Before meeting Kaiser, I had never considered the depth of thought that can go with the choice of a style. Be it make-up, tights or the last sweater bought, you are saying something about yourself.
A message that you build over time, according to her, from the stories you live. The old leather bag that your grandmother has kept on to since she was a girl, the vinyl you find lying around your parents place, your aunt’s jacket that dates back to the 80’s, once these objects are in you hands, they represent little influences that over the time help you to understand who you are.
Keeping up her style, for Kaiser, is just a way to feel comfortable with herself, to recognize herself in the mirror every morning
Her story is about a childhood lived with great freedom of expression and a strictly artistic professional path, ranging from theatrical scenography to photography as an art language studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, to a course in “Fashion as Designing” at the MoMa in New York.
Not only that, she has always felt the need to personalize everything she has worn: “Have you ever experienced of going shopping and buying a simple pair of trousers? That’s how I feel: I’ve always needed to put my own twist on it!”
Moreover, she can’t stand any kind of waste, she strongly sustains the idea that used objects can go on living with some little hand made changes that renew them such as patches or added stitching. That’s how Kaiser Custom Vintage was born
Disused jackets, old bags, pants and shirts acquired from markets and acquaintances, mainly in leather, but also in cloth, are the objects of Kaiser’s creations, as long as the material is recycled.
A decisive style, a simple thought: “used can still be used”. She tells me that with great conviction and it seems like a slogan. “I like the idea of making the objects someone else would throw away, last another ten or twenty years.”
So Kaiser collects, arranges, refurbishes, then studies the design of an object and creates something, which tends to be a drawing. In short she creates a new story from each object: “When you have a leather dress in your hands, you can fantasize about who owned it, the period in which it was worn, to which social class they belong to and then you can rewrite something of your own“
Kaiser’s ambition is creating unique pieces in which someone could recognize himself and with wich being recognizable. Irreplaceable clothes, not only for their design but for their durability, since with that dresses you will live pieces of your story.
She makes an example, she tells me about her aunt’s jacket dated back from the 80’s: “When I took this jacket it got an hole and I put a patch. Over the time I had to put other patches, and other again. Consider since how many years this jacket has been around.. it’s my favourite one. It’s irrepleaceable since on that leather there are part of the adventures I lived”
They are crafts, art products that remeber fashion from its roots, when the stylist was able to realize a piece that was unique, a bespoke suit, that represented an extension of his creativity.
When I asked her what does she like most about her job, she laughs and says “everything”. There’s no moment in which she doesn’t feel well with herself, or in which she doesn’t feel free while she produces her creations, because she can put some of herself inside them and feel realized.
“My products are not made for everyone, they cannot be appreciated on a big scale.” says Kaiser, convinced that it’s exactly how it shoud be since tastes come from a degree of awarness that comes from exploration, studies, experiences and the more strict they are the more you are protected from any kind of influence that flatten your individuality.
“I don’t wanna sell to anybody, I wanna sell to who is able to recognize the quality of my prodcuts, to who is able to recognize the philophy behind my project.”
A philosophy of thought that is radically opposite to the brutal productive trend of the contemporary fashion, defined as “fast fashion”, a way of producing that invaded the market and conquered the demand thorugh very low prices, giving to everyone the chance of “being stylish”.
“Everything is at hand, and you choose, buy. But do you choose for real?”
It’s hard to immagine that people make these purchases with consciousness, it’s more likely that a big part of consumers do not know what’s the real cost of this accessible market.
This is what the documentary by Andrew Morgan is about (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxhCpLzreCw ). “The True Cost” reveals how the search of profit without limits can cross any kind of respect for human life and environment.
How is it possible that the world goes in that direction is something I always wonder to my self. Maybe we need to consume so much that we are not able to stop and think about what we are doing.
Stopping and thinking is always heavy, it’s a kind of battle against the impulse. It’s a way to really understand what’s inside and outside us. However, when everything is so “fast” it’s quite impossible to resist.
It may happen only to the most headstrong, like Kaiser, that day by day, armed with her sewing machine and acrylic colours, tracks the stiyle of her thoughts.
