While most menswear designers today tend to remain on the same track, there’s one among them that makes the difference. What immediately impressed me about Doma’s work was its refusal to follow trends for the sake of grabbing attention and it seemed like a new chapter of a man’s outline had just blossomed. His simplicity of form, and his generosity in creating heavy outlines with an air of freedom that are wearable on countless occasions are what single him out as a genuine creator of our times.
His collections seem lit by a soft, melancholic quest for fluidity. Inspired by identity’s multiple expressions and the link with the fragile, ephemeral quality of the body, he creates pieces that explore interpretations of contemporary masculinity. The Croatian-born designer grew up in Germany and studied fashion in Munich and Berlin, where he graduated in 2004 with magna cum laude for the best collection. It didn’t take long for him to grab the attention of pioneers like Raf Simons , the designer who shaped Doma’s perception of fashion and the arts.
Under Simon’s mentorship, the creation of his personal aesthetics was kindled; leading him to infuse soulfulness and sensitivity into his work. In 2006, Doma launched his own label; and it was not long before he made a promising debut at Paris fashion week after presenting his first collection in June 2007.
Damir Doma’s collections seem lit by a soft, melancholic quest for fluidity. Inspired by identity’s multiple expressions and the link with the fragile, ephemeral quality of the body, he creates pieces that explore interpretations of contemporary masculinity.
FilepMotwary: Thank you for accepting this interview. Many people agree that your collections have a medieval identity. In a way, your hero looks like a lonely Bedouin figure or even a crusades warrior.Do you agree?
DamirDoma: To be honest, I don’t have a certain reference! I’m not referring to a certain period in time nor to a certain character. My inspiration comes more from a philosophical and poetic background! I’m trying to protect the body by creating all this layering. The soft clothes are following the body shape. I want to be very sensitive and at the same time I want to create a certain rawness! By being very focused and working on one image I want to create certain classics!
Is it consciously done?
Everything I do is very conscious! I always work with a concept. I try to bring a certain relevance in my work. I believe with relevance there is no sense in it.
Also, you work has a strong poetic feel. Are you a romantic at heart?
I’m in love with my clothes and the images that I create. I am very emotional about my work. It means so much to me. I believe that you can feel these emotions in my work.
What are your true origins?
I think my true origins are somewhere in arts! This label is a huge art project! I am searching for my identity and my deepest emotions and I’m trying to convert them into images. I am a dreamer and I want the people to dream.
Do you identify with the silhouette you create each season?
Everything I create is 100% me! I would never do something that I would not wear myself!
And how do you work? I mean, is Damir Doma a solid team of people or a number of freelance individuals you collaborate with each time?
When it comes to creation it’s just me! Around me there are quite some people involved!
There are rumors that you are about to start a women’s collection. Is this information valid? (The Doma women’s was not launched yet at the time)
We are thinking about this for a long time now. The interest in the women’s line is huge! I believe this is the right moment to start with the women’s.
You are very young and it impresses me that your work is so well respected and recognized. Are you worried that the high speed that the fashion world is generating in now might become irrelevant before you explore all your possibilities?
I believe that fashion is about zeitgeist, which means that I have to be super sensitive and feel what’s going on around me! Sometimes you have to adept your concepts and try to see things from new perspectives. I am very aware of the time factor in fashion!
So what hat are your morals at the end of the day?
I believe the most important thing is that you stay honest and always true to yourself! I think it’s important to know who you are and what you want from life. It’s crucial to always stay real!
Which are the perquisites that a creator must have to be a solid member for what we call “The History of Fashion”?
I think the most important is to have a vision! A vision is a long-term perspective! This is crucial. It’s important to have the bigger picture in mind and not just work from one season to the next!
What are the key elements for successful menswear design?
I don’t know! My teacher always told me:”Pockets. Men love pockets”! I guess that I proved her wrong. I cannot talk about menswear in particular but in general I think that the vision is important.
I agree on this one. You are one of the first who presented his work both as catwalk and video presentation? How do you see that a film can help a collection?
I believe that a film can show so many different perspectives and facets of a collection. It’s 3dimensional. I also believe that the film cannot replace the fashion show! A good show is full of emotions and special moments! It’s a precious moment for the audience.
How do you see technology in fashion?
I reject this idea! I believe clothes are super personal. The materials are so close to our skin! I don’t want to have synthetic things on me. I try to keep it as natural as possible.
