Do you remember what your first interaction with fashion was?
My father is a photographer, so I kind of grew up in his studio. That was my first experience in fashion, but it lead me to having the desire to be a fashion photographer more than a designer. From the age of 12 I knew that I wanted to be a fashion photographer and after High School I worked as a photographer’s assistant in Paris and Stuttgart for two years.

So what about fashion design, what got you into it?
It was my first year at the Rhode Island School of Design that I decided to study fashion design. I was taking lots of drawing classes and realized, at a time when I was frustrated with photography, that I had the skills to make the switch.

When graduating you worked under Marc Jacobs, was it easy to land a job there?
In our second trimester of senior year, which was called winter session, all fashion design students had to find an internship in New York. They allowed two students to interview with Marc Jacobs and he was definitely my first choice. I also interviewed with Donna Karen and I was also trying to get an interview with Helmut Lang, which was pretty difficult back then. So I had my interviews and really felt good about the way they went. I got a call back from Donna Karan the following Monday, offering me the internship. I was still waiting to hear back from Marc, so I asked them to give me until the following Friday 5 pm to make a decision. So I was nervously waiting all week and, believe it or not, at 5 pm on Friday as I was picking up the phone to call Donna Karan, my phone rang and it was Marc Jacobs’ assistant designer, offering me the internship.

What kind of an influence did that have on you?
It is interesting to think what would be different if I had interned with Donna Karan. I just got married two months ago to Ana Beatriz Lerario, who was my boss at Marc Jacobs. Things would have been different, I do believe in some sort of fate.

Speaking of links, how did you meet Alexandre Plokhov?
Alexandre was working as a patternmaker at Marc Jacobs when I was interning there. Sometimes I would help him notch patterns or something and we spent a lot of time talking about fashion and our lives. We liked a lot of the same designers and found that we got along very well. This was just after September 11th 2001 and Cloak, which he had started two seasons before, was having some troubles. We started talking about becoming partners and in early 2002 I became a 50% partner in Cloak.

Some feel like you had a quite a big influence on the general style of Cloak, considering it was originally Alexandre’s creation?
Well, Alexandre had started Cloak and I was fresh out of school. He had the know how of how to run the business, so I learned a lot from him. I really wanted to make the label more modern, so I was really in charge of the image for Cloak. We were both designing but he did the majority of it. I really took charge of the overall look of each collection, colours, silhouette and such. In the end we looked over every design and colour and fabric decision together. We made Cloak much more modern in those first couple of seasons. I think that we learned a lot from each other. I learned from Alexandre how to pay more attention to garment details and he learned from me how to create the bigger picture. I left after the F/W 04 collection which was when Cloak really took off on a bigger scale, and it became known to a wider audience. To anyone who knew Cloak before, they always saw it as a partnership.

Coming up to Robert Geller the label, apparently the chance to launch it came quite suddenly?
In the summer of 2006 I was approached by a company who asked if I would consider doing menswear again, and we began to discuss the idea.

influences from different time periods, did you plan it or did just come out like that?
I think that it was part of figuring out what I want Robert Geller to be. For some reason I wanted to start from a very different place then where I left off with Cloak. That didn't really feel like me, so for fall 08 I didn't set myself that limit. Makes sense, some have said that this collection has more resemblance to Cloak That is the aesthetic I love and I see that collection as collection number one. SS09 is a progression from that, and now it feels natural and good.

How would you describe that aesthetic?
What really intrigues me is the guy that I design for. In my mind he is always kind of a tough guy that loves his mother very much. He is a romantic but he is also very sure of himself. He gets into fights but he also loves to go to museums. I love this idea. This to me is a kind of unexpected beauty. My style is a mixture of these masculine garments with softer more romantic elements.

Speaking of Cloak, do you get tired of the comparison?
Not at all, just like I will never get tired of people saying that I worked at Marc Jacobs before that. I am very proud of my career so far. Marc Jacobs was really cool at the time and so was Cloak, I am very happy to have been part of that.

As you mentioned your manufacturing is done in Japan, do you go there often?
I go to Japan about 4 or 5 times a year and it is a very special place.

It is, I assume you like it there?
Yes, I get along with the Japanese very well and feel at home in Tokyo. I think that the mentality and the organization and cleanliness is very similar to Germany, so it feels familiar. My trips there are amazing because I get to meet so many great people. The japanese are so good at whatever they do, so whether we are dealing with the cobbler or the milliner, they have such a talent and such a respect for their work, it really makes me proud to work with them.

Fashion there in general is on quite a different level
Menswear in Japan is huge. I like to say that American and European boys like to play with cars, japanese boys like to read fashion magazines. They are incredibly well educated in fashion and vintage, and designers and stylists are really admired.

Going back to your collections, how does the design process start?
The direction for each collection stems from whatever is interesting to me at the time. Usually it is a place and a time like Paris in the 1960's or Berlin in the 1820's.

What about the garments, how do they go from an idea to an actual piece?
The direction gives me a sense for colour, texture and attitude. From there I start looking for fabrics. Usually I go to Paris for the Premier Vision, which is the worlds largest fashion textile fair. Then I start sketching, for the more complicated garments I do full size layouts. I take all of this information to Tokyo and we sit down with the whole team over there going through every style. After 6 to 8 weeks I return to Tokyo and I see the 1st samples, on which I make all necessary adjustments. We add and cut styles at this point. Once the adjustments are made, we have the show sample. If there are any other changes to be made, I let them know and they are adjusted for production.

That sounds like a fascinating process. To sum it up, what will spring 09 look like for Robert Geller?
I can't say too much at this point, but I have been looking east. Not much color...

 
view all of Robert's collections at robergeller-ny.com