Kat Korbjuhn's Paradigm Trilogy Is Where Art, Fashion, And Existentialism Meet

Meet Katharina Korbjuhn, a German-Swiss creative director based in New York. She's carved out a successful niche as a creative director and consultant for notable brands Schiaparelli, Alexander Wang, Batsheva, and Mugler — just to name a few.

Leveraging her commercial fashion success, Kat launched Paradigm Trilogy last year. The three-part digital publication explores the fashion industry's creative processes and challenges. With the release of its final chapter, the series offers a philosophical guide for creatives navigating the dynamic and complex world of fashion. Just yesterday, the digital publication released its last issue, Part III 'Recognition vs. Expression,' which "maps the present — the age of the commercial artist — in which success often comes at the expense of personal fulfillment." In tandem with this release, Paradigm premiered a short film, too.

In anticipation of Paradigm's new releases, Kat and I discussed her journey between commercial work and her passion project, her insights on the impact of the digital world and AI on the fashion industry, the aesthetics of today, and a peek into her closet.

Kat: Hi.

Alma: It's so good to see you here. I want to start by talking about your path to becoming a creative director. I think there are a lot of young people out there who love the idea of creative direction, but it's quite an abstract and broad concept. There's no concrete outlet for your ideas, such as photography or styling, etc. Could you talk about how you got there?

Kat: This is, like, the most asked question, and I still don't have the answer. I once did a lecture for the London College of Fashion and was speaking to a lot of people who studied fashion marketing, and many of them were saying, "I want to become a creative director."

I feel like it's one of those jobs that chooses you rather than you choosing it because it's a job where you're asked to have an opinion. People definitely need to like your taste, need to like your eye.

In my particular case, the starting point was me being in Berlin. I stopped modeling and started art history at university. And then out of coincidence, I was asked to be the assistant on set for a shoot with Wolfgang Tillmans for Document Journal. I remember Olivier Rizzo, the stylist, didn't show up.

So I ended up styling the shoot with a sweater in size Small, and the guy we were styling was definitely not a Small. So I put all the clothes in the bathtub in Wolfgang's studio and made them bigger in the water. Anyway, we made it on the cover. From there on - it was never a decision - it just happened gradually. You can't start as a Creative Director; it's impossible.

Alma: You were talking about how people have to like your style and ask about your opinion. Do you feel that your style has developed a lot since that first experience?

Kat: Well, I’m going to say that I think you're born with it. There are a lot of people around right now, especially with the democratization of fashion, that aren't born with it, but the sense of style is acquired. And you can always see the difference.

Alma: That's so interesting. At what point in your career did you start developing Paradigm Trilogy, and what was the catalyst?

Kat: I started Paradigm Trilogy right after I finished three Tod's global campaigns, and that was kind of the real start of my career. I had done so much commercial work for the Tod’s group that I felt I was in a place of wanting to establish my own language. I was excited to do something where I had carte blanche.

To be honest, a publication would be the last thing I would think about. I was exposed to certain people and certain mindsets that made me wonder why people in publishing were not exploring the possibilities of the digital realm further. That's basically the first issue of Paradigm: an emphasis on cultural theory and fashion editorials, and marrying those. So it was kind of already created before I even had the idea for Paradigm, because all of the theories were in decks I had presented to clients.

Alma: So you wanted to look at the fashion practice of editorials through the lens of more conceptual, bigger ideas?

Kat: Exactly. So I was interested in these things I say in boardrooms. I was like, "Why don't I make this a magazine?" We could say this is very much like what K-Hole did with the trend forecasting, but I was less focused on trend reporting rather than showcasing how the industry itself works.

Obviously, there are publications like System and Industry Magazine and Business of Fashion, but I felt like there was no magazine that was speaking to creators about their process and their values.

Alma: There are three parts to Paradigm. Did you know where it was heading from the beginning, all mapped out, or were there any surprises in the process?

Kat: So this is one of those moments where I think - intuition is even the wrong word - it’s almost like a sixth sense, because I mapped out the titles and the chapters in one night. It's absolutely mind-blowing to me how the magazine has been in tandem with my life.

It's almost like mapping out those three issues - the first one being "Avantgarde & Kitsch," the second "Man vs Machine," and the third one "Recognition vs Expression" - is me coming into my own path. Those were kind of pillars to get me there. I had no clue what I was signing up for. It makes no sense to me still.

Alma: But you did it. You're nearly there. Can you take us a little bit through the message and the questions posed in Paradigm 3?

Kat: [Laughs] This is a good test for me now. So the first issue was about the past, the second one was about the future, and this one is about the present.

I would say that this is the most complicated issue because I think our society, as it stands right now, is in a sort of cultural standstill. And I think we have a hard time being in the present, so there's an aversion to the concept.

The issue deals with the idea of the commercial artist and late capitalism, in which, you know, you are asked as a creative to package yourself and to be a product. So much so, that your work is mostly dealing with repeating yourself: Once something worked: "you shall repeat," even if you outgrow your own concept, which we always do as individuals. We grow, and we can't be packaged so easily. In this issue, I’m confronting the friction that causes commercial success and individual fulfillment. "How can those be in alignment with each other in the system we're living in?" They can't.

Alma: And I'm wondering, did creating and writing Paradigm help you understand and navigate the industry better?

Kat: [Laughs] I don't want to be a bummer. So, the one thing that I definitely took away is that people don't want to change; they don't want things to change. Because they love when things work, and they don't like discomfort.

I mostly got interest from tech companies about Paradigm. It’s because fashion brands, contrary to what one might think, are very much like old structures. They operate almost like Swiss banks; they’re very driven by a business mindset. So one of my takeaways was that it's very hard to implement change, and even if there are answers, they don't want to be heard.

