Read more about The Undeniable Destiny of Maxime Simoens in our magazine's earlier coverage of the designer.

Could you tell us about your latest collection, inspired by the film "Nosferatu"?
The collection is has a lot of black and white, is really dark and inspired by the first Nosferatu film. My impression of the woman in the film was secretive and full of mystery. The first few looks were in beige, light and they gradually get darker. They are also inspired by art deco from the twenties; the clothes are structured and geometrical, with embroidery. Then the looks are darker, red like blood, followed by fringes all over, to illustrate a woman with movement. And there are works that look like my logo, a barcode, shaded from black to red.

I made for the collection two prints. The first is really geometrical and full of little squares; there is a gown and a top with trousers they are also inspired by a French art deco artist from the twenties. We used ceramic designs, lacquered like Chinese and Japanese art. The other print is in red and black, like paint splatters.

The silhouette at the end is really fluid, made with a Japanese fabric called liquid organza, the lightest fabric in the world. It weighs only five grams per metre and when the models walk, it looks like they’re floating, like ghosts. The last four looks are like this, and the last one is a wedding dress but modern. It is all in white, with crystals like from baccarat, like a chandelier.

If you listen carefully, there will be music from the crystals when she is walking, like a shimmer – a dream. 

The structure of my dresses is always geometrical, always a research of lines and shapes. I worked some of them to look like Dracula’s fangs.

 
Is there usually a story inspiring your collections?
Yes, you know, I love cinema. Before I wanted to be a designer I wanted to be a filmmaker, so I wanted to mix my two passions. In every collection there is film. The first collection was Louise Brooks, the second was Coco Before Chanel, the third was Marie Antoinette with Sophia Coppola, and the fourth was Nosferatu. The details about the next one are exclusive… 

Do you know this film, Enter the Void? It is a film that happens in Tokyo. The collection will be about Asian art remixed by modernity, with some pixelation, like computer graphics. 

Each collection will be based on a film, and in each collection there will be a sequence, with little stories within a huge story that explains the whole collection. I hate the idea of always having the same collection.

Of course we need to have a style, but style is different from making the same story all the time. My idea of fashion is to mix different stories with my style. It’s like it’s never the same again.

Do you think of your designs as art?
It’s like an applied art. I don’t do it for me, I do it for women, my clients. To see people wear it. For me, art is just an expression of what we feel, and we don’t consider the opinion of others. I need to because I need to remember that behind my clothes is a woman and I need to answer to her, I need to consider her body shape and how to flatter her shape. 

What are most of your clients like?
There is a really huge range. Some are really young girls like Leighton Meester and Blake Lively, and some are more mature women. My type of woman, I like to give her strength and let her feel powerful. Natural, not like she is wearing a costume. I let her feel in control but never theatrical. It is hard to find the line between clothes and costume, and each time I put a lot of thought into this because first of all I have to be new and different from the huge brands like Chanel and Dior, but I can’t do too many things and forget the woman’s body because we are not in cinema.

Your dress is featured on the cover of Beyoncé’s latest album, “4”. How did you come to work together?
It was unexpected - the assistant of the assistant stylist for Beyoncé made a few selections, and she brought the dresses back saying they didn’t select anything. We said okay, because sometimes it is like this, we try, and nothing. Three months later, this fan on my Facebook page sent me an email asking, "Is that your dress on the album 4?" and so I went in the shop and I saw it and it was unbelievable. It was totally unexpected and it wasn’t planned at all, a really astonishing moment for me. It was quite funny and sometimes it happens, like this.

Take for example, Beth Ditto: I went to see her in concert three years ago. I was totally in love with her during the concert, it was like a revelation. I knew that she had made three dates for her concert. I went to on the first day and felt that it would be a good idea to make her a dress. So in two days I made her a dress, which was hard because I didn’t have her measurements.

I tried my best to make something for her, and at the end of her third concert I gave it to her. She was totally pleased and thanked me. I didn’t hear any news from her for a year, and one year later her stylist called me and said that they just found this dress in Beth’s dressing room; she always wears it and loves it and she would like to work with you now. And I have been working with her for three years now. 

Does she inspire your collections too?
Her music inspires me. It’s more difficult for me because my vision of a woman is thin, like a tower, with long legs... But fashion is always unexpected. 

The first time when I had my collection, I presented it in fashion week and it was tough because nobody knew me, and the most famous journalist in France, Mademoiselle Agnés - she’s like the Anna Wintour of France - she came and she was totally in love with the collection and she cried; then more clients started to take notice of my collection.

Can you tell us about your new appointment as Creative Director at Leonard? 
Leonard will be opening a new shop in two weeks in Marina Bay Sands. I am going to change the style, make it more modern as I want to give my vision of Leonard – a woman of our age. Its style is a mix of Arabian, and it is huge in Japan, with over 100 shops.

They used to be creator of fabrics, really Asian-spirited fabrics - full of flowers, like kimonos. Veronique Leroy was the creative director for eight years and the style used to be more vintage; but now it’s me, it will be more modern. You know Pucci, it will be like French Pucci.  

Couturier Maxime Simoens showcased his Fall/Winter 2011/2012 Couture collection at Women's Fashion Week held at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. See more photos: //senatus.net/album/view/2546/