How do you see your future then?
I love to create and to transform my ideas into reality. I hope to do this for a long time and I hope there will be many people around to share my ideas and to work with me on new things.
Madeleine Vionnet once stated, “ In truth can one create easily. In my opinion I think not and I believe that the creative process is arduous and almost always thankless. A true creation is necessarily and naturally laborious. Whoever creates must labor and suffer”.
Is creation a pain? Do you suffer each time? How do you translate what Mme Vionnet quotes about creation?
I agree! Creation is suffering! You have to dig very deep in your soul! Sometimes it can be very painful and sometimes you have doubts and you have to fight with yourself. Sometimes you have bad days but you have to go on! You always have to push and push!
Dear iDEALS, Boudicca is the label created by British designers and domestic partners, Zowie Broach and Brian Kirkby, both graduates of Middlesex Polytechnic (Kirkby also graduated from London’s Royal college of Art).
(Tornado dress)
Their fiercely independent, edgy and avant-garde style was launched back in 1997 and was named after the ancient Celtic warrior. The designers, who are a couple, describe their fashions as a “collision of male and female desires.” Broach and Kirby were struggled with a lack of funds for their fashion line until American Express granted them a sponsorship worth what is described as a “six-figure” sum so they could create designs which were shown in Paris.
Boudicca was the second fashion label ever to receive sponsorship from American Express, the first being the late Alexander McQueen.. The first Boudicca fragrance “Wode”, inspired by the beauty of graffiti artists was launched in 2008 causing a rave of enthusiasm on the international fashion scene platform. Broach and Kirkby have strong opinions on capitalism and they once protested together at a G-8 summit.
The couple uses their political views as a theme in some of their designs to make a statement. In 2002 they titled a collection “It Pays My Way But Corrodes My Soul” and in 2005 their line was described as being non-commercial and “Gothic…”
Dear reader, the following interview proves that fashion is something beyond clothes and how to look good…
(photo by Miguel Villalobos)
FilepMotwary : Zowie, Brian, thank you for accepting participating in our 7th issue. You keep a very low profile all these years, like other Houses do (Margiela, Rick Owens, Comme Des Garcons…). Is it indented?
BOUDICCA: How low can we go…? Hide and seek? What game do we play? And whom do we play it with? To begin you look in a mirror and identify who you are or who you would like to be. To become, you play and paint as the soundtrack builds around you and hence begins a filmic dialogue of what you dream of, what you feel and how that is all played out.
Outfits beget identities and the story begins. Then you study, looking for knowledge and how to build what you know. A naïve process in many ways as the industry is far, far, away and then by the time you get to it all, it has changed anyway. Along the way you make errors and maybe find small moments of success. Success only recognized by yourself many years later, whilst looking back at ideas that were always frustratingly comprised, that you, with time see now the moment of possible truth and wonder; you stare at its beauty or its innocent attempt.
Throughout all of this history your actions are brute, instinctive, animal. You do not intend anything more then your spirit can drive you to do. Intention is conceit, marketing and force.. What occurs is natural and beyond your control. So how low can you go? It is no game and there are no players.
How do you manage to stay popular having in mind that you are constantly keeping yourselves away from advertising strategies?
Fashion is fascistic and selfish. A Demanding child wanting all to love them and only them. Is this true of the ‘art’, the ‘idea’, the ‘designer, the ‘label’ or is this just a punishment put upon those, on the stage, as they need to pay for their dinner? Drink champagne on the last weekend of the month and eat dry bread the rest. Find those simple beautiful moments that somehow regardless make your stay a trip. These choices change through the journey and if you can, share them with others. This sense of exchange rather than demand is our routine.
One the other hand it’s quite impressive how parallel is the way you function with the meaning and history behind the name BOUDICCA. How do you define BOUDICCA yourselves?
Boudicca is an exploration of both design and an expressive biography of the times we live in. Its outcome is a direct response to our ever evolving constant questioning of our method of expression. One of our joys and rewards from Boudicca is the very nature of the Label, the constant state of Flux – so even when we re-read these questions – we are constructing another answer… and the creative pendulum swings…
The idea of a defined definition fills us with the fear of categorized acceptance whilst the duality of both male and female designers, contribute to what we see as the future of womenswear – an equality that is represented in dress.
