Exposing Catherine

Exposure should be like poetry - an ankle here or a shoulder there is much more seductive, says Catherine Malandrino

When designer Catherine Malandrino stepped out of the salon after getting her hair and make-up done, all eyes in the hotel lobby turned to stare at her.

Her dress apart, which was naturally a Malandrino, it was her elegance and beauty that seemed to have stopped time for a nanosecond.

Oblivious to the attention, she gently seated herself on a sofa, crossed her left leg over the right, ran her fingers through her hair and apologised for arriving late.

"It's been a crazy day as we've been casting models for the show all day," she says.

Malandrino is in town to present her collection at a fashion show and trunk shows to coincide with the Dubai World Cup.

"There's a lot to do in a few days and a need to catch some of the local culture," she says of her first visit to Dubai.

Catherine Malandrino's clothes have been featured in Vogue, Marie Claire and even in the supposed ultimate style show, Sex and the City.

For a designer who has been in the business for less than a decade, Malandrino has achieved a lot, including dressing up Madonna and Demi Moore.

However, the Middle East is a new and unexplored market, which is why, she says in a chat with Tabloid, that she is curious and a bit nervous about the reaction to her work.

I want my clothes to become a part of her lifestyle and am more interested in the aspect of dressing a woman's body and mind.

It's not important that the entire ensemble is by Catherine Malandrino. The woman I design for is the woman who dares to mix.

So the clothes are designed and worked around the body.

This means you understand the femininity of the cut, draping, volume, creating a colour palette.

These years taught me how to work around my interest of designing clothes that are more accessible to women.

Her strength does not come from her beauty, but from her personality, her courage and her experiences.

Her personality gives her the strength to face life, but does not make her lose her feminine side.

So she is a bold woman - proud to be a woman and not afraid to be bold.

I'm very fortunate that they approached me and felt very honoured that they wanted to work with me.

It's always interesting to dress celebrities, but I enjoy designing for everyday women more, as there's a lot more to emphasise.

It's true that they have a certain sense of style or image, but then they don't approach a designer unless that designer has a similar taste (smiles).

Two days later, we got a call from the producers and they wanted to film a few scenes for the show there.

It was such a fun experience as the girls were in the store trying on different clothes and the crew. It was chaotic but fun.

The result of that shoot was that the next day after it was aired, it seemed like half of New York was staring at the store and the other half was walking in!

I don't care about classical beauty or colour of skin or hair.

The strength of the model's personality should add a new dimension to my designs that even I have not seen.

The most important thing is to see how she interprets the clothes she wears. So I don't like models to be hangers.

However, I don't like to bring in my inspirations or influences in an obvious way.

I'm more into taking in a bit of detail from my inspiration and adapting that to the fabric so it retains a classic look, but still has that element of subtle difference to make it stand out from previous and future collections.

I don't like to shout, I prefer a whisper. So an ankle here, or a shoulder there, or the neck is much more seductive. I'm not interested in the obvious.

Women all over the world are different and the same dress can be worn by a woman in New York or a Parisienne and be completely different.

The way they accessorise, their styles and their presentation can make the same dress unique through their understanding of it.

Men and women were meant to be together and we need both for life, creation and inspiration so it is definitely planned.