BoePalm: INTERVIEW MIT TATA CHRISTIANE

Photo credit: valquire veljkovic // valquire.de

THE FABULOUS WORLD OF TATA CHRISTIANE

- FASHION IS FICTION

You
entry an old building while it’s cold outside. And you receive the very best
hospitality by Julie Bourgeois, the designer of „Tata Christiane“, which
figuratively means „Aunt Christiane“, who’s a French symbol of colors,
eccentricity with a mixture of morbid grunge and visionary vividness. Smoking
cigarettes with a room filling person talking between German, French and
English created a unique atmosphere.

And
here’s what we asked Ms. Bourgeois exclusively:

Dear
Julie Bourgeois, it’s wonderful to meet you. Thank you for the great chance to
have this interview with you.

It’s nice to meet you,
too!

The
first thing we want to ask you, is how you’d describe your clientele.

It’s quite large, very
different. Androgynous. Can be classic and casual or extreme and very colorful.  I didn t find any rules in i yet.

-
You use a huge spectrum of different colors, cuts and prints, oftentimes united
in one piece. What is the message behind it?

Fashion is fiction.  The material, the texture and the color
effect are really important to my eyes. I didn’t study fashion, but literature
philosophy, my work is influenced by this. I took the aspect of beauty, fiction
and poetry from my studies and didn’t get influenced by the rational aspect of
it. Extravagance and beauty. There’s a special private story behind every
single piece I make. It’s more art culture than fashion culture to me. Fashion
photographs should be in my opinion complex, like literature or arts. And there
doesn’t have to be a certain meaning or context. It‘s quite free.

-
When can we face the announced Online Shop for Tata Christiane?

It will open the latest
in July, hopefully sooner.

-
Why did you choose Berlin as your adopted home?

Before I came to Berlin I’ve
lived in Paris. I came here because of the music with my band,
Aniaetleprogrammeur. Step by step I moved to Berlin, gave up my appartement in
Paris. Living in Berlin is more comfortable than in Paris because in Germany’s
capital city you have more place in your mind and I' m working and living
better here.  

-
Some days ago we read that you and Nicole Roscher from „Von Bardonitz“ are the
founding designers of „The Offer“, a multinational label collective. How much
did and does this influence your work for Tata Christiane?

I started doing
collections and exhibitions in Berlin after working for different theaters and
artists in Paris. Nicole Roscher with Magdalena Schaffrin
started  to organize meetings with
other   designers  to exchange tips and do something together. I
joined the meetings when I arrived in Berlin. Step by step, some designers
left, others came. We started „The Offer“ as newcomers and
have very different styles. We organized then events and performances to
promote the designers of The Offer and share together our experiences. Andrea
Cseh is as well founder of The Offer.

-
You’re not only a fashion designer, but also a costume designer for movies and
theater. In which movies and plays have your costumes been seen?

I made some stylings and
costumes for movies. Furthermore I provide 
theater groups, circus artists, and also many musicians with my clothes.

-
And our last question to you but probably the most interesting one: When we
searched for shops offering Tata Christiane in Germany after we had seen your
collection at „THE EDGED Showroom“ during the last Fashion Week, we couldn‘t
find any.

So
are you planning an expansion of Tata Christiane?

I‘m represented in
Japan  by the Shop Wut Berlin, and in a
shop in South Japan and Hong Kong (Pop up store). I sell as well in Belgium and
in Paris. I don t have yet my own shop. On the website you can find the shop
list.