Boudicca has no wish to be a clothing factory making hundreds or thousands of the same garment sold in the same looking store all over the world. We want to remain niche and exclusive where a sense of discovery is part of the Boudicca experience. Wearing Boudicca becomes an addiction, as you feel powerful and safe in your own personal armor, yet romantic and attached to the emotion within the garment itself. Boudicca is anti mass.
Your work is truly conceptual. Sometimes is more art than fashion and vice-versa. Where is the red line separating the two in your opinion?
It is an invisible line, in order that we do not know, so that we are blind to that location within our sensibilities. Anyway, fashion is not art and art is not fashion. They are two very different worlds and beings. Maybe the process, the way and passage to an idea, has some similarities. Maybe the final expression reacts to one word and defines another. Or sometimes it is an end conclusion to a new language that we had not even defined until many months have passed.
What is the story behind your recent installation at Cupola Room of the Kensington Palace? What does your piece represent and how can it be connected to your collections?
An inter-twined skeleton of the inner workings of a clock & the steel lines of a woman’s corset . A room that made time allowed us to explore the fragments of silhouettes that may have crossed through that room. This worked very much with the way we have recently looked, at how we are made of fragments of information. That seems to be the moment we stand in right now. It is hard to explain the present, without cross-referencing through our past. And as we are not historians we do not make a repeat but capture all these moments and details along the way and end up with a broken, fractious, beautiful sculpture. It could be a dress, it could be a clock, it could be a sculpture. A three dimensional steel & brass sketch.
“Boudicca is the British legend of a woman leading a rebellion against the Roman Empire”. Who is the Boudicca woman of today and towards whom she rebels?
Queen Boudicca rebelled because she was raped and mistreated by those from within the Roman Empire who felt it was ok at that point to abuse their place of power..
We are not the same but there is an essence of needing to be true to values and beliefs. And to stand by them as she did. Never to be numb or lethargic, never to be chained to any ruling that is given or commanded upon us, that may make sense to the many but to the few is a narrowing environment. Is this satisfying? No.
At times it becomes annoying and a seemingly wrong choice. But BOUDICCA is proud to have been part of a protest movement at the beginning of the century, the Genoa Generation. It was a hard learning curve and at times depressing, but the experience demanded from us to know and understand more of the world we lived in and still does.
A constant need to understand the world we live in will only make a difference but this is a commitment not a trend. To not except the system, because it has always been there, to realize we all have the ability to make a world which is closer to the one we dream of being in… Mass Capitalism’s main weapon is to keep us confused, not quite knowing, in fear, and under mass bombardment of fake cures. Look for clarity and your own personal self because self has been taken from us.
What makes Boudicca different from other labels? How difficult is for you to stand out considering the fact that the period we live in suffers from cheap exploitation more often than before?
Unique, odd, a strange beauty, constant, authentic, poetic, fragile, a culmination of much error that somehow manages to make things matter at times and distant at others. Our world culture is not about the above. Well not in mass. Exponential growth has helped lead those giants to a logical financial reward but again you can only be led by your own set of values and choices. Stubborn it has been said, foolish we whisper. To want more is what projects us forward.
There is polyphony [Greek word for a variety of tones] in fashion criticism these days? What is your opinion about it?
A Greek word in its origins for ‘ a variety of tones ‘ .. That seems perfect for fashion in many ways. This is our world and our times. Something we need to all come to understand and express forward. It is only in asking constantly who are we?, that we may one day find the answer of how to express whom we really all are and what we really are wanting and wishing to be.
What does the Fashion Industry need at the moment? What needs to vanish? Many thoughts spring to mind that involve ethical and environmental issues. We are without doubt at a point in our history where we have been asked by those in advance of us that we really respect the very nature of our being and living.
This includes fashion. But it is hard to start dictating what your industry should or should not do. It is more important that we all find our own confidences and respect each other. Again in a very human way, we are not always good at that either and it is a daily struggle to understand ourselves and find out how to handle the good and bad within..
That is the start. And if we all were to allow that space to consider, more time taken, examine ourselves and the moment, maybe the rest will fall faster into place. Where fashion going and what are the possible changes in the next five years?
Amazing massive new worlds are afoot. The digital technologies that are weaving their way into and around our lives more intensely, on a daily routine, will soon be able to achieve things not unimaginable but allow what we have imagined to be more. New technology is without doubt pulling us all forward into and up to date with our times and this is definitely the most intriguing and important part of our work going forward. Rapid prototyping, online animations, laser, digital all have played a part in the story but there is so much more that we wish as company to involve ourselves within, be driven by and create with.
