Style & Design
Originally published on Tuesday, 24th February 2009
Rozalb de Mura
Olah Gyarfas' designs for Rozalb de Mura mingle fact with fiction, masculine with feminine, and minimalism with a passion for detail in one upmarket, Romanian fashion label. Launched in 2006, this year sees the label take part in On/Off Presents...
Describe your style in three words.
Architectural, oversized, androgynous.
What are the inspirations behind your collection for On|Off?
The Rozalb de Mura men's collection is a subtle continuation of the SS 09. Jackets boast overlapping rounded hems, oblique pockets, very slim lapels and ruffled collars. Trenches have a vague sportish air about them, with volume enlargement around the shoulders or neck. The feminine part of the lot features dresses and coats with numerous small pleats puffing up the lower part.
I had this colour sampler and skimming through it, two names would stick to my mind: Desert Twilight and Powder Cadillac. I loved the nuances too: dry gray and soft, creamy pink. I thought, why not? I'll plunge all the items in a paint tub.
What do you love about showing in London and how would you say it differentiates itself from other fashion capitals?
Paris is definitely the most influential fashion week and all the people from the industry are there, but we love London Fashion Week for the Incredible atmosphere you can't find anywhere else, outstanding creativity and competitive edge.
How do you think the fashion industry will hold up in the current economic climate?
I think the designers should become fiercer, more true to themselves, more creative, more aware of the economic conditions. It's about survival!
Coming from Romania, a place where the fashion scene is really small and there is not much infrastructure, nor support for developing a business in this field, we have to imagine your own solutions anyway, moreover in these hard times. I think a lot of the rules and the mechanisms that used to work in the fashion system will radically change.
What is your best kept fashion secret?
Take pleasure in what I do. Not surrender to the pressure of deadlines.
What is one lesson you’re grateful to have learnt in your career?
There's a lot of wisdom and beauty in nature. This is what I yet again realized while chopping logs in the yard of my house near the woods. It's both physically exhausting and hypnotically relaxing just to chop wood and let your thoughts wander about. Time is the greatest luxury of all.
One thing you wish more people knew about you?
The Rozalb de Mura atelier is in a small, remote city in the awesome mountains of Transylvania (Romania) and that's not a handicap in working in this industry, as many imagine.
Career Highlight so far?
Each current event seems the most important one. All the excitement, the stress, the preparation. Right now, the OnIOff presents show is everything I think about.
What’s the first thing you’re going to do when Fashion Week is over?
Go to a fine museum, I suppose.
What does the future hold?
It would be terrible to know. It's the mystery that keeps us going.
