Prized Possessions
Five distinctive fashion designers select their most valued belongings--and there's not a diamond or a sports car among them.
By Kate Novack
Spring 2005 Style & Design
ALEXANDER MCQUEEN:
" Prints by Joel-Peter Witkin"
PHOTOGRAPHER JOEL-PETER WITKIN may be a master of the
macabre—meticulously posed corpses, limbless nudes and portraits of
asylum inmates, such as those in his book Harms Way. But Alexander
McQueen sees his photos differently: "Many people view his work at a
face-value level, but I believe it has another depth to it. I see the
images as darkly poetic, virgin and romantic." His favorite is A Day in
the Country, a 30th-birthday gift from Elton John, who perhaps will
remember that McQueen turns 36 in March.
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG:
" My tiny camera that I carry at all times"
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG doesn't leave home without her Contax T3. Even
when she's hiking in Connecticut, California, Africa or Peru, her trusty
palm-size camera is in tow. "I take pictures of leaves, wood, stones,
flowers. It could be absolutely anything," she says. The most graphical
shots—such as a recent close-up of tree bark—sometimes turn up on the
designer's signature wrap dresses. Says Von Furstenberg: "I bring the
photographs back to the studio, blow them up on the computer and use
them to create fabrics."
ROBERTO CAVALLI:
" My beloved wooden horses"
YOU MIGHT NOT expect a man who traverses the hills of Tuscany in an
Aerospatiale helicopter and helms a purple yacht off the coast of
Sardinia to have a soft spot for low-tech wooden animals. But Roberto
Cavalli, the Italian designer with a propensity for zebra stripes and a
devoted following of superstars, has surprisingly eclectic tastes. "I
was inspired to collect because of my passion for horses," says Cavalli
of his assortment of some 20 equestrian statues in wood, stone and
bronze. "And then there is, of course, the connection to my surname."
Cavalli, in Italian, means horses.
VIVIENNE TAM:
" An embroidered coat that I found on a trip to China"
WHEN VIVIENNE TAM was growing up in Hong Kong, secondhand clothing was
far from cool. "In China it's considered bad luck," she says. "So when I
came to America, one of the most exciting things I found was vintage."
Among the hundreds of pieces that Tam has amassed since moving to New
York City in the early '80s, she has one favorite: a century-old
ceremonial coat. "It's made by the people of Miao, one of the Chinese
minorities," she says. "They would work on these coats, for weddings and
other celebrations, throughout their lives." Traditionally, the Miao
paired the cotton-broadcloth jackets with brightly colored pleated
skirts. "I wear it over a T shirt with my jeans," says Tam. "My Chinese
friends still tell me the ghosts are coming to get me."
PAUL SMITH:
"A 1958 Rolleiflex camera"
"I LOVE IT because it was my father's," says Paul Smith. "He used it for
many years." Smith's late father Harold was an amateur photographer who
in 1955 founded the Beeston Camera Club in the family's hometown of
Nottingham, England. The club is still up and running, and so is the
prized camera. "The format is very good because its 21/4-in.-sq.
negatives give you great-quality photographs," explains Smith, 58. "And
because it's not an eye-level viewfinder, you look down into the camera.
This means you consider each photograph a lot more."
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His life and death recalled in images
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