Technology needs to be interwoven with skill and crafts of now, minds sets that examine it differently and if we had money to invest, that is by far the first choice. Emerging technologies provide new tools in which to explore our method and systems of work. We are currently interested in introducing a random generative design producing code, which will further embrace our need for design in-flux.
New technology should not just be used for physical production but also challenge the very nature of the process. Software developers, projection interwoven with animation, hacking and montaging all 3D technologies together. The ideal would be a small team of creative technical thinkers, with a budget to trial and error imaginative thought processes. We see a future with people creating their own software, which becomes an extension of them…
How does your personal life connect with your work? How many people is the Boudicca team about?
BOUDICCA is so many people. I mean the immediate team is small but a brand is a tribe and that tribe, that team, that system, requires everyone to participate, designers, studio, consumer and clients alike. That in itself says everything about how personal life connects to work.. Work and play do not necessarily need to be so see-saw, to oppose each other.. Work does not have to be a struggle or hard and by the very nature of the lives we have defined ourselves within each day of work …
WODE, your perfume, was a truly original idea, though it took some years for you to decide it’s launching. Why?
One year after its release how are people responding to it? It started in 2001 and so it is not just one year for us that people are still responding to it. It is ten years and yet still the magical timeless quality of the idea seems to be very much alive. The pure responses, the magical realism we believe in, still occur.
And as ideas are rare, good ideas anyway, it just required that length of time to get it right. It is certainly taken a whole different schedule of its own, which often was challenging, as the fashion industry propels you forward in this two times a year system, fast, furious and needy. Whereas WODE as an idea, was able to be controlled by the idea itself. It was and is a luxury to have that much time but when you own an idea it is only right to listen to it and be lead by that.
I wanted to ask, since there is such strong identity in what you do, how come you stopped presenting your collections like when you first started. I am sure people want more from you..
We too want more but following on from the essence of an idea. Shows and fashion and collections find them selves caught in this repetitious tango. This is not symptomatic of how ideas, good ideas formulate. And then financially we have to be realistic too. But not burden the imagination with the rule of money but the rule of the idea. We will continue, when we are ready with something new to say. Sometimes it is necessary to stop. Take note of how you are and what you have been saying.
This is again, a complete luxury to do this but an essential one. It is also very hard, as your ego really demands more. Your ego has a junkie fixation with the mirror and to be able to stop and stand still is not always comfortable. But in doing that we changed rhythms, looked and are still looking at what comes next .What are the next thirteen years all about? What do we now wish we had said that we did not or what do we see and feel right now that in remaining still just for while, helps us becomes more observant again?
Your “Plans for a woman” collection is stuck in my memory. Have you ever considered of releasing a DVD with all your performances/presentations/installations so far? It will be definitely a must have item for art lovers like myself. I’m sure there are thousands out there..
Please all those thousand lets us know and we will submit the idea. In fact that is an interesting point to share. There are a few sites now trying to brake the systems built up that have formed the capitalist structure that we know and have to operate in, as of today..
The sites are about those with ideas and tribes / fans around them and how they propose an idea and make it realized. This could be a record to be produced, a piece of ballet to perform, a book to be written. Then they upload the idea and ask those who wish for it to exist, to support it, believe in it, fund it. You are asked to help fund by paying in advance or maybe even giving a small sum as a patron. This support of ideas from the other way around challenges the defeating feeling that we can all feel in these powerful global times.
It is great and freeing to know that things can change and that ideals can exist beyond the realms of today.
How different is your summer heroine from the winter?
Of course it will be in thirteen years that we will be looking to where we will be in the next thirteen years.
Note: the interview was release with the 7th issue of ISTEROGRAFO magazine devoted to fashion ,published by Phileleftheros in Cyprus.All images and words under copyrights.
INTERVIEW: MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA in conversation with FILEP MOTWARY
For
the past three years that Isterografo Fashion Issue is breathing, one of the main points we set as “Must Task”
was to include Maison Martin Margiela in our pages.
It
wasn’t an easy one, as proved repeatedly, since I tried so many times to get
though and finally manage to even have a response back. The mystery around MMM
was growing bigger and bigger each time thanks to silence..but I wouldn’t give
up..
