An interview with Natascha Wanvestraut

Afro chic swimwear: Africa, wax fabric {personal beachwear collection}

A fashion illustrator who has found her own way. A young woman. A friend. We began this journey almost simultaneously: on parallel, but very different roads. A common passion: fashion. A similar attitude: too much creativity.
You are going to hear about us again soon.

ME: Could you please tell us who Natascha Wanvestraut is and what does being a Fashion Illustrator mean?

NW: Colors are my obsession; I am a daughter of art and I’ve started painting (oil on canvas) since I was a child. I have a degree in political science but the need to draw and create my own illustration, pushed me to study fashion design (at the academy of fashion in Naples). This special route made me develope a more mature artistic vision based on the “contamination” and mix of styles. My job is to create something beautiful drawing. To me, lines, shapes and colors have a soul and each drawing is the body that contains the soul; it is about something magic that comes true.

Those eyes: green, dreamy

ME: Your illustrations have some distinctive features, which are them?

NW: I call them “my girls”, they are imperfect and dreamy, certainly ironic. I love to draw either faces or clothes; I’m versatile and my drawings can represent different situations.
My style reflects a Metissage made of seemingly different worlds, I’m half Italian and half Creole, so I’m trying to represent these two cultures, bounding and mixing it in order to into something special and bizarre.

Yes Volant: red lips , attitude

ME: Often in your illustrations appear vegetal prints plants or flowers that belong to distant and exotic places, how important is the green inspiration in your work?

NW: The green inspiration is something special for me, it brings me back to my childhood and the beauty of simple things that sometimes we do not appreciate. It brings me back to the Seychelles – my Island – and I suddenly imagine my grandmother sitting in her small atelier, with fabrics that invades every corner, sewing beautiful clothes rich in ruffles and flounces. I then start imaging the colors of the tropical vegetation, full of flowers and scented fruit and I discover myself lost in the color of a turquoise sea that only thinking about it calms me and soothes.

D&G Girls: passion, deep red

ME: We can’t hide we met some years ago and I can remember, clearly and fascinated, the tropical dream that marked the beginning of your career, what does remain of Misseychelles?

NW: Misseychelles is still the dream although it is no longer the fashion blog that I created in 2012 or at least not only. Over time it has become a kind of diary, a place in which I hold together all of the things that I like and inspire me; currently it is a written record of my personal research.

Frida in my heart: reality, exotic nature

ME: I know you don’t like to talk a lot about your secrets and preferences, but, in order to use this interview as a “dream catcher” (Dreamcatcher) if you had to choose a famous stylist to collaborate with, who would he\she be?

NW: I’m in love with Mary Katrantzou, at the time.

If you want to know more about her nataschawanvestraut.