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"  Bright and early this morning, Barneys New York opened its doors for a breakfast with Joseph Altuzarra. The designer, casually clad in a gray Play Comme des Gar\u00E7ons sweater and black pants, talked with Barneys&amp;#039; women&amp;#039;s fashion director, Amanda Brooks. Here are some highlights from their conversation. On getting his start: &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s always been a desire to have my own label, and it came at a time which was actually, probably, just the worst time ever. [laughs] The recession. But in a way, it was a really interesting time to start a business, because I think there was a lot of hope in the industry and there was a lot of desire for newness. People really wanted to believe that there could be a new wave of designers, a new energy, especially in New York.&amp;quot; On his ideal customer: &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s always been this myth that the person you&amp;#039;re dressing is a 25-year-old model. Which we now know is not the truth. I was more interested in focusing on someone who is a little bit older, and has this more professional life. Who is a little bit more of a real person\u2026I was thinking a lot about, kind of, an aging population. When I really started thinking about it was actually when I was watching a lot of Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep movies, and the idea that those kinds of women were having this kind of renewal of their career later in life, and that they were really becoming role models. Women [who] are now 55 or 60 would want to feel seductive and sexy, and want to, like, date. I thought it was a very interesting market and a really interesting customer.&amp;quot; On where he gets his inspiration: &amp;quot;Well, part of it is reactionary, so it&amp;#039;s kind of a reaction to the last show. And part of it is about shape, or it can be very thematic, like &amp;#039;I don&amp;#039;t want to do that.&amp;#039;\u2026But I do kind of have to seek it out. Because if I didn&amp;#039;t, I&amp;#039;d be watching Glee all day. I&amp;#039;m not one of those people who is walking around thinking, &amp;#039;Oh my God, I should do [a collection] about the French Revolution.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; On his snakeskin-heavy spring collection: &amp;quot;It came from the Internet. I was doing research on the &amp;#039;60s and I thought it was really fascinating that you could see so many different and very disparate images and themes on the Internet, in this kind of overstimulated, or overstimulating, way. You could go from seeing these 1960&amp;#039;s pieces, to very tribal things, to abstract painting from the &amp;#039;70s to very &amp;#039;90s sportswear. And it was really about trying to combine different things that didn&amp;#039;t have a lot to do with each other. And also, trying to find the similarities between things.&amp;quot; On the transition from spring to fall: &amp;quot;I dropped this kind of body-con silhouette\u2026there was a lot more fluidity, a lot more kind of oversized [shapes], and I think there was just a general ease about the clothes, which wasn&amp;#039;t really in spring as much. But I think in terms of construction \u2014 and that&amp;#039;s where everything starts \u2014 it was definitely a similar way of constructing clothes, it was just a lot more fluid line\u2026I was thinking a lot more practically about clothing for winter.&amp;quot; On having his Mom as his CEO: (&amp;quot;Be careful, Joseph,&amp;quot; his mother Karen warned before he started his answer.) &amp;quot;When I came to New York and I opened market, I think I called her. I was pretty panicky, and needed someone to help me out. And it evolved from there. She&amp;#039;s now the CEO. And I think it&amp;#039;s very reassuring to know that someone has your back...So, obviously having my mom as my quote-unquote boss? it&amp;#039;s very enjoyable, and I feel reassured.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a6799/joseph-altuzarra-barneys-040711/>