FOR WOMEN WITH BACKGROUND

Natavan Aliyeva is one of Vyacheslav Zaitsev's talented students, a participant of many fashion shows, including abroad. She has created a recognisable style. It is difficult to distinguish between the spheres of her interests, because for many years Aliyeva has created collections reflecting her passion as a collector of vintage items from the 19th century and her talent as a designer. Every outfit is an organic continuation of Azerbaijan's cultural traditions integrated into timeless fashion trends. One realises this when stepping into the cosiness of her workshop, where Natavan Aliyeva gladly shares information about her cherished and adored treasures. This is where traditional garments are reinterpreted to later find their rightful place in the wardrobe. Where the kelaghai harmoniously fit into a strict European silhouette, and multicolour ornaments are assembled like a shabaká... All these oriental luxury of colours reflected in stylish clothes show a discernable signature of their author, Natavan Aliyeva, whose inner world can be easily seen thanks to the creative ideas on how a modern woman should look like in the context of Azerbaijani fashion.

"What is dressing a woman?"

"Oh, you better ask me what is undressing her means. Because they come to me already dressed. This is what inspires me to achieve my goals. To realise and reinterpret a woman's appearance, she must be undressed. This is what I realise better at the initial stage. But to dress her? Everyone has own ideas of the image of a woman. Some designers intentionally opt for looks (images) that give you  a sense of the complete lack of clothes. In reality though it is what a woman wears and how she does it that gives her exactly the flair making her attractive in the eyes of surrounding men, giving room for fantasy."

"But every woman is an individuality that is quite difficult to pull out of the already established view of herself."

"Good point! The clothes I create are quite complex, including the colours, prints, layering. I like to use oversized models, which, as I noticed, everyone likes. And they find my outfits interesting. But only a woman with a backbone can wear them. Only the one who has a background, knows what she wants in this life. And only she can present it to the outside world, dressed in the 'complicated life' that is somewhat encrypted in my outfits. Empty or weak women, with no backbone, matured in a kind of vacuum, would avoid putting on my designs. They don't fit her. I have enough experience to realise it. Apparently, there is something that translates that very personal respect for herself and the ability to respond with dignity. This must be a character, and not the easy one... These are the women that wear my outfits like their favourite pyjamas. They sometimes can even shock and amaze me with how they present themselves in my designs! I get often visited by ladies completely different from each other. And quite often I have heard remarks about my oversized clothes. I had to explain them the structure of clothes, and that they had been created for the women of any size. So if someone finds which outfit that fits them best, the feeling of comfort is guaranteed!

"During the recent Azerbaijan Fashion Week, nineteen successful and famous women came out in my outfits. They were radically different in every aspect, both in appearance and in their fields of activity. Each of them looked stunning in oversize, feeling the look put together specifically for her! Why? Because they are not just women. I mean there is a difference between the clothes put on a mannequin, a hanger and a Woman, with her vast great world formed gradually throughout years."

"Is it obligatory to follow the rules of the colour wheel in your designs?"

"No. I don't work with it at all, but with intuition. Even Vyacheslav Zaitsev noted my good intuition for colour. Colour science is one of the most difficult factors. Stylists spend a lot of time to studying it. But one might be gifted and can match completely unmatchable things pretty easily. Those are guided by a pure sense. By the way, the same applies to creating your own looks, including everyday looks. And here again we go back to the roots: inside any garment there is a huge energy, which all together creates something very beautiful."

"Many designers make accents on their clothes, while you constantly underline the individuality of persons wearing them."

"Absolutely! Because it is the person that is the source and presenter of my designs to the wider public. I am focused on him, and I don't create clothes without a soul. I put so much emotional components, so many thoughts into it, inspired by the national Azerbaijani costume. I always try to carry the energy that must necessarily connect with the energy of the person who has chosen NATAVAN's designs for themselves. Only then it will be alive and interesting."

"Do you often find that suits chosen by your clients do not fit them at all?"

"I do. I make sure to deliver this message to my clients. I offer them a replacement, demonstrating the best option, even they like their own choice. But it is important for me to bring out, first and foremost, the person's personality! Realising that it is my client that has the last word to say, I still try to find the best option. Although the commercial component is important to me, I want to respect myself and my labour first of all, so that the person leaving me not hears my negative views on their clothes. My name plays a role in this case. Fortunately, people still listen to me. Sometimes one unsuccessful choice of my client may give birth to several new designs, which eventually end up in their wardrobe. So earning money gives me pleasure this way."

