Today I have another interview for you (not a Pen to Paper one unfortunately but this might even be a little better!), which is with the wonderful and talented Daniel Lismore of SORAPOL. I’ve been in contact with Daniel for a while now so it’s an honour to have him answer some of my questions in such fabulous detail. If you’re not sure who Daniel is and what he’s been up to, there’s a short little bio below… (Images courtesy of SCAD) 

At what age did you start to experiment with fashion and self-expression, and why do you think you were interested in it?

When I was a kid, my parents were antiques dealers. So looking at all of the historical paintings and things that they were bringing in, as a kid, it really made me think a lot. Star Wars and Star Trek also really inspired me; I loved the uniforms and the aliens and how chic they looked in a sci-fi way.

I was about 16 when I started to wear make-up (my mum’s orange make-up) and started to grow my hair. I used to wear ‘Swear’ shoes (they were big platform boots that looked like boats), so my idea was then to look like a Hollywood alien as that’s what I was being inspired by at the time.

I had braided hair with florescent green plastic sticking out of it. That’s when it first started, I’d say around 16. I then started going to some goth concerts, and I started to go partying in the town that I’m from, underage… that’s when I started to really change how I looked.

Can you name any specific artists that influence you?

I’m constantly inspired by different cultures from all over the world, not necessarily by one artist in particular. But there are artists like LaChapelle, Bjork, Picasso, Dalí, Warhol, who have all created their own kind of thing, and I’ve always admired that in an artist.

I’ve travelled a lot around the world and I’ve been so inspired by the Maasai and all of these tribes that I’ve seen. Also tribes that I haven’t seen; there’s a tribe in Papa New Guinea where they all go out and go to the ‘Sing-Sing’ and all the men dress up in feathers of rare birds and loads of make-up. They make really crazy outfits and they inspire me more than anyone, I think.

You currently have an exhibition called, “Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Taken” open at the Savannah College of Art & Design, over in the US. How did that come about?

I wrote an idea out for an exhibition, and a week later a friend of mine called me up and said, “Would you like to exhibit your clothes?” so obviously I said “Yes, here are my ideas.” and he said “Yes, of course.” His name was Rafael Gomes and he was at Vivienne Westwood for about ten years.

He kind of understood what I do; he’s seen me grow a lot and interacted with me at (Viveinne) Westwood at certain times while I’ve been working on Climate Revolution. So all of a sudden he was at my mother’s house. We went to the storage and we spent days and days in the cold going through my archives.

Then he came to London, this is after packing everything up, around 3,000 items. We had to write everything out by hand, it was a nightmare! Then we sent everything to America and he came to the SORAPOL studio in Hackney (London), where we went through the archives of everything I’d worn and been a part of, so we sent those pieces and then I went to my wardrobe in London and sent nearly everything that I have, so I have no clothes to wear right now.

When we got there (Savannah College of Art & Design or SCAD), we opened all the boxes and I put everything in colour, texture and shape. That’s how I create an outfit usually… and I used lots of safety pins; more or less the whole exhibition was safety pinned together. For me it was more real, because that’s how I reuse my clothes; I buy a piece of fabric that I love, I have it forever and I can wear it in a million different ways.

I love what you said about your extraordinary personal style… “People are going to stare anyway, so I think I may as well give them something to stare at.” …how did you get to that stage in self-confidence?

I’ve always been stared at, ever since I was young. I remember getting on a bus one day and never even knowing about men dressing as women or whatever, or men wearing make-up and this man was like “Oh hello young lady, you can get on the bus before me”, and I was like, what the hell?

So, people have always reacted to me in a particular way. I’m in Dubai at the moment and they’re not sure… “Is that a man or a woman, we’re not sure?” They’re going to look at me because I’m 6ft 4” and at the moment my hair’s down to my waist. So I love to give them a reason, if they’re going to stare at me, you may as well give them a reason.

Really, I don’t think I’m that confident. I was a model for years and I struggled with an eating disorder (bulimia) and that really didn’t make me any more confident, and I think it held me down for a while but I got over it. Later on, wearing masks, I realised, give a man a mask and he’ll be himself (it’s an Oscar Wilde quote), so if you wear a mask, you can kind of do anything you want. That really helped build up my confidence, weirdly.

