Interview with Carolina Bejenar
Please tell me a little bit about yourself, your background and how you started to make fascinators and jewellery.
The fascinators are a lucky find, a beautiful coincidence in my life ;O). I come from an intellectual family in Moldavia. There I visited a youth art college, later I studied business relations. I like intellectual challenges… In Heidelberg (Germany) I pursued my studies – literature, linguistic sciences and political science.
All the theoretical knowledge didn’t make me happy and that’s why I became a designer. After graduating, I worked as a graphic designer for a few years and organized photo shootings among other things. While doing a shooting, we missed hair styling accessories. Over the weekend, I made some from feathers I found. These were the first pieces and they looked wonderful in the shooting. Even if my boss didn’t appreciate them, I had the secret feeling that I made something really good. A few months later I resigned and started my DaWanda shop. Since then I have the most beautiful job in the world.
What inspires your work?
All the knowledge I collected over the years. History of art, classical French literature, design theory or the fin-de-siècle Vienna play a role in my work. Images, ideas, described scenes and moods lead me in a strange way and help me to transform emotions and atmosphere into a tender, feathery and opulent thing. And there is the music as well – most of all Jazz – which plays a very important part in my work. The voice of Billie Holiday was first an inspiring long-stay guest in my studio, later it became more and more important, till it became impossible to be without this elegant music in the creative process. Ella Fitzgerald singing a duet with Louis Armstrong gives my day the drive for a lot of work as well.
Meanwhile I have many different collections. If I design vividly coloured compositions inspired by the Carpathians, I love to listen to the suitable beats and the sentimental stories of my homeland. Amazing voices from South Africa, such as Chavela Vargas as an example, inspire me just as well as swing from the twenties. They are perfect “co-workers” for my roaring twenties collection or the La Nuit Bohème collection.
Recent fashion trends don’t catch a lot of my interest to be honest. But I have to keep an eye on the trendy colours. I do a lot of custom orders and very often there are a few dozen of fascinators or bird cages in nude or powder shades ordered in one summer season.
What defines a good hat or fascinator in your opinion?
A woman should not feel disguised if she wears it in her hair. A little bit of humour and self-consciousness is required… The headpiece should fit to the personality. Ideally, it should enhance the personality, or show a hidden aspect. The little diva, the strong amazon, the coquettish lover, the sensual aficionado or the arbitrary intellectual.
If the fascinator should fit to the rest of the clothes? Personally I think it’s no MUST. It should be the complement, the icing on the cake and it’s definitely allowed to have a certain outlandishness.
For which famous person would you love to design fascinators?
I love music and beautiful, strong, edgy woman with curves! I would be curious to see my work on Caro Emerald or Femme Schmidt.
Nonetheless, the best is to hear from clients that they feel like Dita von Teese or Mata Hari, it they wear a hat or veil.
What’s the goal for your label Jazzafine?
When I studied political science, my goal was the rescue of the world for sure. ;O) Nowadays, whether by the famous wisdom of age or by decadent resignation, I would love to make the female world a hint more beautiful and sophisticated…C’est tout!
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