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FF: And when did you introduce bathing suits into your collection?

Jaclin Chouchana: My first swimwear range was like six months ago.

FF: So it’s really new.

Jaclin Chouchana: Yeah. The swimwear 2000 collection that you’ve seen yeah.

FF: But it’s taken off in a huge way, right away.

Jaclin Chouchana: Yeah well you know I think whether I like it or not being an Australian designer doing swimwear is probably much more important than doing ready to wear. As much as I love clothes you know we’re looked at as the swimwear sort of nation really aren’t we?

FF: I think we all assume that you have nice weather all the time and there’s many more months to go to the beach. And ...

Jaclin Chouchana: Oh absolutely. I love the beach. I go you know whenever I can basically.

FF: Let me see what else I wanted to ask you. If you were to describe to someone who’s never seen your clothes or your collection -- how would you describe what you do, or what either your aim is or what your philosophy is?

Jaclin Chouchana: That’s a tricky one.

FF: I know it’s a hard question.

Jaclin Chouchana: Hard question. Well functionality and obviously comfort. Comfort I think probably first of all and to be comfortable and striking at the same time.

FF: Great.

Jaclin Chouchana: And modern, sculptural -- as I said, on the skirts, I’m really into the sculpture skirts and quite soft tops and stuff like that. Skirts with very cool origami pockets.

FF: Oh neat.

Jaclin Chouchana: Do you know origami? Japanese folding?

FF: Sure.

Jaclin Chouchana: So using the fabric like paper and folding it and pressing it and using it as pockets on skirts.

FF: That sounds really wonderful.

Jaclin Chouchana: Yeah I’ve got this great book on origami that’s cool.

FF: How do you see the future for yourself? Do you want to expand out into other things?

Jaclin Chouchana: The Japanese market, yeah. I just met some cool people from there, a Japanese magazine. And they think that the clothes would go really well over there.

FF: People in the States will say that your bathing suits are only for really thin people. Do you feel that they can be changed and switched around, you know tops and bottoms to accommodate people with less than perfect bodies?

Jaclin Chouchana: Oh certainly. I’ve learned a lot from the first collection in regards to figure types in swimwear certainly. We’ve done a lot of variations on bottoms and tops and things. I’ve always been into doing like tops of the swimwear that are really simple, but doing sort of wider briefs, and things so that basically with a wider brief most girls can manage with a sort of supportive top. I mean you know two pieces are popular at the moment, so there’s more sales on that. But I love one piece actually equally. I like one piece probably more. I love Helmut Newton and a lot of the one pieces in his photos from the early Seventies and stuff like that.

FF: Here in the States there’s quite a fairly huge weight problem. I don’t know if it’s true in Australia ...

Jaclin Chouchana: Yeah I know. Well yeah and -- I mean in Australia too. You know there’s a whole lot of markets like the European market that cut briefs like really brief on the backside. You know -- they’re so brief those little tiny bikinis, that your whole bottom hangs out. I mean you might as well be wearing a G-string. I’m not into that sort of thing at all. I like the lower cut sort of Seventies style bottoms, you know. Even if they cut your leg off they cover your bottom. Now Australian women and American women actually are just not into that. They really like to cover their backsides.

FF: Do you think you’ll expand your line to other clothing items like accessories or menswear or ...

Jaclin Chouchana: I see jewelry I’m really interested in. I’ve just done a couple of rings that I really really like that I’d like to distribute to a few boutiques that I know that do giftwear and jewelry and things like that. So I’ve done some rings. They’re quite architectural actually.

There’s a very square ring that’s actually a square ring that’s got like a round piece to receive your finger to go through, but then it’s a square, and they’re very skinny. They’re about two millimeters thick each square ring. And you sort of need to wear like about five of them together.

FF: That sounds nice. And what do you make them out of?

Jaclin Chouchana: Silver.

FF: Silver -- that’s exactly how I visualize them. That sounds wonderful.

Okay. Now is there anything that I haven’t asked you that you would like to add?

Jaclin Chouchana: Yeah. I think maybe just that I like to sort of express our two sides; our masculine and our feminine sides, expressing those styles; being modern but quiet, and allowing our personalities to speak for themselves more than the clothes, so you sort of keep them as sort of quiet as possible you know.

FF: Right, right.

Jaclin Chouchana: So that you know we don’t walk into a room it’s like AHH, the outfit rather than the person so ...

FF: Right, exactly. And as far as your color palette, are you changing it at all in the future?

Jaclin Chouchana: No I -- No I ...

FF: Keeping it very simple?

Jaclin Chouchana: No I like it really simple yeah. Yeah I get a flight of fancy with one color and I might go with that. Put that in. But you know it has to be a color I’m passionate about. I love colors. I love flowers. Flowers and color.