HEAD — Genève

Aya Noël

I studied at Central Saint Martins Fashion. 1 Granary is really an education, a bridge between being a student and being a designer.

Temple Magazine

We didn’t know it had been created by a student.

Aya Noël

Yes, sometimes people think we’re still a student magazine, but that’s just how it started.

Temple Magazine

Could you just tell us what your magazine stands for ? Because it’s a different way to talk about fashion and young designers.

Aya Noël

I think what sets our magazine apart it’s that it was founded by somebody who wanted to be a fashion designer herself. As a matter of fact, she really set out to understand the industry. This is why she started and she said ‘‘ I am a young student but I really have no idea of how this industry works and how it functions ’’. I want to understand the meaning behind everything. What do buyers look for in the collection ? Why are some people selected for shows and why some aren’t? All these questions you ask yourself when you are students. Our first goal is to inform them not only about what’s going on but also what’s going on behind the scenes. What’s more, I think honesty and open-mindedness are very important. We’re not just very glamorous. We think it’s more about highlighting somebody covering a designer and how they did their first show on London Fashion Week. Then, we will show the studio and photograph the ashtray full of cigarettes and Diet Coke cans on the floor and of course it’s always about showing what’s behind the scenes and the reality and the beauty of the reality behind glamour.

Temple Magazine

It reminds me of the magazine Fairy Tail, founded by the graphic design studio Vier5. They made pictures in back-stages during the Paris Fashion Week, which interested them more than showing a conventional image of fashion.

Aya Noël

Yeah, same idea!

Temple Magazine

What do you think about the uniformity of fashion magazines?

Aya Noël

This is something we’ve been talking about for months. I think in the media we think there are so many erratic moods that everybody’s trying to reach everybody at the same time. And I think it’s also because it is the easiest way to get advertisers and increase the readership numbers, which is the most important thing. So, you need your audience to be as big as possible. And I think this is why we’re lucky with 1 Granary as we’re still a small unit and we still occupy this very particular position within the industry. We can survive without them, we are more into sponsorships and small creative collaborations.

We have this freedom to really stick to what our message is and who our audiences are. This is definitely something that frustrates me sometimes when every single magazine shows exactly the same people. When Cardy B comes out with her new album everybody is talking about her or stranger things. It’s almost impossible to find an underground scene among all these numerous magazines.

Temple Magazine

What does a young designer need to know to succeed in the industry? What is the difference between someone who starts to be famous after school and someone who doesn’t?

Aya Noël

I thought about this a lot because I talked to Master and Bachelor classes before, and I wondered what I could tell them as a journalist. And even though I don’t like this advice, I think that it’s all about having good connections, being likeable and having people like you. Sometimes it is more important than the current work you produce. And I think I will answer it. It may be much more a criticism than an advice. But the people who make it are usually the people who can work their connections in a very smart way. And it’s not necessarily people who produce the best work.

But if you can use this as a sign or understand this it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Yeah! it’s frustrating…

But making connections shouldn’t necessarily be a negative thing. You can try to cultivate an interest in people around you outside your own universe and always trying to find interest in other people.

Temple Magazine

Sure! So you are part of the jury of the fashion show, what would be important for you during the selection of the winner of the prize, what will determine your criterions?

Aya Noël

I think what’s really important is a coherence and a consistency between concepts and the visual. So, it’s almost as if when you see the collection you already know what the story is. When they explain their collection there is a perfect coherence. That doesn’t mean the story should be obvious at all but what I’m saying is that I think a good collection is like a universe on its own. I can imagine the movie, these people are playing and then as soon as you hear the story you say yes that’s it! the movie I was thinking of even if I couldn’t express the emotion I got.

Temple Magazine

Is there a young designer whose work you particularly like currently?

Aya Noël

Yes, it’s Gabriele Skucas! She’s a young designer from Central Saint Martins who is specialized in crochet. She makes everything from scratch. It’s more manually intensive than knitwear because it really comes from one track: keeping making knots until you have a garment. It’s a laborious work, for her it’s a form of meditation and reflection. Her work is about the ugliness and the complexity that every person carries inside what you can never really touch. And she says that it’s very difficult to be human. All I want is her clothes to comfort and to soothe it. And I think her clothes are so pure that they express this perfectly.