A few nights ago I had the honor of meeting famed designer Alexandre Herchcovitch at the Style Coalition Lounge for the exclusive North American launch of HP’s newest Designer Edition. Following in the footsteps of designers like Vivienne Tam and Tord Boontje, Herchcovitch designed a beautiful laptop that was inspired by his autumn/winter 2012 collection featuring black lace on an olive/gold pearlescent background and vice versa on the interior chassis and keyboard that reflects the custom designed screen saver. This is a laptop that is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside and comes with a matching travel mouse and embossed sleeve.
While sipping on a Caipirinha and snacking on Brazilian inspired snacks like Brazilian BBQ Chicken and Pão de Queijo I had a chance to sit down with Alexandre for a chat about his development process of the laptop, his mom and his opinions on how American and Brazilian women dress.
SRC: How did your collaboration with HP first come about?
AH: They approached me almost 2 years ago because the development process takes a while. In the past they (HP) had worked with other designers so we had some examples like laptop they did with the Vivienne Tam. And then we were very happy to do it because we have a lot of products that are not clothing like sunglasses, Band-Aids and so we said why not. There is a huge connection with technology and technology is something that we apply to clothing when we design and when we develop fabrics. So we started to think about what would be a good product. The first thought was to do something unisex but what came out was a woman’s product. I designed a lot of different ideas for HP and we wanted to do something that related back to the last collection that worked with the timing of the launch. So it was more than 10 months ago.
SRC: Do you use computers in your everyday life?
AH: Yes, but I don’t let the devices take over. I am not a slave of the computer or the iPhone. I only use the computer to communicate. I don’t touch the computer when I wake up in the morning until I step into my office. I don’t leave emails with no answers so I am very quick and very focused. I use it every morning and before I go to lunch but not all the time.
SRC: I’ve heard that you first became interested in design because of your mother. How did she influence you?
AH: When I was a child, I used to observe my mother. My mother used to make clothing for herself. So I was fascinated by seeing her transform a piece of fabric into something 3-D, something sculptural. So I asked her to teach me how to sew and how to take measurements. I was like 12 years old. Then I started to make clothing for me and for her. I think it’s a very ordinary history amongst designers – most of them are inspired by their mom or their grandmother.
SRC: So you must have a very close relationship with your mother.
AH: Yeah I have a very close relationship with her, I admire her, she is the most important woman in my life. She is with me all the time. We like to see each other 2 or more times a week. She is also here with me – I brought her to New York.
SRC: Are you going to take her sightseeing anywhere special?
AH: Actually I’ve been here a lot but she came here 20 years ago so it’s been very different for her. So I took her to Brooklyn to Williamsburg and I showed her the new neighborhood. When she was here all those years ago it wasn’t a place where young people lived. It was industrial so she never imagined that people to live in Brooklyn. (But I told her) “No mom it’s different now we have to go there you’re going to see a lot of different people and a lot of interesting people.” She was amazed by Williamsburg. I’m leaving on Thursday and she is gonna be here for 10 more days so I am going to write a little guide for her. She wants to go to very touristy places and also to interesting places. She wants to balance it out. I see it in her eyes when she tells me “Oh this building is so beautiful” even though it might be something common. I’m very very happy that she is enjoying it here. Sometimes when you grow old and you have to work a lot, sometimes you don’t have time to travel with your parents. It’s been more than 10 or 15 years that I didn’t travel with my parents. So it’s been a very very good experience to share with them the places that I like the most here.
SRC: What do you think the biggest difference is between the way that Brazilian women dress and American women dress?
AH: You know I think the differences between women all over the world are getting to be less. Everybody is wearing the same. It’s getting to that point. Except for Japanese people because they don’t care about the body shape – not that they don’t care but they don’t want to show the curves and everything. I see a lot of American women and Brazilian women dressing the same. Here I think though that women like to wear tight clothing but they also want to wear loose clothing. In Brazil most women want to wear tight clothing but here women are open to wear two different clothing types loose and tight. In Brazil women want to show off their body to show off their curves to show that they are skinny. They want to show.
SRC: Thank you for talking with me
AH: My pleasure. It’s always nice to meet new people and I like to talk to people.
Standing with the beautiful gold lace dress that inspired the laptop I couldn’t help but admire the end result. The perfect intersection of fashion and technology designed by a down to earth designer that loves people, loves his mother and above all beauty.
Weighing only 3.5 pounds with up to 9.5 hours of battery life, the ultraportable special edition Pavilion dm1 is perfect for browsing the internet or accessing files, photos and video while on the go. The stylish PC features an 11.6” LED display, AMD processor, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections, USP, HDMI, RJ4 and VGA ports and Windows 7 Home Premium for a fashionable yet functional experience. Loaded with Beats Audio™ for quality sound, HP TrueVision HD Webcam for quality images in even the lowest lighting and HP CoolSense technology that automatically adjusts temperatures for a noticeably cooler PC, the Pavilion dm1 by Alexandre Herchcovitch is the latest “must have” fashion accessory.
For photo and video editing, the special edition PC comes equipped with Arcsoft Perfect 365 instant makeover, Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and Adobe Premiere Elements 10. The notebook installed with the online game It Girl by Crowd Star allows users to become virtual, professional fashion designers, creating their own looks and attending mainstream fashion events. The stylish PC also includes HP ProtectSmart and one year of Norton Internet Security for the ultimate protection to data and files.
The Pavilion dm1 by Alexandre Herchcovitch notebook PC is available in the United States, exclusively at QVC with a starting price of $629.95. The special edition Pavilion dm1 will also be available in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
All photos except very very first one are courtesy of the lovely ANA SCHECHTER Photography
See Alexandre share about his laptop in his own words.
