VOGUE VOICE
Paul Vasileff, founder of Adelaide-based couture house Paolo Sebastian, has created the label’s second collection in collaboration with Disney for the launch of Frozen 2. Here, the designer shares why you’re never too old for a little fantasy.
LIKE MOST KIDS, I grew up on Disney, and one of my earliest memories, from when I was about three, is going to see Aladdin at the cinemas. My dad told me that everyone in the cinema was laughing at how much I was laughing. Disney sparked my imagination and provided a portal to explore the world of make-believe. Films like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, which are centred on the idea of creating ‘the dress’, were my favourites. It was the idea of transformation, taking characters facing adversity and giving them an opportunity to be their best self.
I was also enchanted by the idea of magic. Some of my teachers even wrote letters to my parents saying I was too fixated on a fantasy world and needed a bit of a reality check. But my parents saw my passion, they saw me draw those characters and make little mannequins like the ones used by my nonna – who first taught me to sew.
Back then, I didn’t know the job of fashion designer existed, so I dreamt of being an animator and would watch films in slow motion, frame by frame. I was good at art and drawing and obsessed with motion and movement – I think that’s why a lot of Paolo Sebastian dresses are full, floaty and romantic. I admired early animation masterpieces like Snow White (1937) and Sleeping Beauty (1959) for their artistry, storytelling and beautiful music … things I’m still inspired by now.
I was about nine when I realised people designed fashion for work, so I pursued my passion from there, eventually launching my label in 2007 when I was I7. The concept for Paolo Sebastian – to create beautiful fairytale gowns – hasn’t changed one bit since I was 11 years old.
My first collaboration with Disney came a decade later, but the seed of that was planted after our 2014 Sleeping Garden collection. I was reflecting on how it had been loosely inspired by the Once Upon a Dream sequence in Sleeping Beauty and my thoughts turned to Mary Costa, the original voice of Princess Aurora. I have always been a huge fan of Mary, who is now 89; I thought she was so stunning and her voice was incredible. At that moment I felt compelled to tell her how much she’d inspired me, so I sent her a letter and a little book of that collection, doubting that it would even reach her. A month or so later, much to my surprise, she called. We ended up talking for ages and just hit it off, and over the years we’ve kept in touch. During one of our phone calls, Mary expressed disappointment that she hadn’t seen any of our gowns at the 2016 Oscars, and told me: “If I can ever do anything to help you, just let me know.”
Soon after, it was the lead-up to Paolo Sebastian’s 10-year anniversary and I was intent on doing something really special. I was watching Snow White and thought how amazing it would be to do a collection that pays homage to Disney. Mary was the first person I called. The next day I was contacted by the head of Disney publicity in LA, who said Mary had introduced them to my label and they wanted to hear my ideas. Excited by my passion and because it was the first time they’d done a full couture collection that drew from the essence of Disney, I was invited to LA to tour the animation department and Disney Studios. Granted that rare access to those LA archives, I pored over original sketches and drawings and quizzed the animators about techniques. Those references were important because it wasn’t just about princess dresses – it was about translating a mood and a feeling into design. I wanted the gowns to be vintage in some aspects, that air of nostalgia in honour of 1930s and 40s Disney, but I also wanted to acknowledge more recent work.
Creating that first Disney collection was so much fun and I think it will forever remain my favourite. To me, it was more than just a collection, it was a dream come true.
That dream has been ongoing in a way, because I’ve maintained a great relationship with Disney and at the end of last year they proposed we collaborate again on a capsule collection to coincide with the release of Frozen 2. Of course I said yes.
Frozen has become a phenomenon and has touched so many people. Like most Disney films, it doesn’t matter what your age or gender or where you are in life, it speaks to the heart. A lot of my female friends told me Frozen had been significant to them because it talks about sisterhood, so I wanted to do justice to that. I also looked at the colour palettes, studied the characters and even the scenery, and I focussed on the themes of earth, fire, wind, water and ice as a way to present the pieces. At end of the day, though, the collection will have a Paolo Sebastian stamp on it, which I guess is my personal aesthetic and comes across in everything we do: that fairytale feel of old-world vintage yet also being young, fresh and modern.
I have never felt so much pressure in my life as I do designing for Disney. To my mind, each dress has to be perfect, otherwise I’ll be doing a disservice to the film, to everyone who worked on it, to five-year-old me and everyone else who is enchanted by that escapism.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of Disney today. I think that now, more than ever, we all need the chance to be free to dream and to feel as though anything is possible. I know I’m where I am in my career for a number of reasons – family, friends, hard work – but Disney, too, has always been there for me. Conducting myself in daily life and in business, I am conscious of the lessons I’ve learnt from these films and from these characters, and I want to live up to those values. Disney feels like home to me. I can be stressed out of my mind, I can be anxious, scared and worried, but if I put on one of those films it’s almost like a reality check: it reminds me why I started and reminds me to keep going.