What
makes Maison Martin Margiela so intriguing really? MMM has almost a
self-masochistic behavior compared to how other Houses function.
There is a
syntactic order somehow, that leads to a completely individual outcome each
time. After twenty years the House was first launched, it remains a pure inspiration
both in fashion, art and literature.
A
conceptual label that keeps on going, with no boundaries set by the changes of
society or the world or even the market itself.
MMM
is continually overexposed, as the collections routinely reveal the designer’s
techniques and interests in their very construction. Bearing visible stitches,
exposed hems, tailor’s markings, and external shoulder pads, the collections
never fail to intrigue, shock or delight.
Martin
Margiela was born in Belgium in 1957. Early in his career, he became part of
the Antwerp Six, the group that put Belgium as a solid member on the map of
Fashion and its members included, Dirk Van
Saene , Dirk
Bikkembergs , Marina Yee, Dries van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, and
Walter Van Beirendonck , at the time all graduate students of Antewerps Royal
Academy of Fine Arts.
In
1984 he joined Jean-Paul Gaultier’s design team, an experience that would
profoundly shape his fashion sense. Leaving Gaultier in 1988, Margiela launched
his own label, which soon became known for his theme-oriented collections.
His
“Flat Collection” moved sleeves and armholes to the front, so
garments would lie perfectly flat when not worn. His 1996 “Photoprint
Collection” consisted of crepe garments printed with images of fur coats
and heavy sweaters. Other collections have used broken dishes and bacterial
mold; still others have featured no new designs, only favourite pieces from
previous collections that have all been re-dyed in gray color.
Margiela
always puts on a show, using vacant lots and old subway cars as runways, and
marionettes and hangers as models. In 1997, Margiela was hired to design the
women’s ready-to-wear line for Hermes. His first Hermes collection proved he
could color inside the lines when required to;
In
late 2009, Martin Margiela quietly left the House he founded without a
replacement.
Since
then, his dedicated team took over, stepping on the worries of failure the
press spread around the world.
The
Margiela brand remains vibrant and vital without one creative force and its
initiative will be studied by the many historic brands trying to stay relevant
in the 21st century.
Starting
on June 3rd until5thSeptember 2010
Somerset House of London ,hosts Maison Martin Margiela ’20’ The Exhibition;celebrating the 20 years of
one of contemporary fashion’s most influential and enigmatic designers.
Following the success of recent exhibitions
‘SHOWstudio: fashion revolution’ and ‘Skin and Bones: parallel practices in
fashion and architecture’ this unique exhibition will explore the designer’s
artistic and conceptual approach to fashion and continues Somerset House’s
commitment to showcasing the world’s most celebrated creative talents across
fashion, art and design.
Conceived in close collaboration with Maison Martin Margiela and curated by the
Mode Museum, Antwerp, this exciting show makes its London debut where it will
be specially reconfigured for the Embankment Galleries at Somerset House,
following critical acclaim at the MoMu, Antwerp and Haus der Kunst, Munich last
year.
This is our recent conversation, proudly
featured in Isterografo’s 7th Fashion Issue.
20 years of Martin Margiela. What was the goal of
the House, when it first started out and how it has changed in comparison with
today?
We view our work as a
proposition to wear what we feel at any given moment.
How difficult it was for a Belgian brand to break
into the Parisian bourgeoisie considering that the Margiela heroine is far from
bourgeois?
At the beginning, it was just Martin and Jenny
(Jenny Meirens was the co-founder of MMM) starting a company in Paris. Then,
the team started to grow as the company developed. Today, Maison Martin
Margiela is a team of more than 70 persons from 19 nationalities in Paris’
headquarters only. Does that make MMM a Belgian brand?
Martin Margiela dresses in the past ten years
evolved into something more than ready-to-wear. What motivated the team into
conquering couture, menswear and design objects?
We leave the interpretation
of our work to others. As for ‘couture’, we have always shown handmade garments
as part of our ‘Artisanal’ collection (line 0) where we rework/transform
vintage and used garments of many varied époques to form unique pieces that are
made available to our customers around the world. Though certainly not to be
considered ‘Haute-Couture’ as it is understood today – our Artisanal production
can maintain certain crafts involved in the production of hand made individual
garments that have been alive for many centuries and that are difficult to keep
within the industrial methods of clothing manufacture today.