And then, in terms of a larger understanding of the industry... I don't want to say it. It's too dark... Okay... Paradigm is obviously about culture, and I do think culture has lost its infinite value. There's actually a sentence in the book I'm reading right now, by Mark Fisher (he’s citing another guy), saying that we have lost the tools to find the aesthetic of the present moment that would describe our experience of the present. That's why we get all these nostalgia movies that are not even playing in a different time, they just look from a different time.

We don't have an aesthetic to describe now. But that's just one symptom of how culture fails to express our experience of life right now. And now when I look at the iPhone photo app, it's mostly made up of screenshots and selfies, so they have almost no timeline. We're just emulating a past moment or a potential future, but we're not able to voice what is now. Our aesthetic of now is purely made out of references from the past.

Alma: Do you have any kind of Utopian ideas where you think this could head? You know, if everyone is willing, is there a way to find a present aesthetic?

Kat: The funny thing is I never look at those things as a problem because I think they just are. I think the next logical step from there is if we can't create an aesthetic that defines how we live now, then we might have already lost to the aesthetic of the machine. Let's talk about AI for a sec. If they can emulate our emotions, if they can look like us because we can make them look like us, like a robot, but they can’t create. They can only emulate, but if our experience of life is only emulating, if our culture is only emulating, then there's very little difference between us and a robot. So the logical next step to this culture must be Singularity.

Alma: So, talking about digital and physical, for each issue of Paradigm, you created objects that serve as a portal to the content of those issues. Can you talk us through those objects and what they symbolize, specifically the one that you created for the upcoming issue?

Kat: Yes. As much as Paradigm is a digital publication, I wanted there to be an analog expression, a totem or a token, because I believe in the value of the physical. We, as a culture, still value that much more than any digital snippet or link we open. It just makes things more precious. The first issue was a matchbox with Sasha Pivovarova on the cover.

I wanted something lowbrow because the issue was dealing with the convergence of highbrow and lowbrow, art and artifice. The second object is a hydro stone sculpture by artist Hamzat Raheem of Paloma Elsesser's face. Paloma is hard to recognize because her eyes are closed and her nose is taken off, which is part of his body of work. The idea was to create the face of the future. For a long time, I was playing with the idea of having a gray baby because it's like, “what is the future?” No color, just gray matter.

And you could think of it almost as a death mask, or it could look like a baby, and that felt to me like the alpha and omega I wanted to express with "Man Versus Machine." And then the final issue is a fragrance bottle designed by Harris Rosenblum with a scent by Marissa Zappas, and it's called Sweat because the scent is that of a hot girl transpiring. [Laughs]

Alma: Intellectual sweaty hot girls!

Kat: [Laughs] And the reason for that is that the last issue deals with coming back into your body and the importance of bodily sensation. Sweat is sort of one of the last signifiers of the real. The tagline for the fragrance is "Smell to exit simulation!", because if you can still smell your armpit, you can be sure you're not dreaming. I love sweat.

Alma: It's interesting how the second object didn’t have a nose, and then the last one is all about smelling.

Kat: So interesting! The small sculpture is like a little stone head. And there are so many thoughts I could add here that have never made it out into the open that went into the object, which was that the stone is actually the first hard drive on the planet. Because stone captures time and space, it's shaped by wind over thousands of years. It responds to its surroundings, like a memory plate. So you can think of the stone as a hard drive or a bit of intelligence, actually. So there are many, many layers to this object.

Alma: Yeah. That's really beautiful. Who are the people that have inspired you and your work the most?

Kat: Well, that's a good question. I get inspired more by patterns and the ways of thinking, rather than aesthetics. I do think what Dis Magazine and what Bernadette Corporation did paved the way for me. I wouldn't be making Paradigm if it wasn't for those. The same can be said for K-Hole, although I never read it. Sorry. So, I think those are people that are coming before me and are onto a similar thing. In terms of theories, I would say Boris Groys all the way. He has fully informed my body of work. Same with Mark Fisher in other ways.

In terms of getting into fashion, getting excited, Carine Roitfeld, growing up, made me understand what kind of woman I can be. But then, you know, my taste buds have expanded...

Alma: A lot of people say that the fashion industry is shifting back to Europe. What value do you see in working and living in New York?

Kat: Oh yeah, big one. Why am I still here? [Laughs]

For a good reason. I think it's very difficult to keep an avant-garde mindset in Paris or in Milan, at least for me, because I think you're at the heart of where the industry sits and where the structure is in place, and there's comfort. Whereas, to me, America as a European has always been about questioning, about having vision, about dreaming up a new type of world I want to see. I think, especially as a creative director, you have to be tapped into pop culture, and America is the home of pop culture.

So, you snooze, you lose. If you're in Paris, you might hear more about Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg than about Ice Spice and LeBron James. In Europe, you’re tapped out. I literally heard about Andre 3000's album release of the flutes five days after the whole world heard about it because I was in Paris.

Alma: I mean, that reminds me of growing up in Austria. The trends arrive there, like, 10 years later. As a final question for the fashion girlies and boys out there who obviously always love to hear what people wear, I’d like to discuss the three of your favorite items in your closet. Those that define you the most or that you feel like you couldn't live without? Maybe your your Paradigm Birkin? Which I'm obsessed with. Not to answer my own question [Laughs].

Kat: Yeah. So I guess I have to say my Paradigm Birkin. Because we love a vandalized luxury good. Pre-Balenciaga.

My Zac Posen vintage fur in black. Obsessed. My Adidas Sambas, that I have been wearing before everyone has been wearing them, and will still wear after everyone else has stopped wearing them. My Eckhaus Latta corset hoodie.

Alma: Oh, yeah. That one's amazing.

Kat: It just says hot but also slouchy, which is basically me.

Alma: I love ending an intellectual conversation on a very superficial note.