TheSouthSider Interview: René Gurskov

Growing up with an environment that is related to the basics of fashion, it is not a surprise that René Gurskov would bring and pull out exceptional artistic capacities. Enhancing what has been on him ever since, the Danish designer entered fashion school in Copenhagen for 3 years and had his internship in Paris for 1 year. More of his ventures, Gurskov bought In Circus and then soon closed the shop to transform it into a wholesale company to produce his very own fashion label. Now, he's all over the place and his designs are well publicize, mostly with no bias opinions.

How did you get into fashion?

Rene: Hmm - it seems I was always there. My mother was a home seamstress when I was little so I picked the fabrics and made some stuff for our dolls. Later on i began with paper dolls.

Were you thinking of womenswear by that time? Or just simply generalizing the concept of designing and fashion?
No it was women's - and I am trained in women's. I only began with men's since I never found anything for myself to wear. The last 2 years we have only done menswear.

Two years isn't that long. Do you think you're well equipped with menswear knowledge?
I have been doing mens[wear] in 8 years along with women's and for the last 2 years we do only mens[wear]. But I try to improve all the time.

I see. Well I am big fan of your seasonal collections. How do you conceptualize?
We spend a lot of time making up a story about the guy for the season. The Parade Boy or the Nephew of Miss Marple and so on. I work this out with our graphic guy (the one on our blog).

Do you have a group/team in helping you doing a collection?
Yes I have an assistant and some interns.

Tell me. What's a normal day for René Gurskov?

Well we start a little late. At 10. But first we do the orders we have for the webshop and the pop up store. Then on to production and developing new models. Then dinner and in the evening I make some drawings.

But I noticed that you're active in Facebook all time.

Not it is just on - in the office. I am not a chatter

Oh, that explains.

But anyway, are you open for the possibility of diversifying your campaigns? Like hiring an Asian model?
Yes but there are none in Scandinavia.

For your upcoming collection [Spring/Sumer 2011], what's it gonna be like?

I found a picture of Andy Warhol when he was young- before he became Andy. We relocated [him] to Paris, in Place de Clichy.

On the other note, have you been limiting your designs to avoid recession? Or just keep moving on with whatever pop outs to your mind?
No that has not been our strategy. In fact we have been growing for the last 2 years - so we did not experience any recession.

How far do you think Rene Gurskov would go? Are you open to the possibility of expanding?
Yes we want to take America too.

As a designer, who do you think is your toughest competition?
They tell me it is Jeremy Scott - but I don't know.

Any collaborative news from you?
We did a scarf collection for the MAISON BO-M in Riyadh opening these days.

Finally, what's your personal style?
Now it's balloon pants and all the tees from boysboysboys.de in hamburg and my YSL sneaks - light blue.

Fashionable! Thanks René
You are welcome.