Feature Interview
Seeing how other people style and experiment with my designs excites me. I love the way fashion icons Anna Dello Ruso, Miroslava Duma, Rhianna and Sarah Jessica Parker have worn my clothes. They are all very different women who all are adventurous with fashion and have great style but in equally different ways. I don’t have a style icon as such, but in my mind I design for a woman who is appreciative of design and art, as well as fashion. She makes a statement with her clothes and channels her personality through them.
With the Longchamp collaboration I wanted to test the market and see how people would react to us doing accessories. It was a small capsule collection and it went incredibly well. I see the bags in unexpected places. I went to the airport and saw somebody carrying one; our sales manager saw one in the park. It’s nice to see, a great feeling of appreciation and acknowledgement, but I am too shy and embarrassed to go and tell them!
I am looking to build a team to focus on accessories, for now we are taking baby steps. We have started doing little leather printed pouches in our stamp collection. For somebody who doesn’t want to commit to a fully printed dress it’s nice to just have something small and easy, like a laptop case or coin pouch. We do them in all different sizes and for me, because I mostly wear black, that bit of colour is something fun!!
I would love to tap into interiors as it’s something I studied and I enjoy doing. But I wouldn’t want to do it for just the sake of it. I wouldn’t want to just do a cushion, or some textiles… I would like to have the time and the team behind me to be able to take on projects collaborating on something bespoke to dress up the environment, I love doing that! It needs to be an aesthetic within which I feel comfortable creating something really special. We have been approached by hotels before which is very flattering, but I would want the right time to create certain things and do the best job. We have grown so fast and I like the team to take their time on some things.
I couldn’t have got to where I am now without the support of the NewGen Scheme. It gave me the platform to showcase my work to buyers and press and allowed me to show at London Fashion Week, which is invaluable. When I received NewGen support, I realised how serious I was about making my brand a success and it gave me the confidence to pursue it. I was still fighting off seams, at that point, so I’ve come a long way.
I was recently over in Brazil, which was amazing and really inspiring. It is very rare that I get to go on holiday, but I am lucky that I get to travel a lot with my
Mary Katrantzou AW13 16
work. It’s great when I get a day to myself here and there while I am away to soak up some of the city or place I am in. I will definitely go back to Greece for a few days to see my friends and family this summer. “
We were also treated to a sneak peak of the AW13 collection, which sees a darker colour palette come into play as Mary bridges the gap between urban architecture and nature in her imagery. A magical element prevails with the hours from dusk til dawn depicted across a spectrum of landscapes. With this collection we journey through moonlit-bathed city streets, cross a waterfall backdrop bridge, and follow winding roads through autumnal forest scenes leading to snowcapped mountains.
Through her designs Mary is creating the ultimate, never-ending fairy tale. Each piece paints a fantastical scene, which we are invited to (literally) step into, becoming our own leading-lady. The details of each adventure are ours to fill in...
Words by Gemma Latham | Images by Joe Gardner
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