Philipp Plein, German designer with a clear propensity towards the outgoing, opulent and extravagant is right in the middle of navigating his brand towards a triumphant global expansion. Clearly notable as a “doer“ type who is not ready to compromise, he is establishing his brand with a firm vision and living his dream at the same time.

For THE GLARE’s inaugural edition, the designer took a moment to fill us in on his brand’s image, his ambitions, his inspiration his future projects and his childhood crush.

The INTERVIEW

Mr. Plein, who wears your clothes? How would you describe your clients?
I think that Philipp Plein today represents a specific target of : young self-confident and successful people.

Your brand incorporates glamour and confidence plus a healthy dose of “sex, drugs and Rock n’ Roll“ do you think nowadays selling an image as a brand is the ultimate goal instead of selling “just clothes“?
Of course! What you wear represents who you are, you never sell just clothes! But I would say nowadays the trend and my brand is more about “Sex and Rock n´Roll”.
I´m really anti-drugs and I love that my brand is linked to party but not to drugs.

How do you feel about the yellow press calling you “The King of Bling“?
It makes me smile.

Who were your childhood heroes/icons?
Rolling Stones and Cindy Crawford, I wanted to marry her.

What advice would you give to the young Philipp Plein – or any emerging designer – if you could?
To never give up first, it is so hard to find your place between all the established brands.
You need to keep focused on your goal. Take the positive comments as strength to go on, take the negatives as suggestions.

How does your German nationality influence you in the way you work?
I´m very precise and I focus on my goals.

What do you do to cultivate your image? Are you still the same person that you used to be before you became famous?
Any experience changes you. It´s not because that I changed but the experience I went through in life and thanks to my brand success.

Would you say that success is a key to happiness?
Yes, it is one of the key, whatever is your goal, nothing is better than to work hard and to reach the goal.

Your collection is very outgoing and opulent. Do you ever have moments where you need to escape all the opulence around you? If so, what do you do then?
Not really. My favorite place to escape is my house in Cannes. But you couldn’t say that it´s not opulent and outgoing! You should see it, it´s crazy. I called it la “Jungle du Roi”.

For this season’s menswear show in Milan, you equipped your models with riffles, guns, grenades and gas masks. Did you want to trigger controversy? What was your message?
The guns I used were a metaphor, the real theme was „fight for real love“, fight for what you want, believe that you can reach what makes you happy.

Does being politically correct mean being boring? Can one even be politically correct as a designer?
Politically correct is subjective, I am totally correct in my politics!

How would you describe your current collection? What was your inspiration?
Strong, masculine, powerful, for the men, taking inspiration from my favorite book „The art of war“ and from the action books that I have read. I have always been thinking about what the characters would wear during action.
For the women: sensual, elegant, sexy. Women who like to be at the center of the attention.
I took my inspiration from a fairy living in a world, which is not a tale – but she is strong enough to live in it.

What is the Philipp Plein key item for autumn/winter 2013/14?
The jackets, absolutely! Croco for the men and fur for the women. These pieces are statements!

How do you feel when your brand is being copied?
Only the best are copied.

What do you think about the following quote: If you have everything in life, is it easier to lose yourself?
You never have everything. Once you reach the one goal, find a new one!

Philipp Plein stores are springing up like mushrooms at the moment. What are your expansion plans for 2013 and 2014? Are there any markets that you are focussing on particularly?
We just opened a third shop in Moscow, a second one in Seoul, one in Barcelona and one in Porto Cervo. Next step is the opening of Paris, Miami, two shops in China, a third one in Korea. And also the opening of my first showroom in the US as we are trying to enter the market, in New York. An amazing Penthouse with view over Central Park. I´m so proud of it.

What are current/future Philipp Plein projects you would like to let us know about?
I just came back from Korea. I loved Seoul and the brand is having great success over there. We are going to collaborate with K Pop artists in Korea and it´s a very interesting project.
I also met an amazing artist, the photographer Francesco Carrozzini and we have a lot of video/music projects together. He shot my last campaign and I´m part of the cast, we had an amazing time. The idea was to recreate ordinary urban scene into outstanding fashion pictures.