The Parisian brand PAULE KA seems a little rustic at first glance: memorized silhouettes, pure colors, unpretentious materials. The first impression, however, is misleading: the designer SERGE KAZHFINGER mentally equals the calm elegance of ODRY HEPBURN, so his styles are simple, but proven feminine and delicately flavored with pleats, festoons, bows. We were fortunate enough to meet and chat with Serge when he arrived in Dubai to open the first flagship boutique PAULE KA in the DUBAI MALL shopping center.
Your brand Paule Ka appeared on the horizon of high fashion relatively recently, in 1987, but is already considered a “new classic”. When did you feel that you want to create women's clothing?
Probably my whole life in Paris has helped me become a fashion designer. My father emigrated to France from Brazil. The most striking impression from my childhood is a black and white photograph of Jackie Kennedy in a formal dress mourning her murdered husband. This image deeply sunk into my soul. I was 14 years old when our family settled in Lille. It was at this time that a passion for fashionable clothes woke up in me, the town we lived in was provincial and boring, and I really wanted to see smartly dressed people, especially women, on the streets. My first job was window dressing at the Yves Saint Laurent boutique in Lille. Soon, as a stylist, to use modern terminology, I was already giving customers advice and choosing clothes for them.
So easily? Without special education, just on a hunch?
I was then very persistent, and went to work in a boutique right after graduation. I dressed clients with absolute confidence. I don’t know where I got it from. In just one summer, I made money for my first car, working in a tiny little shop offering only pullovers. With my characteristic confidence then, I simply completely reorganized the store’s space and made it popular. The game was worth the candle. After some time, they talked about me in all the boutiques of Lille, as a person who has a scent for real fashion. After some time, together with my mother and aunt Paulina, I opened a multi-brand boutique with the catchy name Paule Ka in a prestigious building. Then I decided to conquer new heights and went to Paris! The first Paule Ka boutique in the capital of world fashion was opened on Maler Street, a few years later it was opened and the second at the prestigious Saint Germain de Pres. Today there are Paule Ka stores in more than 20 countries around the world, and I am proud to have a flagship boutique in Dubai.
Do you like the design of your new boutique in Dubai?
Oh yeah! Without a doubt, a purely Parisian atmosphere reigns in it, sometimes intertwined with New York elegance and the mischievous Brazilian joy of life inherent in me. It is elegant, spacious and comfortable at the same time.
Serge, what does the concept of "fashion" mean to you?
Hmm, good question. In my understanding, there are two concepts of fashion - one expresses fashion in general, and the second is my own fashion. My fashion is, first of all, style. Since fashion for me is creativity. In our world today, everyone wants to prove himself, hence many new fashion trends appear. And this is great, because, for example, in the 1960s of the last century there was a “fashion dictatorship”, where the designers had a narrowed field for self-expression. Therefore, in "my fashion" I would more adhere to the concept of style. For me, this is sophistication, French sophistication and the chic "a la Audrey Hepburn".
Explain what, in your opinion, distinguishes fashion from style or vice versa?
Fashion, and especially the fashion industry, is all that is demonstrated and brought out. Style is something internal, that allows a person to feel confident and comfortable, regardless of changing seasons. Fashion is changeable, every season it gives out more and more new solutions, and style is a constant. For me, this is a well-dressed and tasteful woman.
Well-dressed woman, from the point of view of Serge Kajfinger, is this a lady in a dress?
Exactly! And only in a dress! I believe that the starting point in each woman’s wardrobe is a small black dress, presented to the world by Coco Chanel. But modern women need different “black” dresses. It’s like in design, all the sketches are first made in black pencil, and only then color, volumes, details are added. The little black dress is the "canvas" on which the fashion designer works. No one has come up with the best over the past hundred years, and I think it’s unlikely that he will come up with.
What other colors, textures and materials do you like to work with?
I love coming up with dresses. Since the advent of the Paule Ka brand, every year I create more and more new dresses. And you know, I’ve never been bored with this activity. I feel like a creator. Every season my team and I try to bring something new and unusual to the dress, be it color, length, finish, fabrics or accessories. Paule Ka clothing does not have the definition of boring. It is always an elegant creative, pure colors. I try to avoid too bright colors, as they cover a woman, and in a good dress, a woman should be visible.
It is felt that in Paule Ka a woman was elevated to a cult ...
It's true. It is very important for me that a woman in a Paule Ka dress feel truly beautiful. It is no coincidence that many men like to bring their wives, girlfriends, brides and daughters to our boutiques. They want their beloved women to be truly beautiful. It seems to me that my collections are also interesting in that things are perfectly combined, allowing you to create new sets. In addition, our fans subtly feel the style of Paule Ka, because in my collections you will not find too cloying femininity. The elegance of my dresses always balances on the fine line between true femininity and the elusive masculinity in character.
I get the impression that you don’t particularly like women in trousers ...
No, not at all. I like the pants and the women who wear them. It's just that I, as a designer, are more pleased to model dresses. They give me a greater field for creativity. With trousers, everything is simple - they are either straight, or narrowed, or flared. Everything. And dresses are a real ball!
Can you name a real recognizable element of all your dresses and accessories?
There are many, but perhaps a bow. I like to decorate corsages and dress skirts with large and small bows, add bows to hats, handbags, gloves, and shoes. And also “honest” colors - white, black, beige. This is real French chic.
Are you trying to adapt your collections to the requirements of different markets?
Of course! And this is part of my work, a process of learning that captivates me. After all, a dress for a Japanese woman will be different from a dress for a lady from Russia. In the Middle East, I need to think about ethical things - length, sleeves or wraps covering my shoulders and so on. This is the interpenetration of the Paule Ka brand and different cultures, which I no doubt like.
What is your biggest compliment?
You know, one day a woman dressed in a Paule Ka dress came up to me and turned to me with thanks. She said: “Serge, thanks to you and your clothes, I feel so beautiful and confident that my business is booming and allows me to get good money. Thank you for that!” Here, probably, such compliments are dear to me the most, as they fully reflect the essence of the philosophy of my brand, what we are trying to convey to every woman in Paule Ka.
Thanks for the interesting conversation, Serge.
I wish you good luck, I hope to see you again in Dubai.
