1. Hey Andrea, thanks for meeting up with us! To get the ball rolling, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
9. Before we sign off, do you have any parting words of wisdom for other looking to follow in your foot steps?
-Hey guys, thank you for having me.
So , I’m a Fashion Designer/ Creative Director to my own brand T A N K O V I T Z and a music video Creative Wardrobe Designer, so I don’t style, I create an entire concept for the looks of everybody on a music video, from the artist to the extras.
2. I understand that you began designing wedding dresses for your friends. That sounds both fun but also very dangerous when you have a bridezilla on your hands lol… tell us about your experiences designing wedding dresses, do you have any funny stories you can tell?
-OMG, you have no idea.
I did start out by designing wedding and graduation dresses, I loved focusing on the body of each client.
I wanted to make every woman feel perfect, by hiding whatever their insecurity was and enhancing what they loved most.
But I stopped doing custom pieces because of the “bridezillas”, I was like “fuck this, I’m just going to design what I want and whoever wants to buy it, they will”
I didn’t want to deal with crazy anymore, I have my own crazy to deal with hahaha
3. Tell us about the Instituto di Moda Burgo, what was it like studying fashion there and what are the key things your learned that helped you in launching your own brand
“T A N K O V I T Z”
-The thing I’m most thankful for from my school is learning how to pass ideas from my head on to paper, without that bridge it would be very hard and frustrating to explain something no one else can see and getting it done.
The illustrative sketch book they teach with was co-written by Roberto Cavalli exclusively for my school, so I take so much pride in that.
4. Fashion transcends cultural barriers, and is a part of all our lives to some degree, what is it that really attracts you to the business?
-Improvement.
Now I’m not saying I’m here to improve fashion, because that would be delusional, fashion is a form of art and art is subjective.
What I mean is I LOVE to improve what I see, it’s an addiction, not just with clothes, but with ANYTHING I see.
I’m constantly thinking on how to make a car better, a house better, a room etc, ergo
clothes.
When I see a person wearing something, I immediately analyze the body, what the person is wearing and how he/she could improve their look by changing the sleeves, the color, the top, the bottom, adding, subtracting etc.
So everything I create is the improvement of something else; And it is addicting.
5. You have styled models and also featured in many music videos; who are the biggest stars you have worked with and what was it like?
-My favorite memory is OMI, not the biggest start, but he was my first music video and it all happened by chance, I was dropping a model friend off at a casting, I had no idea for who or even what, so I was waiting in the agency talking to people and I was asked if I was there for the auditions, so I told them I was just there keeping company to my friend, started talking about what I do, they asked to see my stuff, little did I know I was talking to the producer.
They liked my stuff so much, they asked me if I wanted to have my stuff on the video and BOOM, TANKOVITZ was on TV for the first time, MTV and from there on it was how I supported myself and the brand, music videos.
6. Do you think that working with the music and arts industry is a key factor in launching a fashion brand? If so, how so?
-Well I didn’t do it on purpose, like I said it was all by chance, is it a key factor? I don’t know, but it really helps broaden the horizon, your name tends to be in more mouths and eyes and it definitely helps the name of your brand be in more places.
7. Do you style yourself or do like to wear other designers cloths?
-I definitely style myself and my husband!
But yeah of course I wear other clothes other than my own, I won’t lie, the majority is mine though, just because I have the things I know go perfectly well with my body.
8. What can we expect from you in the future?
-Whatever God has in store for me.
Which hopefully is a T A N K O V I T Z Empire. I want that name everywhere.
-Listen to NO ONE, and if you don’t know business and/or numbers, get to it, because it is essential.