"Not a conventional way of doing business..."

"Because I have a sense of conscience, which plays a direct role in building a policy of implementation. Perhaps, to some extent, it prevents me from trivial enrichment. Well, I cannot put aside my conscience and manners. My answer to comments that it is impossible to make money in this way is thinking this way is somewhat wrong. This  has already been proven. At the same time I remain an honest and good person, for myself in the first place. I'm not interested in any external pseudo-approval. This is a conscious position. Early enough I realised that we would all leave this life. And no matter how much we have gained and created, we will not take anything with us! The only thing one can leave behind, and you really have to work on it for a long time, is the name. Good or bad... Everything! This is the only thing that we will be remembered by our relatives, close ones and just acquaintances, or even strangers, who once passed by us. About that very Teacher who explained something to them, gave them a present, showed them something... This is the starting point for all the memories about a person."

"As we age, we get from the life what it teaches us. This path can be traced in the collections of a fashion designer. How do you assess them based on your experience? Any regrets?"

"It is clear that we become more experienced over time, and even a year is enough to change us. I can look back on some things I've done in the past with regret. My emotional insulting breakdowns. As I get older, I can recognise my shortsightedness in those moments. For example, that I left sport and I can't recover since. Now I realise that one should never give up doing what he started before, like making a career. I have built one for a long time, but I left it and had to start everything from scratch. That causes a certain anger and regret. As for collections, since I am a postgraduate student, one day, while visiting my university on business, I met with an old acquaintance. She was wearing a blouse that interested me with its design and cut. She happily noted that she felt that we would see each other that day, because she was wearing my (!) work. Since I was surprised to hear that, she reminded me that she bought the blouse ten years ago, when I had just returned to Baku. It's hard to tell you how funny it was to realise that I had just wanted to copy my own work! That blouse was part of the collection used in my defense thesis at Zaitsev's school. Back in the days, when I used to do crazy things experimenting with creating beautiful details. In my past collections, you can see nuances in each of them. Looking at that collection now, I realise that it would be very relevant today. While getting older, I realise that basic things are unchangeable and can always be presented in a new way: with different fabrics, prints, and accessories. But they have become the classic basics that fit a person one hundred per cent, allowing him to feel comfortable. Please note that it is possible to create anything. The big question is how wearable it will be? For me, it is very important that the clothes combine quality and comfort. These are the two main components, because I myself like to wear something in which both my body and soul feel comfortable. It has to be stylish, fashionable and very relevant!"

"What if someone repeats your designs? Or even steals it?"

"The moment of repetition may well be present. I love the gowns and caftans I learned from Zaitsev and which I still create with pleasure to this day. Only the fabrics change... I started to use kelaghai in them. As to stealing, there have been situations in my life when I clearly realised that even if my idea was stolen, I would not be lost and come up with something else.  There were times when I started something with someone in tandem in a situation when I spent more effort as I went along, while my junior partners gave me a minor participation. I learned this later. But I let this weigh on their conscience. I declare with full responsibility that it was me that used kelaghai in clothes first. I have seen many times how my designs were repeated... But the knowledgeable will understand the difference. It is enough to see the difference simply by comparing the two outfits. So if my works are copied, I must be worthy of something..."

"Is it hard to maintain your own bar?"

"I don't think it's worth a great expense. Because the whole struggle is with ourselves. We can only be better than we were yesterday. Therefore, we strive to work even harder on ourselves. I always say that as long as we are alive, we should read, study, learn, create, and develop. Young people have the right to speak out, and we should not pretend, because of our age, that we do not hear them. I feel negatively of such ignorance and primitivism as far as the young people and their works are concerned. Today they are very intelligent and advanced. Just look at how the young people use the gadgets. I myself learn from my students and children of my relatives. I heed their advice. After all, the moment you start thinking of knowing everything, you should die. After all, you're giving up a full sense of life. Or you should say goodbye to yourself as a person, because you stop developing. We cannot know everything! If something is beyond our comprehension, it is not a shame. It is possible to learn. The main thing is to have a desire! Life does not stand still. The change of seasons brings something new. People experience some events, up to daily repeating, in the same way  but in other realities. There is no absolute knowledge. And that is the whole point making it interesting - to learn something all the time. It is true that as a creative person I am saddened by global cataclysms around the world, which I try to avoid as much as possible."

