LONDON

January INTERVIEW
January INTERVIEW
MAREUNROL’S NIGHTMARE 2006
Photo by Iveta Vaivode
The garments that you design are said to be
“ready-to-wear”. Do you have particular people in
mind when you design your clothing?
Of course, we have a certain character in mind. I could
go ahead and say “men from age 25 to 100 years”, but
it really has more to do with a type of brain. We have
in our studio a collage of several people who inspire us,
people in art and in cinema.
I’ve read that you’re inspired by people like Tom
Waits and David Lynch.
Yes, David Lynch, Lithuanian photographer
Jonas Mekas, singer Nick Cave, actor Bill Murray. It
doesn’t matter how old they are, they are still active
people. So yes, we’re designing for people who think
creatively, whether they’re working in art or in business
or as lawyers or whatever. They are “live” people.
They know what they’re thinking and they’re not just
following something. They’re creating something.
That’s the kind of character we have in mind.
When you find these different sources of
inspiration — different people or films or
programmes — how do you take them all and
channel them into your work? Is it through collages
like you mentioned?
It’s really hard to give some kind of definition.
We reach out and try to find a way to present our
inspirations, but then maybe the next time, that way
won’t work anymore. It’s always an experiment to
figure out what we’re going to do now. Sometimes all
we have is a vision and we sketch it out and it works,
but sometimes we have no vision and we have to
use the tools around us and try to combine them to
see if it works.
Is that where it works like a code?
Sometimes it works but then the next
time it doesn’t?
It’s a magical thing when it works, when
from about 20 sketches we have to select
just a few for a collection and tell a story.
That’s why we like fashion – because it
changes very fast. Sometimes, we feel that
it’s like surfing, where you have to catch
Art is the highest level
of thinking, and we
don’t want to be just
pop artists
the right moment and say the right thing
at that moment. Sometimes it’s impossible
to say everything that you want, but at
the same time, you find that one or two
seasons later, you can no longer use
something because it already exists in the
industry. We’re trying to catch those things
that aren’t in fashion now but that will set
the direction of the future.
Artists can take a break for a year and
take that time to find new creativity, but in
fashion it’s impossible. We are not existing
because of some trend or some kind of
hype. That’s why I don’t like the word
“fashion”, because it describes something
that’s very popular now, something where
all the crowd is going. For us, it’s different.
We want to be where the crowd will be in
one year, two years.
You always want to be ahead.
That is our dream, to always be
somewhere ahead of others. Of course,
we’re not entirely unique, because most of
the designers that I love are also working
that way. They’re not watching what’s
happening in fashion at the moment –
the moment has already passed. We
don’t get inspiration from things that are
happening at the moment – those things
are already existing. I can learn something
from this moment, but I can’t get so much
inspiration from it.
The readers of this magazine are not
necessarily the same people who attend
fashion events. If someone wants to
learn more about what you do, where do
they have to go? Is fashion something
that needs to be exclusive, or would you
like more people to understand what
you do?
You have to look at it from two directions –
the first is from the perspective of creating
a garment. The garments that we design
are meant to be worn. We don’t want
to design pieces that aren’t meant for
our time or are impossible to wear. In
that sense, they are not unique or super
expensive and don’t require some sort
of special knowledge to be worn. But of
course, they are also not mass products –
some kind of thinking is needed.
The other direction is art – making
some form of history and not just creating
something to put in a store. For us, this
is important because that’s how you
spread your message. Art is the highest
level of thinking, and we don’t want to
be just pop artists. We want to be unique
by creating something that people might
not understand right away but will follow
afterward. It’s the same thing with the
musicians that you mentioned, Tom Waits
and David Lynch. They’re the kind who
always follow their thoughts and hearts,
and then you only feel it after.
You give people what they want before
they know that they want it?
Exactly! We give them something that
maybe they don’t understand yet, but
we also show them the way. I think that
intellectual things can only work if they
are close to the mainstream things, the
popular things. These combinations are
so important in fashion or art or music.
All of these things have to be close
to each other.
You can’t create something
underground, without feedback. You want
people to know about your unique thing,
and you should always want to get your
thing on the correct platform to explain
it so that people understand it. All new
things should work like that – you have to
relate the new things to something that
already exists, and show people how the
new thing is better.
What we’re really doing is creating ways
to make life better. That’s how designing
anything works – always finding a way
to make something better, whether it’s
in daily life, or a particular situation,
anything. We’re trying to do the same
thing with our fashion. BO