Milan Vukmirovic has a long list of current projects. My Boon, a concept store he worked on "from scratch" opened in Seoul, South Korea, last month; his capsule collection for the French brand Chevigon is hitting stores now; and the second issue of his new magazine Fashion for Men, which, like the first, comes in at 600 pages, will be published next month. And don't forget his duties as a founder and owner of The Webster in Miami. Still, Vukmirovic, who helped launch the mother of all concept stores, Colette, in 1997 and took the reins from Jil Sander when she left her label in the early 2000s, insists he's not as busy as he was a year ago, when he was the creative director of both Trussardi and the men's magazine L'Officiel Hommes. And that's exactly the way he wants it. Style.com caught up with Vukmirovic on the phone in Miami to talk about working out, whipping up salads at Caviar Kaspia, and what else he'd like to do with all his spare time.
You've been spending a lot of time in Seoul.
What do you think of the city?
It's an economy that's totally booming. They've spent the last ten years importing a lot of labels, and they're bringing a lot of architects and creative directors from abroad. It's a really exciting city at the moment, almost like Tokyo ten or 15 years ago. They go very fast, with electronics and everything, and people are really shopping. When you see Europe, it's nice to find a place where people are not always talking, talking about crisis. It's a more positive environment.
It's an economy that's totally booming. They've spent the last ten years importing a lot of labels, and they're bringing a lot of architects and creative directors from abroad. It's a really exciting city at the moment, almost like Tokyo ten or 15 years ago. They go very fast, with electronics and everything, and people are really shopping. When you see Europe, it's nice to find a place where people are not always talking, talking about crisis. It's a more positive environment.
How did the My Boon project come about, and what did your experiences at The Webster in Miami and Colette in Paris teach you about what you wanted to do this time around?
Colette is 15 years old now. It was my first creative concept store with Colette [Rousseaux] and Sarah [Andelman]. Many years later, I did The Webster, and it was a really special project to me, being an owner, but Laure [Heriard Dubreuil] does the buying. When they asked me to do a store for Seoul, it was interesting because it was from scratch, it was from zero, a white page. [I asked myself] what is the next new concept store? I still love fashion. I love design and objects. I love furniture. I love interiors. It's something very personal. A lot of people were always telling me, "We loved you when you were at Colette; you have a great eye." So I thought maybe I'll select items for the store, too. In Korea, people are always bringing little gifts, so I thought why not do the best gift store in the world—it really goes from watches to magazines to trainers to furniture. I left Trussardi last year after almost four years, and it was nice to travel again and see everything. The world is moving so fast and there's so many designers and new people around. It's interesting for me to see, also as a journalist, everything that's going around. So I accepted to do a concept store, but I also accepted to do a really precise selection [of products], which I hadn't done in a long time.
Colette is 15 years old now. It was my first creative concept store with Colette [Rousseaux] and Sarah [Andelman]. Many years later, I did The Webster, and it was a really special project to me, being an owner, but Laure [Heriard Dubreuil] does the buying. When they asked me to do a store for Seoul, it was interesting because it was from scratch, it was from zero, a white page. [I asked myself] what is the next new concept store? I still love fashion. I love design and objects. I love furniture. I love interiors. It's something very personal. A lot of people were always telling me, "We loved you when you were at Colette; you have a great eye." So I thought maybe I'll select items for the store, too. In Korea, people are always bringing little gifts, so I thought why not do the best gift store in the world—it really goes from watches to magazines to trainers to furniture. I left Trussardi last year after almost four years, and it was nice to travel again and see everything. The world is moving so fast and there's so many designers and new people around. It's interesting for me to see, also as a journalist, everything that's going around. So I accepted to do a concept store, but I also accepted to do a really precise selection [of products], which I hadn't done in a long time.
What was the response to the first issue of "Fashion for Men?"
The first one was amazing. In two weeks it was sold out in Paris and Milan. We sold a lot of copies in New York, too. It's a book, it's not really a magazine; it's really done for people who love men's fashion. It's for me like a bible, reference. It's the opposite of the Web, because I really believe today that more and more magazines and real info should be on the Web anyway. People are waking up in the morning, they have breakfast and they open up their computer or they look on their mobile phone. That's the reality now. If you do a magazine, it's necessary to do the opposite, to give a lot of importance to the quality of the print, to the quality of the photography. The Web is food for everyday. The concept of Fashion for Men was really something that would stay for a lot of time. Maybe if you looked at it in five years, you'd say, "Oh, that's what fashion was in 2011, in 2012." A lot of people bought it, so I felt like, OK, let's do a second issue. But it's 600 pages, it's so much work. It's almost like a diary. Everywhere I go, I'm like, let's do a story for Fashion for Men. It's a very personal work—if people like me, they'll probably like the magazine.
The first one was amazing. In two weeks it was sold out in Paris and Milan. We sold a lot of copies in New York, too. It's a book, it's not really a magazine; it's really done for people who love men's fashion. It's for me like a bible, reference. It's the opposite of the Web, because I really believe today that more and more magazines and real info should be on the Web anyway. People are waking up in the morning, they have breakfast and they open up their computer or they look on their mobile phone. That's the reality now. If you do a magazine, it's necessary to do the opposite, to give a lot of importance to the quality of the print, to the quality of the photography. The Web is food for everyday. The concept of Fashion for Men was really something that would stay for a lot of time. Maybe if you looked at it in five years, you'd say, "Oh, that's what fashion was in 2011, in 2012." A lot of people bought it, so I felt like, OK, let's do a second issue. But it's 600 pages, it's so much work. It's almost like a diary. Everywhere I go, I'm like, let's do a story for Fashion for Men. It's a very personal work—if people like me, they'll probably like the magazine.
If you were forced to pick just one thing to do, what would it be?
I have the feeling that, because of the Internet, the world has changed so much in a few years. Everything is going faster, people are getting bored much more. You always have to bring new ideas, new stuff. This means we have much more work, but doing many things somehow makes me feel like I'm more connected to what's going on. I'm shooting quite a lot for Details in America; it's exciting for me, it's a new challenge. For me, it's a kind of freedom, doing a lot of work.
I have the feeling that, because of the Internet, the world has changed so much in a few years. Everything is going faster, people are getting bored much more. You always have to bring new ideas, new stuff. This means we have much more work, but doing many things somehow makes me feel like I'm more connected to what's going on. I'm shooting quite a lot for Details in America; it's exciting for me, it's a new challenge. For me, it's a kind of freedom, doing a lot of work.
Via STYLE
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