To what is owed so much success in so little time? Cathy Pill creates beautiful, meticulous clothing. Vaporous dresses with an exquisite finish, perfect patterns, and surprising prints. With modernist echoes, her garments acknowledge this style without being shrill about it. Her studied, polished simplicity transforms a woman into a gorgeous effigy, salvaging the mysterious quality of another time through a modern, essentialist design.

This is because every last detail on a Cathy Pill creation abounds with good taste and delicacy. Hers is an aesthetic universe which unostentatiously recreates a feminine woman with silk dresses, insinuating shadows, and draped silhouettes. Cathy has demonstrated her skill for rehabilitating a kind of harmonious sophistication that gives rise to beauty naturally, free of artifice and pretense, through her more than proven mastery of volumes. All of this makes her one of the most promising designers of a generation trained by such brilliant and renowned figures as Vandevorst and the great Westwood. A priceless gem of the latest generation.

- What inspires you?

I'm greatly inspired by structures and architecture. I'm working with my eyes and fingers. I'm not a storyteller in my collections; I'm more expressing feelings or ideas. The art nouveau period is a great inspiration for me, especially the idea that every detail has a sense of being and is a part of a global structure.

- What is your dream as a designer?

Working further on my designs, expanding the collections with assorted accessories, continuing to experience other fields in the art and exploring the world a lot better.

- What has been the most important achievement of your career?

To see women wearing my clothes with pleasure.

- How important are trends?

Not as important as having your own style. People are finally searching for a real personality. Trends are changing; a personal style is not.

- Fashion has always reflected a certain era. What does fashion reflect in the twenty-first century?

The world has become very small in the twenty-first century. People are constantly curious, searching for new volumes, new techniques, new technology, always wanting to go further, forever.

- What book would you recommend to every fashion designer?

Vionnet by Jacqueline Demornex (Éditions du Regard).

Cathy Pill

7, rue d'Alost

1000 Brussels Belgium

www.cathypill.com