Print madness

MK SS13

Seeing Mary Katrantzou’s work is like dying and going to prints heaven. She officially is the queen of digital textile printing and with me she has scored herself a new fan.

Yesterday I attended the Fashion Festival organized at the beautiful and impressive V&A museum. It was all about fashion in every possible way. You could attend some workshops and go to some talks that were highly interesting. Of course I could not let the chance of listening to Mary being interviewed by Sarah Mower, ambassador for Emerging Talent for the British Fashion Council, go by. And I’m super glad I didn’t.

Miss Katrantzou – no idea on pronunciation of this – was born in Athens in Greece and always wanted to be an architect. But aren’t we glad she changed her mind! This 29-year-old girl came to Central Saint Martins in London through an exchange program and after falling in love with the City and her school, she transferred from her old university to CSM to join their Textile program. When she started out she was making all kinds of drapes, curtains and everything related to interiors – her mother was an interior designer. But she felt like her prints would even make more sense on garments. And that is kind of how it all got started. She was the rebel in school, experimenting with digital printing, which was completely taboo at the time she studies at CSM. But she felt like the traditional printing methods were holding her back and creating prints with Photoshop gives you infinite options. She likes to call it ‘Painting with pixels’ which makes her work even more poetic.

After graduating in 2008 she decided to dive into the fashion sea and create her own label. She joined the British Fashion Council, which made it possible for her to show her work in Paris. Completely overwhelmed by it all, she took of to the City of Lights with nothing more than a rack of clothes with no price tags or order sheets. Not expecting much at first has definitely changed now. With 260 stockists and a growing amount of famous clients all over the world, she has gone from another designer to fashion’s newest wunderkind in only a couple of years. A simple advice she would give to all aspiring designers? “Just take it step-by-step and don’t rush your way in. Make sure you have a team you can trust and love what you do.” And we love you, Mary!

Mary Katrantzou

Keira Knightly in MK

xoxo
Krazy K.

Meeting Geoffrey J. Finch

Friday, noon, East London. I find myself at the studio of Geoffrey J. Finch, real Aussie and the master brain Creative Director behind the luxury brand Antipodium. We stumble in 10 minutes early whilst the whole team is working on the new collection. The kind and down-to-earth Geoffrey started his clothing line at Antipodium in 2006 and his brand is thriving more than ever. Surrounded by creatives of all trades, Antipodium is that kind of community we all want to be in. Mister Finch gives us an insight in what he and Antipodium are all about.

Q&A with the man himself:

What are you working on for the moment?

We’re putting s/s13 into production and we’re about to sample pre-fall13. I’m about to design a/w, what season are we doing? a/w13. And I’m on my way to Japan next weekend. It’s supposed to be a quiet time but now that we’re doing so many collections, it doesn’t sort of stop, which I guess is good. 

For your last collection you collaborated with doctor Goodacre. Was that a comment on society’s obsession with vanity and plastic surgery?

Absolutely. Humans can now achieve like an android perfection through surgery and it was a comment on the obsession that goes with that. And then technology which makes robots able to have emotions. It was sort of that, considering the impact of the two together.

Where do you find your inspiration?

I just note something and start to create an idea around it. Antipodium as a brand, is very much about the people that are around it. And their contributions to it and so yeah they provide a lot of the inspiration. And you’ll have a starting point and then you talk about it with one person, they’ll provide a view that you haven’t thought of. So it evolves like that.

Do you follow what people are doing trend wise to make sure that something is modern?

No, with brands like us, our major asset is personality. We’re a little brand. What big brands can’t offer is that personality and so we trade of that. Of course there are influences that are happening generally. But it is how you put your spin on it. 

What kind of women do you design for?

She is basically all the women around the brand. They’re creatively minded, there is a lot of individuality, they’re interested in Fashion but they’re not totally fashion-interested. We don’t particularly have an age, ultimately they will be around thirty. What I really enjoy about the brand is that we actually have quite a broad range of customers. I particularly like our more mature customer, particularly at Liberty’s. The sort of artlady. It’s nice to be able to dress those women. It’s more of a - with a lack for a better cliché - state of mind. 

How did you first become interested in the fashion industry?

My mom was a dressmaker so I guess I just kind of grew up with the sound of the machine basically and in fabric stores. It was always part of me growing up. I grew up in country Queensland, Australia and boys from country Queensland aren’t supposed to really do fashion. So then I was going to be an architect. And then I did some work experience with an architect and then I realised that you have to do like electrical plans so I was like maybe Fashion is much better. And now you just do shipping and logistics, which is so different from electrical plans. laughs

What do you like to wear?

I pretty much have a sort of uniform of bottomed-up shirt, pull-over, trousers of some sort. Jeans, trainers and a coat. Today I am wearing Nike’s, Kenzo chinos, a Antipodium unisex pull-over and a shirt that I got one of our factory’s to make. 

Did you ever consider doing menswear?

We have done menswear capsules before which have been really good. But our womenswear business is doing so good that our menswear has sort of been pushed to the side line, so now I just get the factories to make me samples. But menswear will definitely come back at some stage but it needs a whole different team because it is a different timing. But one day. 

What are your favourite places in London?

Unfortunately I do sort of get stuck around here. I live one block away. A friend of mine has got a restaurant which I spent a lot of time at. I guess it’s just seeing friends in different eating and drinking establishments. And then galleries of course, theatres. laughs

For the strange people that don't know Antipodium, quickly take a peek at their website and get enchanted by the pretty clothes.

xoxo
Krazy K.