L’OFFICIEL INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW L’OFFICIEL
Pushing
Your Limits
L’Officiel Arabia speaks with Lucas Maethger, a Chair of the Fashion Design department at the Paris College of Art. BY Tanja Beljanski
Paris College of Art (PCA) has recently welcomed Lucas Maethger as the new Chair of the Fashion Design department. A specialist in Men’s wear, Lucas Maethger began his career working as the head of design for Antonio Miro (Spain), Dirk Bikkembergs (Belgium) and Celio (France), while creating his own company. By Lucas / L&A Maethger is an experimental platform where he designs an avant-garde men’s wear line which he uses as a creative lab for fashion visions, statements and innovations with a focus on fashion film. Two of his films were official selections in fashion film festivals in Turkey, Paris, Miami and Mexico City. Maethger has also developed his role as a consultant in trend forecasting and creative direction with ready to wear and luxury men’s wear, by helping clients define their brand identity, designing capsule or full collections, researching trends and analyzing markets. The designer is not new to Paris College of Art, as he used to teach the senior collection/ concept development course, as well as investigative research, work methods and fashion strategies, from 2011 to 2016, all this while organizing PCA’s End-of-Year Fashion shows. Maethger has also taught at SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design), in the USA, and LISAA (L’Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués) in Paris, where he still holds a position of adjunct faculty. We talked with Lucas Maethger about his vision, his goals and his work methods. We talked about creativity 86
and working with students; asked him about all the things that make Paris College of Art stand out in the fashion education industry. And, of course, we talked about Paris. Tanja Beljanski: Congratulations on your position as the new Chair of the Fashion Design department at the Paris College of Art! What are your main priorities and goals in your role? Lucas Maethger: Thank you very much, I am honored, as
a chair of the fashion design department at PCA, to guide and nurture students in their academic development. In this role my main priority is to bring the recognition of the department on an international level and promote the excellence of the students’ work. In these very challenging times we are living in, I engage in visionary thinking and build strong students’ portfolios to guarantee their success in the industry. The goals are to rethink what designs means, “DE”Sign fashion with a new perspective by keeping the Fashion / Textile challenges in consideration. Creating a program that is stimulating purposeful work and innovation is a main focus as a chair. TB: What do you like the most about being a teacher? LM: The most important for me is to re-think the fashion
system and the re-identify what fashion means. The industry is facing questions that needs innovative answers. I love to engage with the young generation of designers to work on solution drives “DE”Sign and help them to work on a NEW fashion. With my 20+ years of experience
Lucas Maethger, Chair of the Fashion Design department | Paris College of Art | Photo: Bishoppe Kamusinga
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