Founded and helmed by mother-daughter duo Gail Plakinger and Svetlana Ziggel, Berlin-based label Plakinger launched to realize the founders’ idea of modern and unpretentiously luxurious fashion. With the classic blazer-pantsuit combination being the starting point, each collection is the creative mix of feminine elegance and traditional male tailoring resulting in sophisticated dresses and separates. The brand offers handcrafted garments designed and produced in their native Germany in limited quantities using premium raw materials – even sharing the same fabric suppliers as Dior and Chanel. After successfully releasing five collections, the brand recently expanded its retail presence opening the first flagship store in China and debuting a kids collection. We sat down with Plakinger and Ziggel to discuss their recent expansion, designing for kids and future plans.
Tell us a few words on your backgrounds, and how you found yourselves launching a fashion brand.
Svetlana Ziggel: The idea behind Plakinger evolved from the work of my mother Galina Plakinger as a bespoke tailor. Bespoke suits for men are icons of timeless fashion with their classic cuts.
At some point, I joined her in the industry, and together we started creating contemporary, high-quality fashion for women.
You focus mainly on dresses. What prompted this decision?
Galina Plakinger: So far, the iconic pantsuit has been the starting point for our every collection, going back to our origins in menswear. With the brand becoming more established over time, we put emphasis on feminine wear. As a result, the Spring-Summer 2016 collection, which is inspired by Brazil, has a strong focus on dresses.
Do you see a difference in the way women dress in the many places your collections are stocked?
Svetlana Ziggel: Yes, definitely. We are selling from China through the Middle East, Europe and into the US. The differences are significant. Women’s choices are influenced by local climate, seasonality and their cultural background. Certain colors that are popular in one region might not be acceptable in another; the same applies to certain cuts and looks. As our collections comprise of limited-edition pieces, it is a challenge to develop a concise and coherent story around the initial inspiration. We put a lot of thought into that question, and so far, it has proved to be worth effort.
You recently expanded your business endeavors in China. Tell us a few words about this; how have you been preparing, and how did you know your product was a good fit?
Svetlana Ziggel: Chinese women like the luxurious quality of Western clothes, so Plakinger was definitely a good fit. We opened our first flagship store in China last December. We received the support of a Chinese luxury group that completely fell in love with our clothes, and we were very grateful for the opportunity. Of course, we had to think about the local preferences. For instance, we decided to have more red pieces stocked because this color symbolizes good fortune. We also had to adapt cuts and sizes.
You have just launched a kids collection. What are the challenges of designing for children?
Svetlana Ziggel: I have two children myself and one of them is a girl. She is always such a great inspiration. She loves to wear pieces from our kids collection as we pay the same attention to comfort and wearability but without compromising on uniqueness and luxury.
Offering a matching mother-and-daughter line was an idea that came up when we first introduced Plakinger to the Chinese market. It has been quite successful, and we will therefore continue to produce a girls line that we have in the meantime expanded to other markets.
What are the main fabrics you use? Do your preferences change when designing the kids collection based on practicality?
Galina Plakinger: We prefer natural fabrics like silk, wool or cotton. But we also work with new fabrics and blends, like the white fringed fabric with the appliquéd multicolored dots from the current Spring/Summer 2016 collection. Most important things for us are the modern design of any material we use and very high-quality standards. This also holds true for our kids collections that are produced from the same materials as womenswear. That is our specialty, and we will not compromise on our standards for the mini-me collections either.
Your collections utilize elements of traditional men tailoring. Would you attempt menswear?
Galina Plakinger: We still offer bespoke men tailoring to our loyal, existing clients. But, at the moment, we do not aim to expand into ready-to-wear menswear. Our other two lines are keeping us sufficiently busy already.
How has your creative work evolved since your launch?
Svetlana Ziggel: Our label has become more complete. We started using prints, introducing accessories… Each season we try to think out-of-the-box and step out of our comfort zone. The level of dedication to details goes far beyond the quality of today’s ready-to-wear. Thanks to this different approach, we believe that we have established a uniquely luxurious profile in that segment.
What hats does each of you wear? Do both of you work on design?
Svetlana Ziggel: We jointly work in the design process and take all decisions together. But I focus more on finding inspiration, choosing suitable fabrics and preparing first ideas for the cuts. The selection of luxurious and modern fabrics is important, too, as the fabrics are the texture of our ideas.
Galina Plakinger: I am more involved in the technical process of tailoring the garments and developing the cuts. The perfectly tailored fit is the most important feature, as I want to get our clothes as close as possible to a bespoke fit.
What are you currently working on and what are your future plans?
Svetlana Ziggel: We are finalizing the Spring/Summer 2017 collection. It will be full of surprises with our first in-house developed prints, jewelry line and knitwear. And we are preparing for the Autumn/Winter 2016-2017 collection to hit the stores pretty soon.
www.byplakinger.com
Images © Plakinger