Leap to the heights

Written by: Štěpánka Strouhalová

Alena Matějková Photo by: Robert Tichý

Thanks to her talented tailoring, clothing designer Monika Drápalová has penetrated the exclusive society of the Parisian fashion elite. Parisian jeweler Daniel Paillasseur decided to add her collection to his famed Korloff brand.

MONIKA DRÁPALOVÁ graduated from the fashion design studio at the Institute of Applied Arts in Prague. As a student she focused more on exceptional designs for gala occasions, which predetermined her later refined style. In her second year she successfully designed costumes for Vladimír Michálek’s film Amerika. She “dressed“ many fairy tales and videos and loaned her style to stars of Czech business, creating images for Anna K, Dara Rolins, and Ilona Czáková. “It was interesting to meet requests for marked ‘trends’ with designs bearing my hallmark,“ she says. Her designs drew interest, so after her 1999 graduation she opened her own studio, Modrá. She was named Artist of the Season at the Brno Styl trade fair that same year, with dozens of creations to her credit, despite being the youngest attendant.
Two years later she was chosen as a promising talent for Passage Thiaffait in Lyon. “It’s a Lyon project that financially supports young designers with an eye to reviving the tradition of the city, with its history of textiles, which helps artisans establish their own workshops,“ she explains. She asserted herself at the Paris trade fair and at her own fashion shows in Lyon and Paris, and was contacted by jewelry company owner Daniel Paillasseur, who had dreamed for years about having his own fashion collection. “Every design is more or less inspired by the legend of the exceptional Korloff black diamond, which was said to have magical powers,“ Drápalová says. So she had to express timeless beauty and value, a vision of something that lasts. She says the hardest thing was finding a characteristic on which to build something like the classic Chanel lines. “So it occurred to me that I could derive the brand’s image from military wear, which has maintained an attractive, clean style throughout its history. Additionally, uniform elements have appeared in national dress for centuries,“ she notes.
At the haute couture shows in Paris this coming July, fashion experts can discover how Drápalová has succeeded in carrying classic uniform elements into the present, through the refined charm of Kashmir, silk, and graceful furs. Ten of the selected designs were previewed last November during Prague Fashion Week. Since last October a parallel pret-ą-porter collection, Korloff Couture, has been on sale on the prestigious rue Franćois 1er in Paris.

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