What's Contemporary Now?

Suzanne Koller, a Paris-based fashion stylist and art director, is renowned for her impactful contributions to the fashion industry. Cofounding Petronio Associates in 1993 and Self Service Magazine in 1994, she worked with prestigious clients and curated a unique creative vision. Transitioning to become the fashion director of Vogue Paris and later M le Magazine du Monde, Koller continues to shape the industry with her collaborations and editorial work. More interested in holistic artistry than anything else, Koller keeps herself out of her comfort zone to stay curious and true to herself—which is what’s contemporary now.  Episode Highlights: Koller, who was born and raised in Vienna, feels “very Austrian.” She moved to Germany, and then to Switzerland, where she studied graphic design. She’s lived in France for over 30 years.  Knowing from her teen years that she wanted to be an art director, Koller saw the glamour of working for a magazine. She became an intern at Elle magazine in Paris before interning in graphic design at Glamour—where she was first introduced to the idea of working in fashion. As a consultant, stylist, and art director, Koller found it exciting to make her own way with Self Service and to change hats, working with smaller magazines to avoid creative constraints. Koller focuses less on fashion and more on individual subjects, orienting herself toward documenting women through time in collaborative projects.  Driven by long-standing obsessions, her current interest is finding emerging talent and working with a new generation of creatives. Keeping herself out of her comfort zone helps maintain her energy and curiosity even as she considers herself a workaholic.  Koller is not driven by nostalgia but more inspired by the now, whether in the supermarket perusing ingredients, going to a museum, people-watching, or taking a flight. She believes in the significance of “emptying [her] brain” periodically. In an age of over-engagement with social media, what’s contemporary to her now is staying true to oneself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melitta Baumeister and Henry Zankov, the 2023 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner and runner-up, are two trailblazing designers working at the intersection of quality and artistry, exploring the tension between fantasy and commercial viability one thoughtful design at a time. Baumeister, a celebrated designer known for her sustainable and ethical approach, launched her eponymous brand in 2011. Her innovative designs merge modern aesthetics with a commitment to environmental consciousness, setting a high standard for sustainable fashion. Henry Zankov, who debuted his label in 2019, combines avant-garde design with exceptional craftsmanship. His background—from his Russian roots to his American influences—shapes his unique, trend-defying vision. Both designers present a singular take on the importance of intention, curiosity, and sculpture—and how to run a label as a business. For Zankov, fashion’s ability to express intention is what’s contemporary now, while Baumeister sees “being concerned about the future” as the zeitgeist. Episode Highlights: Born into a family of tailors in Germany, Baumeister studied tailoring and fashion from an early age.  Zankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and arrived in the US at the age of nine. Growing very close to New York City in the ’90s, his first interactions with English and the West were mediated through MTV. Launching his own label in 2019, Zankov was interested in creating a recognizable visual language unique to his perspective after working as a consultant for years. To Baumeister, production difficulties are “finding the right people to work with; being so many positions in one, from the production manager to the pattern maker to handling sales; understanding even how wholesale and fashion is working.” Zankov speaks about the need to “reset” how we consume, living slower and more intentionally curated lifestyles. Regarding the tension between fantasy and commercial viability, Baumeister says her solution—at the intersection of artistry and sales—is “all in the fabric.” Zankov starts with a concept every season, aiming toward a curious customer with inner soulfulness and wisdom. Both designers cite the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund as an incredible support for their creative practice. Baumeister notes that wholesale gives more reach and territory, while direct-to-customer sales offer more constructive feedback and relationship-building opportunities. Zankov highlights the importance of using both, though DTC allows him to make more accessible garments. Zankov sees fashion’s ability to express intention as what’s contemporary now, while Baumeister sees “being concerned about the future” as the zeitgeist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Set and Production designer Shona Heath creates enchanting, dense, and detailed worlds. Dreams within themselves, her visions have been manifested across the pages of top publications, and in collaborative partnerships with the likes of Tim Walker, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Prada, Miu Miu, and SHOWstudio. Her style seamlessly blends contemporary and vintage elements, showcasing a unique, fantastical aesthetic—brought to life through paper sculpting, painting, photography, and prop-building. Most recently, her work on Yorgos Lanthimos’s 2023 film Poor Things won an Academy Award for Best Production Design. In an age of worldbuilding, Heath shares a journey from the countryside to imagining entire realms, underlining that creativity plays a role in designing our everyday lives. Episode Highlights: Growing up in the British countryside in a modern sixties home, Heath remembers an upbringing spent outdoors, where she became intrigued with visions of scale; her mother’s crafts were also a deep influence.  She started her career in costume design and was moved to create a set from paper for Dazed, which turned into requests for shop windows and later collaborations with Tim Walker.  Heath’s creative process begins with words or an image, but usually, the former encourages original image-making and visualizing. She sees tools like AI as potentially good research tools but detrimental to her own particular craft; its use depends on the artist and their authenticity. She recommends working independently rather than starting as an assistant to an established artist, as then you know how to forge your own path first.  Though she used to feel that she experienced “excessive input” when doing a project, she now feels she can better communicate her vision and appease clients and collaborators up front.  She prefers the immediacy and direct access of working in photography to working on film sets; Heath remarks she wouldn’t be interested in doing a period piece that didn’t have an added element of creativity like Poor Things—a film she worked on with James Price, whose decades of film expertise Heath leaned on.  Fashion’s tendency for retro revisits and zeitgeist trends plays well into her work (as opposed to interior design, which she says has more of a lag time between trends and the trend’s appearance in the culture).  Her work on Poor Things won her an Academy Award for Best Production Design. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dara is a model, stylist, and fashion director at Interview magazine. From her beginnings in San Diego to the iconic runways of New York, Dara speaks of a journey that is a testament to creativity and conviction. Recognized for her bold, visionary style, she views fashion as an art of crafting desire and glamour, where the method of persuasion is as crucial as the message itself. Her styling for Hunter Schafer and Troye Sivan highlights a unique blend of raw talent, intuitive expertise, and hard work. She’s walked the runways for Marc Jacobs, Kenzo, and Moschino; posed across the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar; and styled for an impressive array of brands like Calvin Klein, Tom Ford, and Miu Miu. What she sees as contemporary now is everyday optimism—and fluidity in interpretation, just like images. Episode Highlights: Growing up in San Diego with a creative mother and a pop-culture-obsessed father, Allen recalls watching Disney movies, writing in cursive, immersing in arts and crafts, and wanting to be an animator.   She describes herself as a child being in her own “little world,” a feeling that contributed to her strong sense of self as an adult. With a level of conviction required for creative pursuits and an early interest in image-making, Allen cherishes the performative aspects of both modeling and styling. Her career in New York took off quickly, through connections to Candy magazine, the VAQUERA label, and stylist Ian Bradley.  Allen says the unique thing about her generation’s access to information—and noise—is “this real emphasis on understanding your history and the context and everything that kind of surrounds what we’re doing.”  Allen became fashion director at Interview magazine, thinking of the role as writing with clothes and writing with photos.  She recognizes a sense of absurdity in the fashion world and emphasizes the performative aspects of everyday life.  When asked what’s contemporary now, Allen says, “optimism; levity,” and speaks to enjoying even the challenging parts of the work, and fluidity.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices