Cover image: Kate Mack at her rue Oberkampf boutique
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, we brought you Part 1 of our exclusive interview with Kate Mack, a Black French designer based in the Haut Marais in Paris' 11th arrondissement. Find a synopsis of Part 2 of the interview below.

From a self-taught designer to a professor, what do you think is something that aspiring fashion designers need to know?

I don’t really see myself as a professor - I see myself more as an educator.

I’m more like a catalyst and guide inviting students to tune out from their training for a while to experiment and connect with their natural flow and resources to enhance their creativity.

Kate Mack
Image courtesy of Kate Mack

Overtime, I've noticed that many of my interns were blocked in their creative process - they felt inadequate whenever they were confronted with something new and didn’t know how to do it. Also, their designs resembled each other because they were following too closely the general guidelines that they'd been taught.  This destroyed their personal creativity.

Students in fashion have to differentiate themselves to get attention and cultivate their wealth. The best way to do so is to experiment outside of the common teachings they receive, do research, and be very curious. There are inspirations for fashion designs in everything, somehow one has just to stay open and have a wandering eye to imagine and create.

I think aspiring designers have to make a conscious effort to cultivate their inner world aka inner self by being extremely curious, exploring, and experimenting as much as possible. Mastering techniques can be good and necessary, but you also have to feed yourself with aesthetics and content that have impacted you personally or you’re drawn to naturally. That’s how you build a sense of true self and get very personal in the expression of your creativity.

EthnikCoat by Kate Mack
Image courtesy of the designer

When you accomplish this, you are then in a position to bring something new to the table that will inspire and impact others. 

Where do you think traditional schooling differs from a more intuitive approach?

Because it’s didactic, traditional schooling can shrink or compromise a person’s creativity - especially if it is not aligned with your natural flow and perspective.

The common belief that being taught something enables you to do things also compromises your initiatives that will in turn negatively impact your ability to find resources to create solutions for issues that arise.

The intuitive approach allows you to actually learn new techniques with enjoyment and detachment regarding the final result and teaches you to progress confidently and trust the process. That's what I "preach" and encourage via this practice. When I see a course attendee get stuck, I invite the person to draw away from the mind and let intuition kick in. 

This exercise works because it's the mind that creates the blockage in the first place. It’s extremely empowering - people feel potent and capable and leave with a sense of self-confidence. I think it’s a great tool to build or rebuild self-confidence and self-esteem while discovering your inner potential through a joyful experience.

And because it’s a joyful ride most of the time, the tricks and techniques the participants get to discover are very well understood and more profoundly acquired. It’s a very effective learning technique, and it proves that joy plus experimentation equals knowledge…

This type of experimentation, just like the moulage technique, provides invaluable knowledge about fabrics.  It is a sure way to understand their properties and behaviors. Practicing regularly with different fabrics guarantees a real understanding of them and generates an expertise that helps you stand out as a stylist, designer, and/or pattern maker.

Intuitive Design Courses
Collage courtesy of Kate Mack

I open my Intuitive Design courses to students in fashion and costume design but also to people who don't know anything about sewing as a self-help and mental health practice.

Come back next week for the last installment of our interview with fashion designer Kate Mack!

Kate Mack
15, rue Oberkampf
75011 Paris
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12 PM-2 PM; 3 PM-8 PM
Metro: Oberkampf (Lines 5 and 9) or Filles du Calvaire (Line 8)