"Cannot you step back?"

"That's our reality. Every bad situation has a flip side. Nothing happens out of the blue! The cyclical nature of certain situations is inevitable. It may have been much worse in the past. It's just that back then there was no internet and letters took months to reach. But back then people had a lot more patience. Unlike us, today, who literally demand instant response to phone calls or messages. There were those who waited for their loved ones and believed in their return decades later, after the WWII in 1941-1945. In other words, every stage and period of human civilisation has its pros and cons. Just recently at a lecture I noted that today everything is so great, so advanced and cool that even the Internet can be used both for bad and for good. But I am thankful to its creators, who made it possible for us to learn non-stop in a wide variety of fields and areas. Online format of communication gives such incredible preferences! I feel very comfortable in this mode. I like doing several things in parallel. Sometimes I regret that I am not the goddess Shiva. How many things I would have done... I feel sorry for idle time. I remember not liking afternoon naps. I was bored. Because the interest was literally overwhelming. Once I started sewing and embroidery, there was no room for boredom in my life. Especially in my teenage years, when I was 11 or 12 years old, I literally loaded myself not to be bored with all sorts of nonsense, including in my thoughts. Basketball, art school, different classes... I was running away from idleness."

"Perhaps that's when the prerequisites for collecting the national material artefacts were born..."

"I am still interested in learning about the legacy of our great-grandmothers. Now that I have a family, it is no longer possible to rush off overnight and go to the most distant settlements as soon as I hear about some rare and ancient things over there. But inside I am still the same nomad that walks and explores, looks and wonders, picks and searches. I love it immensely. If you ask me why I am so keen on collecting antiquities of Azerbaijani culture, I would frankly say that I am impressed by the depth of the core inside, which gives an understanding of my identity. When I was eleven, I remember asking my mum this question. I read about it in a magazine, I don't remember which one. There was an article about yoga, all kinds of metaphysical transmigration of souls, third eye, meditation... By the way, yoga appeared in my life a little later. But then I asked my mum if she ever wondered about her mission in this world. She said she had never thought about such a stupid thing. Because in her world of children, husband, and family, everything had to be clear, precise, and right. I respect her position on her life. Alas, my horizons are slightly different: society, the world, globality, descendants, ancestors, creating fashionable clothes while promoting national culture. I am sure that these are my spheres of interest which I should be known for today and when I leave this world. I have to pass something on to someone, to teach them something... Over the years, my pioneer enthusiasm has waned somewhat, but it has not gone anywhere. I am not interested in hangouts, and I ignore statements which define me as a weirdo. It is more important to learn and see something new. Even when I visit another country, my first destinations are museums. If I find antique places, I feel really lucky! My recent trip to Nakhchivan was such a pleasure of 'communication' with exhibits in the museum of carpets: I lived and breathed all this beauty and history. There I was given a priceless antique gift: a girl handed me her grandmother's wedding clothes! There is no limit to the delight! This is trust and recognition, when in addition to trivial earnings you try to invest in the history of your homeland. I am a maniac of my business... and to pass by a really interesting antique is simply unacceptable! I still have a hard time after selling several of my works to one of our museums. I sometimes go and visit them there. After all, these are unique pieces that will never return to the market again."

"And not only that... They disappear, dissolve... I think you have voluntarily taken on the mission to save and preserve..."

"...our heritage! It takes a long time before we realise that they must be preserved! And since through my collections I appeal to the heritage of Azerbaijani culture, I am focused on integrating it into fashionable styles..."

"I would call it selfless devotion..."

"Perhaps... Because we have a strong love and desire to realise and pass on to our successors information on who we are. That is in our roots and is the core of everything. After all, I'm not reinventing the wheel. It is unreal to copy the works of the world-famous designers whose brands are more than a hundred years old. We have to go the same way to rise to their heights. There are many emerging designers today, but how many of them can stay in this field? A brand that is not based on its roots of identity will not last long. My foundation is the good ol' forgotten things, and everything I can show... That's why I can move forward, develop and be successful!"