My Ascot parade

I entered the showroom of Kristina Dragomir thinking that I would try only one hat (just because I think I don’t look good with any and just for the sake of the picture). I ended up with a real Ascot parade of a beautiful millinery work. And I had so much fun doing that! While I was trying several hats, I talk with Kristina Dragomir, the talented milliner and designer about fashion nowadays, about challenges and new trends in a hat’s world. Chapeau!

Alina Aliman & Kristina Dragomir

We two first met like… 10 years ago. How do you think fashion industry has changed in all these years? In a good way or in a bad way?
It is bad that fashion nowadays has Mickey Mouse ears and there is no more avant-garde spirit. Modern industry replaces fashion and art today – we have products, not masterpieces. Add to that “limited edition” concept, the speed production, the consumerism! Unfortunately, we burnt some stages, the ideas were fading and meaningful and we have nothing left but an empty space and a lot of amatory work. On the other hand, in a good way, the last 10 years of fashion have produced some designs according to the general trends from art (postmodernism, structuralism and deconstructionism). The fashion world has managed to assimilate designers with conceptual concerns and thereby move from usual tailoring to fashion design.
I have noticed that more and more people are interested in hats and head accessories. What’s the designer opinion about that?
I may say that people are interested in hats and accessories more than usual because they can find such things at accessible prices in multi-brand stores. Unfortunately, these are not usually qualitative things and the trend is just a consequence of a fashion standardization nowadays.
Tell me something about your latest collection. What was the inspiration source? What is going to be the main piece of the collection?
My new Spring/Summer 2016 hat collection is going to continue the concept of “wearable art”, seen already in my latest collections. The hat’ shape is simplified and reduced to its essential form. I bet on shape’ simplicity and on the original detail, placed in an ingenious way. For this collection, the drawings on the hats are made of natural pressed flowers. It is a technique that I would like to register as a trademark.
The funniest moment while your are making the pieces for this collection? The happiest one?It was funny to smell all the heated plants: it was just like we were in the middle of preparing a magic potion. And the happy resolution of the story was the collection itself.
What’s next?
I create new models once at a couple of months. Usually, the themes that I approach led to a fantastic image of the hat. There are classical shapes that I take and modify them with some alternative techniques borrowed from hand-made plastic art. And I thought about the alternative embellishment of a hat: I did models with natural pressed flowers, with porcelain miniatures, with chips of wood, with different elements taken from exterior architecture or from African tribal art.
Recommend me a hat for… a cocktail, for a wedding or for a music festival…
You are not only choosing the hat according to the event, but you have to choose your head accessory looking at your personality and your face shape. And that’s because a hat is something magic and the way you wear it puts the hat the spotlight. A hat is a sophisticated way of underline and accentuate a figure, offering an fantastic, colorful and spicy alternative to every person.
Celebrities wearing your designs… Bea Åkerlund, the darling stylist of Hollywood, Princess Margareta of Romania, Rita Ora and Aino Jawo from Icona Pop are just some examples of famous people who wore my designs.
Your all time favorite designer… Philip Treacy.
Your favorite places in the world, for shopping & going out… Barcelona & Milano.
We could find hats by Kristina Dragomir at… Parisian concept store L’Eclaireur, Beams concept store in Japan, at Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, The Residency in Hollywood, Los Angeles (curator Bea Åkerlund), Swinger International in Milan, Marc by Marc Jacobs in Bruxelles, G&B Negozio Brescia, Ukraina, Rolls Group International in Hong Kong, Copais International Fashion China. Online on: www.kristinagdragomir.com; www.moja.ro; www.molecule-f.com; www.whoyouare.com; www.leclaireur.com; www.thequeenstore.it.

Kristina Dragomir Spring/Summer 2016 campaign

Photography: Alina Băisan (www.alinabaisan.ro)
For campaign image: Artistic Direction Marian Pălie; Photo Iulian Nan; Make-up: Andra Manea; Model Paula Letca/IMC Models