Thursday, October 10, 1985
Daily Nebraskan
Page 7
The Daily' Nebraskan's Entertainment Revue
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Design student loves the unconventional
By Scott Harrah
Staff Reporter
It was after midnight. Like many
UNL students, design major Duran
Knutzen was up late studying. But he
wasn't casually scanning the pages of a
textbook with a Hi-Liter. Instead, he
was sketching, cutting fabric, measur
ing, stitching, sewing and creating to
the beat of an eerie French new-wave
band on the stereo.
Working under the glare of a pulsat
ing red strobe light, Knutzen was doing
what he does best designing clothes.
Clothing design is not Knutzen's col
lege major, it's his current job, future
career and the love of his life, he said.
That love has made Knutzen a busy
guy. He currently is working on a line of
clothing for The Wooden Nickel and
costumes for an upcoming production
at the Lincoln Community Playhouse,
while trying to fill lots of orders for his
in-home fashion business, K-Al-Bayati.
So it's no wonder that he spends
every spare moment designing even
while being interviewed.
Sporting an elegant cape, long black
locks and the five o'clock shadow
that's become his trademark, Knutzen
said he thinks he looks more like a
"medieval warlock" than a fashion
designer. That atypical illusion coin
cides with his feelings about high
fashion in the United States nowadays,
he said.
"High fashion has become extremely
conventional and set in its ways," he
said. "The time has come for a break in
the fashion establishment so the youth
can infiltrate it. It's time for the youth
to get some creative exposure."
Non-conventional looks garnished
with "avant-garb" features and a crea
tive approach are the basis for all of his
designs, he said. Anyone who asks him
to design something can expect an out
fit that will suit their individual taste,
he said. Whether you want something
sartorial or sexy, glamorous or gaudy,
comical or conservative, Duran said he
will deliver.
His personal taste in clothing is
usually satirical, he said.
"Everything I design is a parody of
everything I'm for or against, because
fashion should be whimsical," he said.
The most bizarre fashion parody out
fit he has ever designed was "a garment
I originally made as a jacket, but
turned out to be one that can be worn
as a skirt, pants and a head turban as
well."
If his clothes ever make it on a
national level, don't run to either the
men's and women's departments in
stores to find them all of his clothes
blend genders for a reason, he said.
"I don't like the stereotypical rules
that state that someone must be mas
culine or feminine," he said. "If a skirt
looks good on a human, it should wear
the garment It shouldn't matter whether
that human is a man or a woman."
He also observed the immensely
idiosyncratic cultures of Europe while
abroad, he said.
"I started getting into fashion when
I found that there was a lack of indi
viduality with my personality and my
friends," he said. "So I began to look in
places other than my immediate sur
roundings and witnessed an entirely
different world."
His fashion ideas were first put to
creative use in junior high when he met
an artist named Janine Al-Bayati, he
said.
"I met this exotic Middle Eastern
girl who was in the same whirlwind of
creative stagnation and trying to break
out of it," he said.
Al-Bayati was both an excellent
abstract artist and seamstress, he said,
so he presented his design ideas to her,
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Craig ElienwoodSpecial to the Dally Nebraskan
Amanda MacRae models a brocade from the nouveaux riches collection.
which she "sewed while I looked over
her shoulder and learned everything
she was doing."
At age 17, Knutzen and Al-Bayati
started their small in-home fashion
business called K-Al-Bayati. The busi
ness has gradually gained a dedicated
clientele in the past two years and he
has become renowned in fashion cir
cles for his progressive approach to
design, he said.
Knutzen no longer works with Al
Bayati since he has honed his design
techniques, he said, but he owes a lot
to her for getting him started so he still
uses her name in the business,
His current design techniques are
heavily influenced by surrealistic,
abstract, futuristic and avant-garde art
movements, he said. But, he added, his
tory is just as inspiring for him as art.
"I'm influenced by the entire world
as far as the past is concerned," he
said. "I'm mixing different cultures
and history to create a modern look,"
he said.
Although he thinks the past is
important, it can be dangerous if peo
ple try to live in it when it comes to
fashion, he said H3 said that conserva
tive looks that are in the vanguard of
today's trends could cause a culture
shock in a few years if people aren't
willing to accept new clothing styles.
Please see DURAN on 8
