With a series of interviews with young designers. who showed at last year’s Fashionclash Festival, we’d like to explore what their dreams, hopes and positioning are. Today with Uta Bekaia.
Laura, how are you today?
Things are going well. Busy with the new collection.
How does your own description of your designs differ from others’?
I would describe my designs as elegant and nonchalant. They are clean and always have a feminine touch.
What is the most important aspect in your design process?
Each and every part in the process is important. Finding your inspiration is – I get inspiration wherever and whenever and collect everything in a little notebook. Searching for fabrics completes the picture I had in my head and brings the collection to life.
What are you most proud of?
That I always had an idea of what I wanted to do and really worked towards it. It’s just the start but now, I’m actually doing what I pictured back then.
We see a lot of change happening in the fashion industry at the moment – brands are going from a men’s and a women’s to a single collection and with the ‘see now, buy now’ strategy sales and distribution is affected heavily. Where do you see all this going and how do you position your brand within the changing system?
LAU features an annual collection, which is not designed for a specific season. Therefor LAU doesn’t follow fast fashion culture.
If you could give the younger you advice, what would that be?
I would tell myself to be more confident. If you dream about what you want and start working towards it, you can at times become insecure when you consider how long the road to reach your goal actually is.
Where do you see your brand in the future?
Right now I just started the second LAU collection, a brand that’s just starting off. I hope that in the future it will grow but remain a small and personal brand.
You participated in last year’s Fashionclash Festival. What was this experience like for you and what benefits were you able to derive from it?
A great experience. It’s a great stage to present yourself as a starting brand. Because of Fashionclash people all over the world get to know your brand and it brings you a lot of opportunites. Because of the festival I will be part of the Design Supermarket Prague in December.
What are your life goals, your biggest dreams and high hopes?
In an ideal world LAU would become a well-known menswear brand on which I could focus while putting all my energy into my work – every day of the week.
Thank you for your time.