Over the years, all the other lines (please see our
flyer as per attached) came naturally as a complement to the original ones as
the company was developing.
In the early years the brand tag on Margiela
items was less visible than it is today. Could you please analyze the
transformation and the importance of the signature visibility.
The four white stitches only appear on
unlined garments. They were devised so as to, realistically and ideally, offer
the option to those confronting the garments for the first time to react to
their form and energy, and not just the idea of “brand” as expressed via a
label.
What most people consider as our logo – the four
stitches in the back with the white label inside the garment – had in fact the
opposite purpose: it was meant to be cut off so the garment would be without a
label and logo!
It has not changed at all except that before the
label was completely white and with the creation of new lines, we added the
numbers and circled the appropriate number of the line the garment is part of.
Why is the Margiela team and boutique staff
dressed in white?
Original idea: Unity. An
expression of team. A reference to the working ‘Atelier’/Studio’s of the past
and present, those ‘blouse d’essayage’ that models wear between fittings at
couture Ateliers.
Accidental plus point: A way of quickly recognizing
each other amid the fray of a fashion show.
We approach white as an expression of our union as
a team and also as an evidence of option, an option of expression, be that ours
or that of those who choose to wear the clothes we propose.
What is the philosophy of a MMM boutique?
That it represents as best it
can the spirit of our work and home. We wish our shops bring an atmosphere of
intimacy, calm, encouragement, stimulation and ease. We want that those who
visit any of our stores feel as at home there as we do.
Though all spaces inhabited by the Maison share
common themes, no two are alike in form, theme or decoration. Great care is
taken to respect each building’s unique structure and original use. The
atmosphere of each shop, adapted and decorated by Maison Martin Margiela, also
draws on the prolific and iconographic use of whites – of furniture, objects,
fabrics and textures, old and new – typical of the spirit of the Maison Martin
Margiela’s Paris premises, a former school of industrial design. Furniture and
architectural elements salvaged from shops and houses across the world are
brought to build on the space’s personality.
What has MMM achieved in its 20 years of
existence?
You are in a better position
to answer this question than we are.
The Artisanal line brought a whole new chapter in
Fashion, What was the main idea behind it?
Line 0 is Collection
« Artisanal » for women & men. Since its beginnings in 1988,
Maison Martin Margiela has been gathering garments, accessories, used and
sometimes new objects across the globe. That these garments and objects may be
given a second life whilst respecting and maintaining the traces of the passage
of time and use remains one of the keystones of the creative expression of the
Maison.
Each garment is reworked entirely by hand in the
atelier of the Maison in Paris. The complexity and specificity of each step of
such a creative process of transformation will naturally limit the quantity of
garments produced. The individuality of the materials used to create each
garment ensures that each is as unique as that which was used to create it. The
label, numbered 0, is sewn, embossed or stamped depending on the material used
to create the garment or accessory.
How important is for MMM to feel connected with
its customers considering the fact that the House itself is a mystery?
Crucial! We hope that they
are convinced that they can be completely ‘at one’ with a garment and be happy
wearing it and that a garment can reply to the needs and emotions of the person
wearing it is a beautiful thing.
We are lucky enough to have a very wide group of
men and women who wear our garments. From our point of view we have always paid
particular attention to designing for as large a cross section of women and men
as possible. We are lucky in that so many people of different ages, shapes, social
role and background are following our work! For us femininity is all embracing
and is not just limited to one body form or one attitude. Since our beginning
our fashion shows have reflected this reality of our collections in that we
have always chosen to show our collections on women of varying ages and from
varying walks of life. We feel that we are lucky in that this approach is also
reflected in those who wear our garments.
To what extent is MMM connected to ART?
We prefer not to interpret
our work, preferring to leave that up to others better placed to place our work
in an overall context. We all have work that we love, though, possibly
regrettably, as a team we have no real connection to the Art world.
Fashion is a craft, a technical know-how and not an
art. Each world shares an expression through creativity though through very
divergent media and processes.
Paris radiates its own platform when it comes to
fashion. Why is the city of light so relevantly fashionable?
At this stage, the inertia
that this town has amassed over the years. An inertia that draws creativity and
those attracted to it into its core. Yet Paris is not essentially different
from any other great city ‘of personality’.
