKE?
During my studies, I focused on construction and tailoring techniques. I was obsessed with buying old tailored jackets and opening the lining to learn and explore the inside of the garment and how it reflected on the outside. I’m trying to bring together this traditional craft with a contemporary angle in the aspect of respecting the past and trying to persevere it as a dialogue with the presence: this may be my definition of contemporary.
I BELIEVE YOU SEEK EXPRESSION IN EVERY GARMENT YOU DESIGN. WHAT TYPE OF EXPRESSION DO YOU LOOK TO SHOWCASE IN YOUR DESIGNS AND HOW DO YOU DO IT?
For me, expression is a mood, a Stimmung. It is a feeling that translated from the inside to the outside. A feeling is what it is, positively, regardless of anything else. Its being is in it alone, and it is a mere potentiality. It is something personal that comes from a space of silence and is translated into the public space which also has to be understandable. Every piece of garment express a different mood, maybe a different state of mind. The design process in this aspect is making the unclear mood into an understandable mode.
THE SS23 COLLECTION WAS INSPIRED BY THE COMEDY-DRAMA FILM “A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE” BY ROY ANDERSSON. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS FILM AS THE MAIN INSPIRATION FOR THIS COLLECTION?
I find aesthetics and beauty as a moment of stopping. When I see something that is beautiful I stop because nothing else is important. Sometimes I take my phone out to document this specific moment and sometimes I don’t and then regret I didn’t. When I watch Roy Andersson movies it feels like every scene is that stopping moment. When I break down this idea of beauty, I find that it is about looking at existence and then beauty will reveal from the most trivial moment. I tried to work with the idea of trivial garments and give them a sense of a hidden beauty from pictures I took with my phone in random places – like a twisted fit by mistake for example.
HOW DO YOU TRANSLATE ALL YOUR THOUGHTS AND INSPIRATION, IN THIS CASE, THE AFOREMENTIONED FILM, INTO PERFECTLY STRUCTURED GARMENTS AND A COHESIVE COLLECTION? WHAT’S YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?
I always start by gathering everything I was inspired by into a file. It can be a specific color of a trench coat that I saw in the film or even some random words. Then I start making collages just for me to understand the forms and the colors. The last part is getting obsessed with it and start doing material research for the specific color and the weight.
I’M MESMERIZED BY YOUR APPROACH TO TAILORING AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF GARMENTS WITH A SLIGHT MOVEMENT OF LINES THAT MARK THE BODY BOUNDARIES. WHAT IS IT ABOUT TAILORING THAT YOU FIND SO INSPIRING AND UNIQUE? WHY IS IT THE MAIN FOCUS OF YOUR PRACTICE?
Tailoring is my main practice, it is about the fitting and the quality of the materials I use. For me, it is the base that comes with the design. I believe that the design doesn’t matter if the quality is bad, and when it comes to tailoring it is all about the quality. Everything is thought in each part of the garment and every seam has a reason – it needs to go with the body, it is for the body and never against it. My idea is to move some lines but still respect the body and the tradition of tailoring.
THE DISTINCTIVE SILHOUETTES AND NEUTRAL TONES YOU’VE USED IN THIS COLLECTION REALLY SHOW YOUR FULL POTENTIAL AS A DESIGNER AND THE STRENGTH OF YOUR BRAND. FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, WHICH DO YOU THINK IS THE KEY TO A PERFECT COLLECTION?
I think that the key is the material research in the aspect of considering the weight and the falling of the fabric to design. To never go against the fabric, you should always listen to what it wants.
YOU SAY THERE IS SOMETHING “EXPECTED HOWEVER UNEXPECTED UN-FINE-NESS” IN THIS COLLECTION. COULD YOU EXPLAIN TO US THIS EXPRESSION AND HOW YOU MANAGE TO CREATE SOMETHING UNEXPECTED WITHIN YOUR WORK?
I worked in this collection with the idea of everyday clothes like trench coats, suits, and silk dresses but I tried to show these clothes with a twist that stays in the box for their definition.
VAUTRAIT’S SS23, AS MENTIONED, IS OUTSTANDING AND I’M SURE THE FUTURE COLLECTIONS WILL BE EVEN BETTER. HOW DO YOU SEE THE EVOLUTION OF YOUR BRAND AND FUTURE COLLECTIONS? DO YOU ALREADY HAVE SOME IDEAS FOR THESE FUTURE COLLECTIONS?
I’m super excited to start working on the next season, which is winter. Winter is my favorite season since I was young. I have this memory of eating a lot of whipped cream as a young child when it was raining outside – it might be an inspiration for next season. I also like how everything is quieter, and cleaner and the light is softer in the winter. I also feel like all of the next collections will be the same in the aspect of dialectical movement between them. For final words, I’ll quote Roy Andersson: “Human beings are the pleasure of human beings”.
VAUTRAIT:
Design that seeks expression
OCTOBER 21, 2022 → WORDS ADRIÁN GOMIS EXPÓSITO
PHOTOGRAPHY DUDI HASSON, ARIEL PEDATZUR
VAUTRAIT, the international conceptual brand founded by Yonathan Carmel in 2020, brings together traditional craft and technique with a contemporary angle with the main focus placed on the perfect and pure structures of tailoring. Following the brand’s presentation of the Spring/Summer 2023 collection, Sicky Magazine had the pleasure of sitting down to chat with Carmel who shared why he found inspiration for the collection in the comedy-drama film “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence” by Roy Andersson, the creative process followed from capturing fragments of life that inspire the new creations and the reason why the brand focuses on tailoring.