Monday, December 18, 2006

Cloak to be closed

I'm sure this news will upset my dear friend Faust very much. Although my experience with Cloak is only from a couple of pictures online, one visit to the boutique in Soho, and one conversation with the designer Alexandre Plokhov at Barneys, I feel deeply sad about what happened.
I bumped into Plokhov on a Sunday afternoon at the Barneys in NYC. I was in the shoe department, and I saw a familiar face from the "Seamless" DVD - Alexandre Plokhov. He was with his wife shopping.

His wife is a strong career woman with a big heart as far as I know. I remembered that my tears down when I watched Seamless when they went through difficult times with an ocean between them. The couple on that Sunday though, were relaxed and happy.

Alexandre's wife purchased a Balenciaga little black dress, and I happened to be around, too. (I was seriously like stalking them due to our similar shopping pace and I had to go to a different direction eventually trying to avoid bumping into them all the time. It was really awkward.) Alexandre made a comment on the fit, and then they decided to purchase it with Alexandre altering the dress for her. I felt so jealous of her having a designer husband at that moment.

We then had a brief chat. Alexandre was surprised at first that somebody would recognize him. Then I mentioned that I admired his wife very much for her full support. She blushed and leaned towards him. Then they mentioned that they were looking for a good financial backer. Alexandre wanted to do a women's line, but they needed money for it. I wish I had millions to do something, but apparently I don't. He sounded serious and concerned back then, but I was still surprised by the news today.

It's so sad that true designers like him can not keep the business for long. It's a fundamental conflict between being commercial and being creative. I just wish them the best.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish some investment bankers would back the fashion artists rather than spending money on some of their other pursuits...Too bad I'm not an I-banker myself.

Caffeine said...

I totally agree. If I have a $53MM bonus......:p
Well, I-bankers do seek returns. The return is hardly positive when it comes to investments in fashion houses. And we all know what happened to those companies who did make profits.

Jared said...

Oh that's so cool you met him. I hope he gets installed at another fashion label. That would be very nice e.g. Dior Homme