"Deep memories yield no epitaphs"

Image sources: 
Trine's Wardrobe
throughthetrees
throughabandonedstars
dolorispetunia.
gregkadelstudios

Title credit: Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Stathis Samantas Spring Summer 2012

I met Stathis last summer in one of my best friend's wedding. The lucky bride had her heels designed by talented Mr Samantas and I couldn't wait but meet the man himself. Stathis in his stylish stole so slim and fragile. A young man of genteel stature and gracious manners. The kind of character demonstrating a unique fusion between old school creative charm and avant-garde congeniality. His personality is certainly mirrored in his shoe designs. He combines cutting-edge with ethereal and sensuality with sophistication. I have been so fortunate to have spent time together under meadows of green, run through rain, laughed with common jokes and exchanged words of wisdom about his Spring Summer collection and more, which you can read below:

      

·         Did you always see a career in Fashion and shoe design for yourself? How did you get involved in the industry?

I have studied industrial design which helped me a lot to improve my aspect on sketch and technical details on models and prototypes. Prototype is the most important step in the process of making a shoe.  During my studies even the first year, I started sketching shoes in my sketchbook besides technical drawings and other projects. I felt that I couldn’t express myself through industrial design as much as through shoes.  That’s why I gradually started to make my first steps creating my sketches, to connect fantasy and reality. I have to say that it took me a lot of time to understand my “real” inner feeling.

·         How would you describe what you do?

Serving beauty and fulfilling human needs.

·      How would you describe your sense of style?

Style is the way you front life. The way you react, the way you handle everyday things, the way you handle human relations. Fashion is just a field where we can express the above.

·         What are your inspirational sources to fulfill your creative vision?

Sources are usually hidden very well. Like nature. Imagine a source of water. You can’t see the source itself but you can see what offers to us. I also have a source inside of me. It’s difficult to explain but you can see the expression on my work.

·         Do you ever compromise your artistic vision for the practical aspect of the design or the constant changing fashion trends?

Although fashion's purpose is to bring us very close to another, less painful, almost imaginary world, I do not compromise. I try to mix it with my artistic vision. I’m a designer after all. I make products for humans.

·       You have been proclaimed by the media as the Greek Manolo Blahnik. Would you aspire to a similar career?

I believe that Manolo Blahnik, has given many important things in shoe design, years ago. I would like to have a similar career in the level of creation and popularity of course.

·       Your designs are perfectly fused with pure creativity. Do you consider your shoe creations to be appreciated only by celebrities?

Working with a celebrity helps your work to become very popular quickly. That’s how fashion system works. I think that my creations should be also appreciated by every woman or man. 

 

·         Do you believe that a girl can be sexy in flats?

Yes, I believe she can. If she can handle it. I mean if she believes that she can be sexy in flat shoes, she will be.

·         On a day off - my favorite things to do are…..?

Read books and some magazines, visit Acropolis and the museum (again and again), go to gym, go to an exhibition, go for a walk with friends.

·         If you could have dinner with three people (living or dead) - who would they be and why?

Maria Callas. I would like to talk with her about her talent and how she handles it with her personal and professional life. Her voice sent me to heaven. Sigmund Freud and Jesus Christ. I would like to have a conversation the three of us about psychology and religion. 

You can find the entire collection on stathissamantas.com

Neon Loneliness Motorcycle Emptiness

Wearing: H&M leather jacket, Birger et Mikkelsen cardigan, Zara pants and pumps, Louis Vuitton minisac, Persol sunnies

                                                                             
                                                                                                        

She only Reads Love Poems and Fashion Magazines

Des: She came in in a hurry. Walls in scarlet red. Her pensive cateyes looking grand through her post grunge old hollywood eyeliner. She was so tall smiling a kind heart of giving grace. Her leather old school jacket over a sheer pale ballerina skirt. Carrying camera in her bag. In her head possesing the endless zest of youth and charisma. Once she proclaimed: "I don't care about your life. I just want a picture of it" Thus, we walked in rain. Drove with surf boards in the front seat. Crowned ourselves in flowers and torn out posters. 

                Wearing: Vintage Zara coat, handmade neckpiece, vintage Valentino belt, Donna Karan "cozy" cardigan, Kookai pants, Topshop studded slippers

Pictures courtesy of Des: http://sheonlyreads.blogspot.com/

Cloudline

I wandere'd lonely as a cloud,


When all at once I saw a crowd
...

Continuous as the stars that shine

...
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
...

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

Wearing: BP Studio knit, Hugo Boss top, handmade neckpiece, Nowhere heels, Zara clutch, Tripoli sunglasses

Poem excerpt: "Daffodils" (1804) William Wordsworth

Marigold Sleeved

Apple Crisp Weather. Wind pushed a lingering cinammon cloud from the sky;

under bergamot blossoms and marigold sleeves.

      Wearing: Zara skirt, top and clutch, vintage scarf and cardigan, Pull n' Bear vest and belt, Topshop studded slippers

Rorschach dream

"Stood in firelight, sweltering. Bloodstain on chest like map of violent new continent. Felt cleansed. Felt dark planet turn under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night. Looked at sky through smoke heavy with human fat and God was not there. The cold, suffocating dark goes on forever and we are alone. Live our lives, lacking anything better to do. Devise reason later. Born from oblivion; bear children, hell-bound as ourselves, go into oblivion. There is nothing else. Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us. Streets stank of fire. The void breathed hard on my heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world. Was Rorschach. Does that answer your questions, Doctor?"

Wearing: Cashmere knit Loewe, Jacket Barbour, pants clutch Zara, wedges Topshop

Excerpt from: Walter Kovacs/Rorschach quote Watchmen film