Carpe Diem, Lmaltieri, Linea, etc.

[jcotteri]

That's my leather shirt exactly. Love it to pieces.

Yours has silver buttons correct? Seems there is a few with non silver buttons popping up on Y recently. What else were they made from? I dare say plastic?

[Faust]

Yes, silver. (although I lost one - if anyone has a spare, please donate). I think the other ones are wood or bone, can't remember for sure.

[drexl]

Oh God, mom, the snake, why he, bite the zboss?

Should crosspost to WTF thread.

[Enaml]

I really, really wish someone could gather enough information to be able to tell the full story of the brand's development and history. Things like that don't align themselves whatsoever with the image that has evolved in my mind from what I've read here and elsewhere as well as the pieces I've handled. I can't imagine many people beyond runner or someone with similar knowledge would be able to, though.

Also, more images

[philip nod]

people are never satisfied with legend alone

[AKA*NYC]

Oh God, mom, the snake, why he, bite the zboss?

Should crosspost to WTF thread.

where2kop, seriously

[Enaml]

people are never satisfied with legend alone

How could legend explain "oh god mom"?

[drexl]

where2kop, seriously

http://cgi.ebay.com/collana-argento-CARPE-DIEM-/260601389763?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Accessori_abbigliamento&hash=item3cad0da2c3

[cjbreed]

How could legend explain "oh god mom"?

i dunno. its kind of darkly humorous. that fits in with my ideas about the line...

[Arcane]

I remember something Geoffrey B. Small wrote about Altieri deveoping the brand. that can somewhat explain the strange Carpe items that sometimes appear and don't really fit into the known aesthetics. I'll see if I can dig it up...

Well, not entirely explanatory but somewhat. And the quote should probably be here anyway. Here you go:

Hello to all,

I just happened to stumble upon this site and the current forum and have enjoyed everyone's comments. If possible, I would like to add something from the designer side of things...

I am a designer and colleague of Maurizio Altieri. We both showed our first Paris collections in the same place in 1993 along the banks of the Seine. We both have had many ups and downs in our careers. This business is like that.


He was showing Carpe Diem, although a very different concept than what it later became, and I was pioneering the crazy concept at the time, that an American designer could do avant-garde in Paris and actually make it, (Rick Owens, Jeremy Scott and quite a few others followed later).


Without going into details, we took off for awhile doing some of the world's earliest recycled designer work and grew a lot. But Maurizio suffered a lot during the next five years and made huge personal sacrifices before beginning his truly successful run with Carpe Diem. And I respect him as a friend and as one of the few real artists in the field, so I need to point out that he alone was the pioneer and creator of the look that so many have been imitating and copying in the past 4 years. Period.


This is the real and important difference people need to know about the 3 different brands.


And this is why when you really look at the pieces carefully from all aspects, there is a real difference. Without Maurizio, none of the other 2 brands would even look the way they do, if even exist at all. I know the fellow behind Guidi. Yes, he was the leather supplier for Maurizio. And with all respect to him and to the wonderful writer who posted earlier in this forum, I do not think he is Jesus. He is a very shrewd businessman. Believe me, I have learned in this business to spot them from miles away. He supplied Maurizio, saw how much money CD was making, and started supplying many others, then coming to Paris every designer week, and then surprise-- doing his own label too (even hiring ex CD salespeople to contact the stores for him), eventually replacing CD in many stores because he sold look alikes for less. Pure business. No more. No less. 99.9 percent of the industry works this way. H&M and Zara are no different. The price you pay for Maurizio is higher and justifiably so. Somebody had to start the whole thing. The idea. The research. The first prototypes. The first orders and distribution (Maurizio even went personally himself to the stores to write the first orders door to door). The lower price for Guidi is cool, but I really have to emphasize, that the purchaser is not getting the same thing, and people need to know.

The designer of Augusta worked and trained as an assistant with Maurizio and has been able to benefit from all the resources, know-how and advantages doing so. Whether, he will be able to carve out his own truly individual thing and hang in there long enough to survive what many believe is the toughest business in the world...remains to be seen. He had a great master. Hopefully he was a good student. We wish him well.


As for the defunct Carpe-Diem thing, I also want to say that it was a voluntary decision by Maurizio. CD was very successful and he did very well with it. But what would you do in his shoes, if you had created a very special artistic thing and saw your partners all try to become exploiters of the concept in their own interests? You might get sick of the whole thing and shut the doors too. Man does not live by bread alone. Real artists even more so.


The fact is that Maurizio's work and contribution are his alone. And those that want the real thing need to understand that his brand is the original and the authentic one. Those that want look alikes can settle for the others. And new emerging designers that want to make a serious contribution need to invent really new things that are truly theirs alone---then hang on long enough and survive the rest of the industry (from suppliers to retailers) that will copy them a million times over and try to make sure the buying public knows nothing about them. Believe me, there are some really good working designers out there being blocked by an industry trying to play safer and safer every season. But that's another story.


If you only knew what really goes on in this industry...


That's all I have time for. I have late store deliveries waiting and another Paris collection coming up in 5 weeks. Sorry, I hope I have not pissed anybody off with my comments. If so, I apologize profusely. I only wanted to give Maurizio Altieri some due credit for his contribution to the field.


Thanks for reading and best wishes to all,


Geoffrey B. Small

[Sombre]

people are never satisfied with legend alone

Why should they be? Legend is opinion without sufficient fact. One can only form a reliable opinion from (what one believes to be) the whole story.

[Faust]

Pnidz is of the opinion that sometimes it's healthier for your psyche to nurture a legend than to find out that your gods are assholes. It's not an unjustifiable theory.

[laika]

Oh God, mom, the snake, why he, bite the zboss?

Should crosspost to WTF thread.

but isn't the crypticness oddly appealing somehow?
i like it....

[Sombre]

Pnidz is of the opinion that sometimes it's healthier for your psyche to nurture a legend than to find out that your gods are assholes. It's not an unjustifiable theory.

Point taken, but that's just "ignorance is bliss" paraphrased. Part of me thinks that one should always know the whole truth. At the same time though, I know that I, too, sometimes revel in blissful ignorance. In the long run I think that knowing the truth is preferable though.

[Enaml]

Thanks for reposting that, Arcane. Geoffrey's contributions to this forum are truly impressive. At once both insightful and entirely relevant.

As for the discussion on the legend that CDiem has become, I didn't intend to rouse an argument. I don't think appreciation of an individual's work and knowledge of his history / personal life are mutually exclusive, at all. If anything, the more human they become, the more impressive their work is. However, we all do have the right to privacy, for whatever it's worth. It's a balancing act between the two.