CFDA Member Billy Reid took the opportunity after Tim Coppens’ 2014 CFDA Swarovski Award for Menswear win, to sit down at his studio with the designer and talk about his background and inspiration behind his recent collections.
Born and raised in Belgium, Tim is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. After graduation in 1998, he worked with various luxury and sports-performance fashion brands before founding his own label in 2011.
Tim’s distinctive athletic- and street culture-inspired designs have garnered him several notable honors, including the 2012 Ecco Domani Award for Best New Menswear Designer and Fashion Group International’s Rising Star of the Year for 2013, the same year he was a finalist for the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund Award.
Excerpts from an email Q&A session between Billy and Reid , including Tim’s reaction on winning his first CFDA award.
BILLY REID: I hear you’re in Europe this week. What’s happening there for you right now?
TIM COPPENS: I am in London shooting my SS15 (spring-summer 2015) look book with (stylist) Tom Van Dorpe and Sharif Hamza. Sharif has integrated the FW13 collection into this amazing motorcycle movie – all big jumps in the Arizona desert, but done with so much style and photographically so stylish. It was perfect for the brand.
Here, we shot the look book and worked on some campaign ideas as well. I have seen the first images and they look amazing; I’m very excited to show (the collection at New York Fashion Week) in a couple of months. We are also working on the next FW14 campaign, which should be out in August.
This is one of the things that I really look forward to doing when each collection is ready. It’s such an important element for my brand; visual communication is something that can tell so much more than explaining. The team is key, though, and it wouldn’t work otherwise.
BR: Tell me about your night at the CFDA Awards. What did you do before and after? Who did you go with? And what was your reaction to winning an award?
TC: I came straight from my studio and afterwards I celebrated with my friends at the Raf Simmons Dior after-party. It was a total surprise and fantastic feeling to have won. I felt and still am extremely honored to have received this award and for all the belief people have in me.