Interview with Vera and Olivera Capara of Capara
Published at L'Officiel Italia on 5th March 2015
“I’m in the moment” – the title of Capara’s winter 2016 collection shows already their profound approach to fashion. The twin sisters Vera and Olivera Capara from Bosnia-Herzegovina just presented their outstanding first show at Berlin Fashion Week. Their evident love for experimenting with shapes, proportions and luminous colours clearly also stems from their working experiences at Maison Martin Margiela, Jil Sander and Dries Van Noten. The results are edgy, urban pieces with sharp tailoring and conspicuous art references.
I met the two designers backstage after their show in Berlin to talk avant-garde, art and Antwerp.
Did you want to go to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp from the beginning?
Yes, absolutely. I read an article about it and we just decided together to go there.
Due to its avant-garde approach?
Exactly. And we’re still based in Antwerp, even though in the meantime we had jobs elsewhere, Milan, Paris…
You both worked for Maison Martin Margiela from 2003 until 2007. What was the most significant thing you’ve learned during these four years?
Martin is a fantastic person. I think it’s the way of working intuitiv and to bring concept and statement in every piece.
Does his way of working still influence you?
Yes, definitely. Every designer works differently. Martin Margiela is more intuitive, Raf Simons more strategic, Dries [Van Noten] is rather about colours and print. Somehow everyone left their mark. And all these influences are important.
Did you found Capara 2009 because you felt like you weren’t able to express yourselves enough at one of these houses?
It’s not about that. The time with each designer was great and we got amazing opportunities. Two weeks after graduating Dries himself called us and asked if we wanted to work for him. And of course we loved doing that. But what I always feel very strongly is that moment, when you realize that it’s time to move on. The feeling, that you have given everything you could, and that you got everything you could, then it is time to go on.
True to the name of your collection “I’m in the moment”.
Yes, exactly.
What does that credo mean to you?
It inhabits a very spiritual meaning. You enjoy and live and love every moment in the present. You don’t drift into the past, or the future. But you use what is now.
What was your source of inspiration for your autumn/winter 2016 collection?
Viviane Sassen, the Dutch photographer, for colour and fabric mixes. Pieter Breughel, the Renaissance painter, for shapes. It always depends on what you see in these things. There was this painting with wings. We translated them into prints and screen prints and included influences from [modern artist] Katharina Grosse. Just out of a feeling.
To which criteria you cast the models?
Simply character. Simply strong. It’s a nice mix. A lot of Nordic looking models from Germany, America, Sweden and the Eastern Bloc, because obviously… Beautiful girls.
What’s the essential statement of your fashion?
We’re concentrating a lot on shoulder pieces. We also do dresses, but jackets and trenches are our jewellery pieces. It’s this combination of innovation and elegance.
Why this fascination for sleeves and shoulder pieces?
I just love to bring a certain architecture to the designs. Also personally I have like a hundred jackets and about three dresses. It’s just the love for this outerwear.