Candy Violet Atelier!

Vivien Hoffpauir, businesswoman and designer of Candy Violet, has long been a staple of the lolita world. Often she's been used an example of a high quality Amerian lolita brand. Previously her line mostly handled a unique system of free-standing bodices or bustiers, meant to be mixed and matched with her various skirt designs. She now takes her style up a notch to begin her new line: the Atelier Collection (currently featuring beautiful winter coats and accessories)!. She graciously agreed to a Lolita Charm interview, and gladly tells all about her dreams for Candy Violet, the styles of a Victorian-inspired winter, and the new, whimsical world of the quaintrelle.

Lolita Charm: Why did you start the Atelier Collection, in addition to the usual line of Candy Violet?

Candy Violet: I started the Atelier section to be able to out out more experimental pieces without taking the huge gamble of manufacturing the pieces on a large scale, as well as some intricate handmade items to keep things creative and interesting. My dream is to be able to have items like we currently have in the atelier section manufactured for our regular catalog, and to fill the atelier section with some really extravagant pieces that we really couldn't have mass produced. Steel panniers, corsets and gowns. The only way we can make that happen however is through strong sales of our label, supported by the community.

LC: What inspired your last line, Visions of Versailles?

CV: I've had a long time love affair with the 18th century and after a trip to Versailles in the spring I thought that might be the perfect place to start! I took inspiration directly from some of my favorite portraits of the women of Versailles. Each dress was based a famous (or infamous) Versailles belle!

LC: What inspired your current line, Stroll About Town?

CV: This one came from a coat I made last year, and one of my favorite items in our regular catalog right now, the Victorian Promenade dress set. I was thinking about Victorian walking dresses when I designed that set, and took it further for this event with all the clothing and accessories a girl might need for a stroll about town in Victorian style! This event is pretty much all the things I wished I could have released into the main catalog along with those dress sets.

LC: So, it seems that the Atelier Collection rotates on a theme. How long does on rotation last, and what can we expect to see for the next theme?

CV: These have been by season, but the future is pretty unsure right now. If the items don't sell well from this event there's a good chance there won't be a next event. Right now any possible future atelier events look like they are going to be accessories only. The clothes were in large part an experiment to see if the market was ready to spend money on high end items from a brand outside of Japan, and right now I'm not sure that they are. The sad thing is as a designer you always have to bow to the simple economics of it all when it comes to running a business. I have plans for a jewelry event next time around, but right now we'll have to wait and see.

LC: You also moderate the Livejournal community, lifestyle_lolis. What is your concept of a lolita lifestyle?

CV: That's a tough one. To me just as the fashion is about escapism and taking that old world charm and frivolity into your wardrobe, "lifestyle lolita" is about taking the same ideas but in things beyond clothes!

I don't think a "lifestyle lolita" should have to drink tea all day or follow etiquette manuals to the letter 24/7 (unless that's what she wants to do!), to me it's more about trying to bring a little old fashioned fancy into your regular life. I like to collect tea cups and drink out of those on a night when I'm winding down, but I'm still also a hardcore girl and enjoy working out to old youth crew records. To me it's about striking a balance and making your life feel as beautiful as you do if only for a few minutes a day.

I think it's personal to each lolita though, just as the fashion is. I've also recently changed the community to vie_quaintrelle to open the community up to a wider group of people who enjoy these fancy things.

LC: You’ve toyed with the name lolita before in the past, using different terms like coquette and quaintrelle to describe your fashion’s style. Can you expand on that?

CV: Basically the word "lolita" has a hard and fast meaning in the West, and it's not one that fits the style or lifestyle in my opinion. I also feel it's kind of sad when a person comes up to me and my friends on the street and asks what we are about, that there is always a one minute explanation, followed by a two minute excuse about the name. After a few qualifiers you've lost their interest. I never want to feel I need to make excuses for something I have pride in.

Coquette came from the gallants and coquettes in 18th century literature, the flirty, fashionable, and fantastically dressed young men and women who were the driving force of the fashionable scene. That one again fell short with the modern meaning that can sometimes have a negative connotation too.

Quaintrelle however is a word that perfectly describes lolita, even the stem, the word "quaint" perfectly describes the style without any bias that skews us away from the gothic or sweet style. A perfect neutral and a perfect fit!

"A 'quaintrelle' is a woman who emphasizes a life of passion expressed through personal style, leisurely pastimes, charm, and cultivation of life’s pleasures. Quaintrelles are not female Dandies; rather, they share the same philosophical underpinnings of dandies, developed within feminine nature and styles."

LC: Do you think that the term quaintrelle is different than the term lolita, and in what way?

CV: I do, it's more than lolita. It's a term that for any one who dresses in an elaborate style based on the past and enjoys a lifestyle that reflects that. I think my site Fancy Girl is a good example of what I'm shooting for. I would say lolita is a style that can be worn under the blanket label quaintrelle, as well as others like neo-historisim or natural-kei for the Japanese street fashion oriented. But the word quaintrelle is more open and means much more than just another word for lolita. It's a subculture and not just a style (like many see lolita) it's also not dependent on the whims of Japan the same way Lolita seems to be. For me as a designer it's a word I hope to operate under in a way that leaves me more open to trying new things outside of the tiny lolita style box, and one to really bring together girls who share the same outlook. I think it could make us fancy girls a stronger group! I just launched my_quaintrelle as a daily style community so every one can share and see the different looks people are creating in that same theme.

LC: What’s the best advice you could give a beginner lolita?

CV: The biggest piece of advice I would give is build a solid foundation of separates, such as dress sets and accessories, these will make a versatile wardrobe fast and on a budget. It's hard to wear one dress many ways, but if you have a lot of smaller pieces you can put together so many knockout outfits with relatively little in the closet! Be yourself, and look deeply. Look at lolita images that move you and think about what it is that speaks to you, and how you can pull that together into a lolita style that suits who you are. I think those are the biggest lessons I learned!

LC: What is your favorite Candy Violet accomplishment to date?

CV: That our garments are professionally produced. It was a huge investment and a huge risk, but it meant that we have been able to serve so many more people, and offer a consistent high quality in our pieces. I think everything I did up to that point was building to that.

Want to support the Stroll About Town Atelier Collection? Click here!

Labels: interview, shopping

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 1:11 PM