Mike Huynh is the writer and editor of Cultures In Between, started in 2009, the blog looks at the design process and inspirations of individuals working in the creative industry. "Cultures In Between discovers Design through Fashion and contemporary culture."
We spoke to Mike about getting started in the industry and a few of his favourite things...
1. Tell us a bit about your website, Cultures In Between. How did it get started?
Cultures In Between was and has been about looking in-between the lines and peering into the culture of a designer or photographer. At the beginning, I didn't have a succinct direction as to why I started Cultures In Between but what spurred me on was that feeling of becoming more mature, discovering what you tastes are like. I feel I have always really valued well-made garments and more so the people who tirelessly make them. So I started to feature a hybrid mixture of content related to contemporary fashion and this was when I took a serious view on Fashion as a whole. But not just simply showing clothes but understanding why and what for. The unanswered questions of why we dress, why we want to and why we follow designers.
Fashion intrigues me because it communicates: uniformity, severity, the female body and its anatomy, men's social decorum, elegance. So the website gained momentum and I designed and web-coded how I wanted the site to look. I think the designers and also the readers that see the website have gained an appreciation I take the time to write in-depth and that's something I continue to strive for. So now, on the backdrop of having wrapped up RAFW content, there are current features on different designers, interviews and I will also keep my ears and eyes out for great shops to feature. The site also allows me to write unique Australian-led content for an international audience.
2. What is the process you go through when choosing a new post for the blog? What makes something perfect for Cultures In Between?
I start with carte blanche. And then I try and recall, remember what I may have seen during the week or mental images about someone who may be a designer or photographer. Places that I might look into include the The New York Times, in various magazines or maybe even during the fashion weeks. It's usually someone I think that is largely unnoticed primarily because he/she doesn't have a big personality and someone who tries to present their own personality but designs something with objectivity also. Then the process continues with looking at their clothes, its art-direction, design process [be it imagery], who they have collaborated with if at all, styling and their raison d'être. I think whilst Fashion tries to convey individuality, we're still swayed by popularity be it big photographers or models. But what I try and get a sense of and discover is if what the person makes communicates something that transcends the meaning of seasonal. I have to say that Veronique Branquinho is a perfect example - clothes with such depth, emotion, a duality of fragility and self-assurance.
Mike's desk
3. What do you find most interesting about the creative process? Your love of design comes across so well, has this always been a big influence for you?
I really believe that Design transcends Fashion and that Fashion attaches itself to Design emotionally. In Fashion, the body is nude, bare and the making of garments to clothe itself is engineering and the self-expression of someone's taste. I never intend to view a designer or photographer face onwards. I want to self-discover who that person really is. The manner and approach he/she creates. The reasons he/she chooses fabrics, how they are sewn, special techniques. And then I ask that person very thought-provoking questions. Why women's clothes become their second skin. You really find out there is a story, a background to someone to make clothes. I ask myself constantly, why do we love fashion so much? Editors, journalists, magazines endlessly chasing new and big designers. Isn't it just pieces of sewn lifeless fabric and objects only to comfort us? I've come to understand that the bigger picture is that Fashion is as much like product or industrial design. The createur intertwines life to what they make. On one side, there are fashion designers who have good skills in making seasonal clothes but then there are incredible designers who articulate their language. And so when you try and learn a language, you stumble and you strive to better understand it. So then you can really understand why a dress is draped a certain way, cut and its overall silhouette. Martin Margiela as a prime example has always remained faceless and yet his Replica pieces and his other collections are coveted. So really when I plan to write a new story, these are the things I want to self-discover, research and investigate. It's amazing that clothes make people alive.
4. You're also a contributing journalist for Hotel Diana magazine. This is such a beautiful publication, tell us a bit about your involvement? How would you compare the creative scene in New York to Australia?
I don't think you can ignore New York being a true hub of creativity. It's a vast thoroughfare which makes the city very exciting and how well-established and the level of professionalism that exists there. It does frustrate me that I am unable to be in a more immediate space with my interviewees but it's a lot tougher not easier. Many designers and Australian designers who now call New York home have had to work 2 or even more jobs just to make it. I remember Kate Mulleavy [Rodarte] saying you can't have a conversation about Jane Austen unless you lived in New York. I kind of feel you can't converse about Fashion in that same way in Sydney, in a discussion book club way. But living in Sydney here wasn't going to limit me. Hotel Diana grew organically after I was approached by Patricia [editor & close friend] and Sonia [art-director] and I took the roles of new feature input [who we could feature], advertising and printing assistance [paper stocks/printer]. I just love the fact that I could work with them, not be hinged by anyone or be constricted in a college/industry sense. I enjoy the fact that young people such as myself can really pursue something and go for it.
Hotel Diana magazine
5. What are the things/places that inspire you personally?
What inspires me first and foremost is the people who have supported and believed in what I have done thus far in the local industry. People/places who inspire me that push me are: Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of Industry Facility; Susan Sontag; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Sally Singer of American Vogue; Veronique Branquinho; Jean Michel Frank; Zaha Hadid; Photographer Tim Walker; Rose Seidler House by Harry Seidler; Jean Luc Godard; Project No.8 Store New York; Japanese craft/aesthetics; Alexey Brodovitch and this quote: "I needed her to give the clothes electricity. And that has something to do with elegance: electricity - bringing life to something. Elegant people have electricity. You know what? When I think of elegant people they always whisper." - Alber Elbaz
Mike at Fashion Week 2010