It stands as itself in much and the same way as New
York, London, etc. Almost a ‘brand’, its ‘branding’ is of a town that embraces
a more individualistic creative expression. Those wishing to begin in fashion
tend to start and show here because of the concentration of fashion
professionals passing through town throughout the year (that inertia again!).
Would the House wish to link again with another
like the past connection you had with HERMES?
Such collaboration was a
personal project of Martin Margiela, not of Maison Martin Margiela.
Today there is a blossom of pseudo couture, a lot
of designer get credibility without actually deserving it. Many faces come and
go in a glimpse of an eye…Everything is moving so fast.. What does it take for
a HOUSE to remain in charge in such times?
Courage and instinct.
What are the differences between your men and
women customers?
Gender!
How is sex appealing in the MMM collections?
It is to others to interpret.
Has MMM experienced relevant tragedies like the
recent worlds financial crisis?
No!
MMM is a result of teamwork. How do new members
enter the team and to what extent is the difficulty for a member to leave the
House?
We suppose just as easy
and/or difficult as in any other team. More generally, there are over 70 people
at the Paris HQ. We often compare our way of working to the building of a wall:
everyone brings a stone and eventually the wall is built. And everyone needs to
bring the stone, otherwise the wall collapses. Everyone has a role within the
team, but everyone also has a voice within that team… This is one of the
reasons why Martin never appeared publicly, as we all know that if he would
have, the light would have been on him, and without him in the light, the
message would be different: the work is the collaboration of a team and not
just about one single individual.
What is the most valuable moment in the History
of Fashion and why?
More often than not we are so
close to our work it is genuinely impossible for us to define the ‘how or why’
and especially, experience tells us, to predict the ‘buttons it will push’ in
those who are confronted by it. This is as true of the reaction any individual
will have to a garment hanging in a store as it is for the professionals of our
industry to a fashion show.
What serves to inspire you the most?
Our main inspiration has
always has been the extremities and changes of daily life. Our work is solely a
proposition to wear what it is we like to create, a presentation of a way in
which we see things at a given moment.
As a team we all share so many interests and
sources of inspiration, these are all very varied and would take far too long
to list here. It is often hard to quantify or describe inspiration. It is often
more by osmosis than an active decision.
Each member of our team seeks to explore their own
stimulation, be that visual or another. Such stimulation and dialogue varies in
direction and importance for each of us.
What are the morals of MMM?
Such notions are not part of
our vocabulary.
MMM suffers from a lack of self exposure. Does it
happen out of modesty and if not, why is the House hidden in shade from the
Glossies?
Even though people tend to
think we do not communicate, we feel we are. But we do not use any physical
image of a designer to promote our work. If people are touched and like to wear
what we propose they are free to buy and wear it. What our designer looks like
has, for us, little or nothing to do with this process. We prefer that people
react to a garment through their taste and own personal style and not their
impression of the individual and group of people who created it as translated
and hyped by the press. Unlike actors or singers we do not need any physical
form to express our work.
What is modern?
An abused notion that became
meaningless…
What is old?
Our headquarters’ building.
How will MMM be on its 30th anniversary?
Let’s speak again in 2018.
A final quote on SEX.
Sex is good.
A conversation with MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA
and FILEP MOTWARY
“I don’t know much about fashion” Henrik tells me but I wonder if he is really aware of the substance his work has.. Young designers understand that success and recognition in the fashion industry does not come without insane late nights, extreme multi-tasking, and odd freelance jobs left right and center. All this leaves barely enough time to sleep and eat.
The life of Danish-born designer manages to run his own self-titled label, which is stocked around the world at exclusive boutiques most designers would kill to sell at. He also runs his own flagship store in Copenhagen, while skipping off to show collections in Paris four times a year. Not content with stopping at clothing, he has traveling installation exhibitions (at shows like Palais de Tokyo and Hyeres Art Festival), and also finds the time to create short films. Oh, and to top it all off he is a champion break-dancer, and has been playing the drums since he was ten years old…Everybody loves Henrik…
(Henrik Vibskov Men’s SS11 by BY SHOJI FUJII courtecy of Diane Pernet)
FilepMotwary: Henrik, apart from a remarkable and visionary designer, you are also a source of many other talents. How do you combine them all: music, film, art, graphic design, and drums…? HenrikVibskov: Sometimes, I use elements from the installations for the collections, like in a print… and the installations always breathe the mood of the collection, but they can really stand-alone. And I make the music for my shows. I was basically interested in all subjects both on a small scale like in fashion, where you fumble around with buttons and the smallest stitches as well as the doing installations, that conquer the entire room… and the emotional aspect of music as well. So I combined all together!
