ROBERT GELLER IN HUgE NOV2007

This month's issue of the Japanese magazine HUgE has a great article about Robert Geller and his s/s 2008 collection (more on that here.) As always, due to this being a rough and unprofessional translation, the quotes should not be taken literally. The page opposite to this one has also a nice article on another Blackbird brand, Obedient Sons. Check back later this week for a translation of that article.

Robert Geller

For two years, Cloak had been one of the major New York clothing brands. Suddenly the creative team of Cloak stopped working together and the modern Cloak store closed.
Alexandre Plokhov has gone to join another major brand while creative partner Robert Geller is awaiting his second N.Y. season (2008/SS).

"I expect that my own brand will always be compared to Cloak, but my design is not the same as the one in Cloak, nor is it the same as Alexandre's. Compared to Cloak, the clothing that I am making right now contains more 'playing'."

His first collection (2007-08A/W) is imaged by French movies and actors. but the next season will be inspired by modern artist Joseph Beuys, as well as a mixture of the LA culture, such as skateboarding and surfing, he experienced when he was fourteen. "This collection is to celebrate spring," he said. He is accustomed to using darker color palettes, but this time he is using many pastels and clean whites. "When I was working on the first season, I was always looking for something that interests me, but this time I had a clear focus of classic style to make it perfect." Right now the N.Y. designers are strongly keen on classic and traditional style. How is Robert's collection different from them? "For example, Thom Browne's collection and mine are very different. While both of us use traditional style, my clothes are not as expensive as his. My clothing is more for young people in both ways; cost and item. This is not street clothing, though. It has more edge than street. It is more modern too. It is really difficult to explain how to categorize my clothing."

With his friendly and gentle blue eyes, everybody seems to like Robert Geller. This clearly shows through his clothes, with their nice touch of details and nuance. Although it doesn't quite bother him, he definitely no longer needs the brand name "Cloak" attached anymore.