The make-up aspect also helps because you can change your character. I don’t do that all the time but sometimes I add a bit more to me… I get inspired by someone like Johnny Depp or something, and it comes into my character and I go out for the night in that character, but usually I don’t do that; usually it’s just myself.

I don’t think I’m that confident. The armour helps.

You were recently working with H&M on their sustainable fashion campaign (Close The Loop) – What are your honest opinions on what the high street is doing about these issues? How big is the problem?

To be frankly honest, when H&M came to me and said “Would you do a campaign?” I thought, yes, and then they said about recycling and I was like, hold on, how can H&M promote recycling? Then I thought about it and I realised that they’ve got such a massive voice, that anything that can help or even promote, I think I should be a part of so I said yes to it, even though they mass produce everything.

It was like music to my ears, it’s something that I care about and it’s also good for me as a brand. I do think it’s a huge problem, mass consumption is a massive problem that we all face and it’s going to effect the environment and our families of the future.

If we stop buying so much, we can really make a difference, especially if we buy wisely or buy things that we can reuse. I reuse my fabrics, I wear something around my waist and then I wear it on my head and I wear things that aren’t conventional (not everyone’s going to do that but that’s how I solve those problems) … I’m not sure how we’re going to do that but the fact that Chanel is doing recycling right now, is a good sign.

So hopefully the industries will start to turn it into a trend and progress with it. I’m not really sure how but if they all start to recycle a bit more; it’s going to help.

What’s one thing you think needs to change within the industry as somebody who networks within different areas?

There’s a lot that should change, it actually is changing and it’s changing so fast that no one knows how to deal with it. I remember a few years ago, ‘blogger’ was a swearword. I was a blogger. At the same time Bryanboy and FaceHunter were starting, I was blogging… and I was seen as a blogger and it was kind of not a good thing to do, but then it all changed, so that’s one thing.

We just need to go with it.
The whole industry needs to be reinvented because nothing works. There are systems in place which hold people back. Sometimes the top people in the industry are hired from outside of the industry and they really don’t know what’s going on.

Obviously it’s about business at the end of the day so I believe that there should be more help for young designers and businesses in the fashion industry, and think we all need to start supporting each other even though we’re competing against each other.

I’m not sure to be honest, it’s a really tricky thing. A lot of designers at the moment are going bankrupt or are going to work with other people because they can’t continue and this is because the buyers are buying pre-collections and they’re not going to Paris and they’re not going to these trade shows. It’s kind of failing.

Big designers are closing shops. Huge designers; American designers, English designers… the best that we have, are kind of disappearing, and years ago everyone was all for helping the new designers and making everything better but I think it’s just because of the economy… and we have to move with it, but I’m not sure how.

But then on the other side, there’s couture.

At SORAPOL, we were told to do Ready-To-Wear, and then all of a sudden we decided it wasn’t working for us because the system wasn’t working for us. So we decided to stay with couture which we’re good at and we know we can sell (and we do sell) … and now we’re moving from London, the most creative city in the world (most of our inspiration comes from there) and it’s the cultural hub of the world… but the problem is, that the establishment (and I’m not scared to say it) are not helping young designers.

We’ve only been around for four years and I understand that no one would want to help us too much because we’re quite young but there are other people around who are failing miserably and they’re so more talented than anyone else on schedule.

We did our show in Brewer Street car park, and they laughed at us, but then all of a sudden that’s where London Fashion Week is. I went to book the car park and they said “London Fashion Week has it” and I’m like… what? So, that’s how it lies in London.

We’re moving to Paris, hopefully we’re going to do well. We’ve had lots of support from Paris already. VOGUE has said they’ll do us a dinner. There’s more support in Paris than there is in London for young designers.

So, the industry really needs to reassess itself, I think. I’m speaking as an outsider and an insider; as someone who’s worked in most parts, whether it be a stylist, or photographer, or model, or a designer or someone who’s worked with make-up or worked with trends or has consulted for companies. I’ve seen a lot and read a lot… of course I don’t know if I’m always right but, I think that’s the way things need to go.

It needs a whole shake-up. I think people will come out of it shining, others will just disappear because they’re talentless but that’s just my opinion.

Thank you so much for the wonderful answers! Truly insightful.

What are your thoughts on these topics? Let me know in the comments!