(Photo Frederik Heyman)
How do you see fashion today compared to when you first started?
Mhh, I always miss things and then I make them, it’s just that. I don’t think about fashion and all its rules and systems…
How did you end up choosing fashion in the first place?
There was a girl I fancied, who planned to go to Central St. Martins and I just said, yeah, me, too. But totally forgot it… and when I met her weeks later, she asked me about it. So I called them and got an interview appointment the next day, I prepared a file during the night, jumped in the plane … and got in. I also got the girl actually.
(Photo Frederik Heyman)
You grew up in the countryside of Denmark. Yet today, your work is solidly breathing in the Metropolises of fashion. What were your real dreams as a kid?
As a child, I was more into break dancing. But I turned out to be very tall.
To what percentage is your childhood connected to what you do today, considering the fact that your heroes are so different from what we call “fashion industry”.
I grew up on the green countryside of Jutland, which is a part of Denmark. I was introduced to drums by my brother and started break-dancing later… that was really my world and I still very very much need to go to the countryside sometimes today and of course you can see the influences in my work..
Your presentations are also an interesting matter to discuss. Every time they look like a sci- fi scenario accomplished by another angle and point of view, yet truly original. What it is you want to give out?
The installations work as a stage, they interact with the models and the collection. They reflect the collection as well, but that’s not their main purpose, I always want to touch something more universal with the installations, than with the seasonal collections.
The procedure you follow each season while creating a collection?
I don’t set a theme for a collection. The shape of the collections is slowly modeled by a complex process of continuous gathering of images and inputs. It can be a thought of a detail or small research project, something from an exhibition, a lady at the market, a book or a character.”
Last time I was in Paris your were sitting 5 meters away from me at the Bernhard Willhelm show. I thought it was great. Are you friends?
Yes we are.! He is great.
Do you feel that designers should support each other?
Yes definitely. We have two physical shops in Copenhagen and Oslo. Oslo is very spacious so we can display some of the installations and also invite friends and artists to show there. We also have a webshop, where we sell the mainline as well as other designers like Bernhard Willhelm, Bless, Walter van Beirendonck and Stine Goya and many more.
What is fashion today Henrik?
I am not too much into fashion I must say… I have a boat that I share with some friends and I’d rather go sailing on it, than strolling around the shops.
Where is it heading?
Good question, I don’t really know…
How do you keep your balances? What do you enjoy the most in Fashion?
Being surrounded by friends who support each other and following the same vision; and traveling is great but not too much…
Has recession affected you?
Happily not that much..
I would like to know more about your Grafic Works exhibition in Berlin. What was is about?
I presented a selection in Berlin of my two-dimensional pieces, exhibited alongside installation and knit-works. With colorful and organic shapes that seem like animated beings. My experience with design, textile and pattern certainly helped a lot resulting in a collection works that, in keeping with my philosophy, intertwines a diverse selection of creative fields.
Also you had a book out recently “ Panda People and their Works” . What is it about?
ʻThe Panda People and Other Works.ʻ is my second book. (1st Fringe book) Itʻs showing selected graphic work and using Japanese Binding techniques and 50-page long and a , limited edition, but most of all its a journey into the graphic universe of my Panda People I’m sharing inspiration with!
You keep a very low profile in what you do. How do you promote your work, considering the fact that we live through an era that the face of a designer appearing all over the place matters in order to gain commercial success?
My work speaks for themselves. I don’t need a high media budget. Fashion is a product in the end… But I don’t think, I could design with the market in mind. I have to work on 4 collections per year – if I would think about Sales figures, my creative ideas would dry out. I am lucky, that people like the things I do…
Which is the ideal working environment for you?
Filep, you have to come in visit my team and me in my studio. its the perfect work environment because we‘re all friends and having a good time.
What is your moral Henrik?
Puh I don‘t have any moral….Haha! Keep it up..
Note: The interview of Mr Henrik Vibskov is part of the 7th Fashion Issue of Isterografo published by Phileleftheros/Cyprus.Under Copyrights.
Thank you Anna Wallis at Agency V and Frederik Heyman
