Dancing on sugar candy clouds – interview with the designer of Christine on the Clouds

Cristina Șerbu smiles a lot and says she doesn’t like to stay for the pictures. Hmmm … curious for somebody who graduated Drama school. But I have finally persuaded her to take some selfies in the mirror (for the Instagram) and to try out more clothes from her brand collection, Christine on the Clouds (well, I’m sure Cristina obviously knows how these wonderful clothes are born, because it makes their design). On a Monday morning, I talked to her about collections that have supercute names (such as Eternity’s Second, Wings of Silk, Anatomy of Me) about inspirational moments, fashion beginnings and magical collections.

Christine on the Clouds clothes could be found on www.christineontheclouds.com and in Molecule-F Store, Promenada Mall. // www.molecule-f.com,

Why… on the clouds?

Maybe because I am an idealist. 🙂

Your collections / categories on the site have special names (with fairytale, music or movie references). Why?

The Christine on the Clouds collections are reflections of my desires, needs and moods, are part of my world and I define it better this way. I avoid using the term “new collection”, I do not feel and I do not think in terms of new and old.

Your first love encounter with fashion was…

… with a flared skirt made out from a black silk scarf. I was about 12 years old and I was in my grandfather’s house where I redefined everything I got my hands on. 🙂

The perfect outfit for this fall would be composed, in your opinion (and with your clothes)….

Cotton woolen jacket, delicate knit blouse, fine wool sweater and perforated skirt, comfy footwear, a scarf with details.

The perfect remedy for an inspiration gap would be…

Indoor or outdoor action. Inspiration could come from everything and from anywhere; sometimes you are looking for inspiration, sometimes she is looking for you, usually when you expect less. One morning I was at the traffic light and in front of me was a van with something drawn on it and; with no apparent connection, it came to me the idea of applying a ball on a piece of knit. This is how one of the most beloved Christine on the clouds item was born.

The icon piece that will always be in Christine in the Clouds collections…

The white collar – attached to a blouse, dresses or shirts. I am deeply bound to white and everything that derives from it.

Your dream collection would look like (the shapes, the materials, the city)…

Somehow, every collection is the collection of my dreams at the time; sometimes I dream bolder, sometimes shy. Fabrics deposits have a great contribution to making the fantasies true or not. 🙂 I think Rome is the city that inspires me the most, there’s a waste of beauty, but Paris gives me confidence and courage. The endless forests in Norway, seen from the train, changed my perspective on the white poplin – that was the point where the idea of clutching the cloud on a blouse with a white poplin collar appeared. But, at this moment, I do not dream of a city or place, but just live, I do not want to escape into the dream – I want to live.

If you would have infinite powers, what period would you erase from the fashion history?

The 80s, but I would not be that radical.

The biggest challenge for a designer nowadays is…

I could not generalize, it’s difficult. Maybe the fact that you must keep up with the hallucinatory rhythm imposed by the consumption industry. It is exhausting to be creative all the time, somehow it lets you out of powers. It’s delicate to keep a balance between creative and commercial.

What’s next for the brand?

A Dolls on the Clouds collection. There will be 5 dolls, each representing something: will, desire, friendship, family, patience. There are dolls whose purpose is not just aesthetics, their purpose is to stop us a second from the chaotic life we live in and to remember us what we really want. The doll is the link between the women we are now and the women we want to be. Her presence will remember us, when we think less and we need the most, that we are on our way to meet our best version and we must not turn away from it. There are dolls from recycled materials and natural fabrics, as we are, after all. With old, natural emotions, but which always seem like us, maybe because we did not tame them or want to relive them.

Photography: dreamingof.net

READ ALSO:

Gone with the wind – interview with the creators of What If I Fly jewellery