|
|
Cindy Morawetz - German Fashion
Designer |
|
The story of German fashion designer Cindy Morawetz who established her
own brand drezz2imprezz is both inspiring and amazing. With more and
more celebrities wearing her dresses and jumpsuits she can now fondly
look back to where even though she did not realize it at the time, it
all began, in her teenage years and she can look forward to a bright
future. She already has her sights set on making a big splash on the
American fashion scene.
Cindy Morawetz started designing her own clothes when she was a
teenager, but she very emphatically says “absolutely not,” when asked if
that was when she first started thinking about a career in the fashion
world.
“I never had this idea, because it was only just for me and I never
studied this. I only had fun doing things for myself, because everything
that you could buy I did not like. If something was not done like I
would have liked it, I recreated it.
My family is also very conservative, so they told me I had to study
something to get good money, so after school I started to study (to be)
a lawyer. It was my family’s idea but I only studied for one and
one-half years and I noticed this wasn’t something that I could be
creative doing. Absolutely not. This was the moment when I knew I had to
do something creative, but I didn’t know what. Studying fashion was not
an option, because my family did not have the money to send me to the
school and I had no idea that I could ever earn money with this fashion
stuff. It was always only for me. Later on it was never planned, it just
came.
I started to look at other designers and how they do things and I looked
at tutorials. I had a woman working for me and she showed me all of the
stuff you have to know as a designer. I never went to a fashion school,
but I learned everything by myself. I always knew that I was a leader in
things of fashion, because everything that I created for me other people
said where did you get it from or can you do it for me? (They would say)
that’s crazy that’s not in fashion right now and then some weeks later
it came into fashion. I
never had any idea to earn money with fashion and I never planned this.
Cindy, let’s go back to the prom dresses for a bit, because this is such
a fascinating part of your life and it really tells us a lot about who
you are.
“I started to sell prom dresses, fifteen years ago and that was my first
(company). I had some stores. I saw that there weren’t any prom dresses
in Germany and I always had seen these Hollywood movies from high school
and there were prom (scenes), so I wanted to bring some glamour to
Germany. I bought from Los Angeles designers those prom dresses and I
sold them in Germany. That was going very well.
I did it for ten years and then
I was asked to do some prom dresses that were recreated from Oscar night
dresses from the celebrities.
About eight years ago I started to look at the Oscars and I recreated
evening dresses. Then I took the original Oscar dress and I thought what
do I have to change to make it wearable for a normal woman or a
teenager? I changed the designs and made the Oscar dresses wearable for
normal women. I got bored a little bit and then I thought I want to have
completely my own designs. I had a lot of friends who were business
women and they asked me to do business styles that were classic, but had
bright colors and that are a little bit different from the big players
and the big designers who always do gray, brown, dark colors. My friends
wanted to have something else, so I started to create my own brand five
years ago,” she recalls.
That is the basics
of when I started to do my own designs. I like the old classic Hollywood
movies with the classic forties women like Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn,
Marilyn Monroe and I think in this time the women were very sexy without
showing too much. The dresses were very straight and classy, up to the
knee, they had sleeves and they did not (show) a lot of cleavage. I
think this is much more wonderful on a woman.
When I started on my own five years ago I created my own brand for
pencil dresses. This was my first inspiration and it is still my
inspiration, because I do a lot of business styles. The business styles
are always a little bit classier. In Germany it is very classy. You have
to follow some rules. The dress is not allowed to be very short, not too
much cleavage and if you don’t wear a jacket you have to have some
sleeves. I try with my business collection to play with the rules. I
have a classic dress, but then I take different fabrics or I put some
bright colors. After doing this every day and selling dresses every day
for women for business I started to create a style that is sometimes the
opposite. The dresses are shorter or they are short jumpsuits. When
every day you see the classics and you sell the classic styles to women
then you want to wear something else. I
created sexier, shorter and more modern dresses just for me to wear.
