Fashion’s a Game
Liza Korn is something of a rebel in the Paris fashion world. She began her career as an artist rather than a designer and doesn’t hold regular fashion shows to present her seasonal collections, but occasional “happenings” or exhibitions when the mood strikes her (one show featured T-shirts printed with drawings by a talented autistic girl, for example). Her wearable clothes have just enough of a twist to give them true style, and the prices are not outrageous: a chic trench coat with an oversized collar and buttons sells for €355, for example.
Korn tries to design for women of all ages – her line of T-shirts with cartoon-like drawings of a trendy young woman adorned with sayings like “rouge comme une pivoine” (“red as a poppy”) are very youthful, for example, but the trench coat could be worn by a woman of any age. She describes her clothes as “super-feminine and sexy, with a touch of rock and roll.”
She designs in the back room of the shop she opened in 2001 in the trendy Canal Saint-Martin neighborhood and has the clothes made in France, with the exception of the knits, which are manufactured in Italy. She enjoys experimenting with new textiles, including bamboo fiber, which she says feels like linen when woven and cashmere when knitted.
One recent collection, called “Life’s a Game,” played with gambling motifs and involved lots of crisscrossing straps, for just the slightest suggestion of kinkiness.
Liza Korn: 19, rue Beaurepaire, 75010 Paris. Tel.: 01 42 01 36 02. Open Mon.-Sat, noon-7:30 p.m. http://www.liza-korn.com/
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