Then my customers also started to ask me to do it for them. That is why
you see the most classic style and the most hip style. When I went to
school and when I was a teenager I always created my own stuff and after
I wore these (clothes) many of my friends asked me to do the (same
thing) for them too. I
would say that I see trends, before they become trends,” says Cindy
Morawetz.
It took more than Cindy Morawetz’s designs to bring her success, she
started in the fashion industry without any significant contacts, but
she worked hard at it.
“When I started out during the first two years I did a lot of public
relations. I took my dresses to all the TV stations and all of the
celebrities and it was all that I had done in the first two years.
In the beginning it was very
expensive, but in the end it was worth it, because (my designs) were
always on TV, on the red carpet, in the press and this is how I was
recognized at first.
After this the women came to me and they put on the dresses and posted
them on social media and they put down my name. I never (spent) money to
make an advertisement. I always did it like this and I sent them to
celebrities or I do pictures with my customers and they are put on
social media. They tell their friends where they got their dresses from.
Over the years this is how the brand became well-known in Germany and
now in Mallorca and I am trying to bring it all over the world. The rest
of the world is my mission, but it takes some time, because when you are
a one-woman show you cannot be everywhere in the world. You have to do
it step by step.
My friends always ask me, where do you get the energy? I don’t know, but
that’s how I am. I always have to push, push, push and it is a 24 / 7
job. It happens a lot and this is the way it is going to spread all over
the world. Even if I don’t have the budget that a normal designer has, I
think if you are always working on it 24 / 7 then it is possible to
dress the world someday. Now I start to get to the U.S.A., because I got
to know four years ago a woman who is a director for Hollywood movies
and she loves my dresses. She is bringing out a big movie and she wants
to wear my dresses on the premiere. This is my little step into the
U.S.A. now,” (Editor’s note: At the time of our interview Cindy Morawetz
was not yet allowed to reveal the identity of the director).
Cindy Morawetz’s drezz2imprezz does not have seasonal collections and
she explains why, “I always have a basic collection of my best selling
styles that I discovered over the years and that sell very well. I have
those in basic colors and they are in stock. I am not doing seasonal
collections, but I do something (new) when I find a new fabric and I
have new ideas, then I put out a new design. When I see that women like
it then it comes to my basic collection.
I did not want to do the seasonal stuff, because I think it puts so much
pressure on the designer to have four collections a year (instead of
one). I didn’t want that pressure. I have limited designs, because when
I buy a fabric it might be fifty meters and when it’s done it is out of
the collection. I think for me it is the better way.”
As for how she came up with the name for her brand drezz2imprezz she
says, “My friend and I came up with the brand over a glass of red wine
and decided to spell it (using)
“z” not “s” and it says everything about it, because put on the dress
and go out to impress all of the other ones that see you in the dress.
That was the idea.”
Cindy Morawetz has a dream and that dream is to see her designs worn in
America. When she was a teenager she used to travel with her father to
the United States and Canada, because he imported cars to Germany.
“I started to fall in love with Canada and the U.S.A. We went a lot of
times to Florida. I cannot exactly tell you what affects me about the
American way of life, but I am more American than I am German. Germans
are really straight and they do not think out of the box. I am more the
American way to first do a thing and then think about it and the Germans
are the other way around. That is why America is so interesting for me.
I have never been to Los Angeles and Hollywood and that for me is a
dream, because most of the time I was inspired by the Hollywood stars
and the movies. I have never been there. This is my dream to go there
and to find some Hollywood stars to wear my dresses, because when this
happens, I am getting rich,” as she whispers those last few words
you can still hear her dreaming her dreams and who can deny that
she deserves for them to come true, because she has worked hard to build
her brand.
Cindy Morawetz is one of the most loveable people you are ever going to
meet. You come away from conversations with her smiling and inspired.
She has a showroom in Mallorca, Spain and her dresses are showing
up quite often now in Europe at fashion shows, high profile events and
on television. She is also one of Mallorca, Spain’s best ambassadors,
calling it a magical island and now it is her home.
Please visit the
drezz2imprezz website.
|
When
did I know?
