MARLOTA
:
FRONT / BACK COVER
MORIO WEARS UNISEX PIECES, A VERSATILE TRENCH COAT THAT IS PART OF OUR TIMELESS FALL COLLECTION
MAR GARCIA
PHOTO: ROSA COPADO
PHOTO: LOURDES CABRERA
MARLOTA
MARLOTA.
A TAILORED SUIT.
VICTORIA WEARS ONE OF OUR UNISEX PIECES, IN BALANCE WITH ONE OF OUR MOST FEMININE CAPE SKIRTS OPEN AT THE SIDES
PHOTO: LOURDES CABRERA
CLOTHING THAT CONNECTS PEOPLE TO THEMSELVES AND OTHERS, WITH MAR GARCÍA.
THE MARLOTA "LESS IS ENOUGH" HEADLINE IS VERY BOLD GIVEN THAT THE REST OF SOCIETY IS SCREAMING, 'MORE!'
You know, if you have a coat that you really love, you use it every day. And it's a very good coat. You don't need three more.
But 'Less is enough' is more than a claim, it is a philosophy of life. It alludes to minimalism, to consume less because it is enough. Less with better quality and therefore more longevity.
Nothing is more sustainable than something that lasts forever. That's why we have been creating timeless pieces since our beginnings, back in 2004. 20 years ago we already believed in this idea!
Slow life, lighter, without ornamentation. Doing things with a conscience. Surrounded by beauty and objects that connect us with lived emotions. To continue to contemplate and admire nature, our master, and return to the origin of things.
WHAT KIND OF REACTION DO YOU GET TO THIS PHILOSOPHY?
The reactions of others are always supportive. We like to surround ourselves with clients and friends who, like us, are always looking to go further. People who are on their own path, in search of their own answers, unique, curious and nonconformist people. It is about searching in order to transform.
We live in an era in which we are constantly urged to 'do'. Capitalism is a process of accumulation. And fashion is at the forefront of overproduction.
Marlota is at the opposite pole. Some of our pieces can only be made to order. It takes 20 to 30 days because we make them here in our workshop in Madrid. I must confess that our customers are patient and wait for the piece they want.
IS IT HARD TO CREATE PIECES WITH LONGEVITY IN A WORLD OBSESSED WITH THE LATEST THING?
I've been doing it since the beginning of Marlota because I dress like that and for me it's something natural.
It's about finding a balance between the design, the pattern that builds the garment, the quality of the materials and the artisanal way of working the pieces. The famous 'know how' or 'savoir faire.'
For me, it is important that starting from an apparent simplicity, the pieces can unfold or reveal their possibilities thanks to their versatility. These pieces can be taken off and put on and worn in a thousand ways. You can take advantage of them for many different occasions. This leads to longevity and timelessness.
They may look like simple pieces, but when you wear them you understand and feel that they are made for you, because of how you feel and what they transmit.
Nobody else knows what you are wearing, only you know. There are no logos, they are not pieces to draw attention to the garment, only to project the best of you, and that is why whoever wears them attracts attention.
YOU'VE MENTIONED THE JAPANESE CONCEPT OF "MA" AS AN INFLUENCE, WHAT IS THAT?
The "ma" is the void or empty space between the body and the fabric. That space which allows you to move and gives you freedom.
We are talking about wide and comfortable pieces. I like to build from the architecture of the pattern, the backbone of the garment, together with the volume, supported by the properties of each fabric. And in this space of volume dwells the "ma".
AS OSCAR WILDE
YOU SEEM TO HAVE A SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH JAPAN?
I am closely linked to Japan, where we have been selling for 18 years. I love Japan, its taste for subtlety, for what is not seen but perceived. I have travelled to Japan many times and I love their holistic way of seeing the world through the senses.
After the first couple of years selling multibrand in Spain I went to my first Paris fashion fair. It was an amazing experience because this Japanese man called Mr Arai came to see my work and immediately bought 500 pieces. This was incredible because everybody had told me that Japanese buyers always wanted to see you several times before they bought anything. They like to know if you are really solid, a reliable company, or something like that.
But Mr Arai bought these 500 pieces immediately. So, one month later I was travelling to Japan to understand his buying impulse, and I found it! I understood that Japan and Marlota were a perfect match and started working with other Japanese companies too.
YOUR CLOTHES LOOK LIKE THEY ARE DESIGNED FOR MOVEMENT, NOT STATIC POSES.
For me, movement is closely linked to dance, of which I am a great admirer. We have been creating performances with top choreographers in art galleries for 10 years.
The emotional factor of the pieces we create is naturally connected to art. As a way of reflecting on new ways of being, establishing a dialogue around constant change and the beauty of movement through dance.
I love art, that emotion that can connect people. Every week I attend events and shows that have to do with art. It's the place where I feel the best. I don't need a big spotlight. I prefer to stay behind the scenes, as a spectator. This is where I feel most comfortable.
So I work with choreographers and others to produce shows, we've called them WEART, which you can see in the PROJECTS section of my website. This is what I do in art galleries and cultural spaces. Okay, we are a fashion brand. But we are more than a fashion brand. I always say, "I'm a small company doing big things!"
WHAT WAS YOUR ROUTE INTO FASHION?
THIS MUST BE A TOUGH BUSINESS TO GET INTO?
My grandmother was a dressmaker and my grandfather a painter. So, I think, intuitively there was something inside me that made me persevere and get here.
The lightning struck when I was 15, or something like that. I was in school, my friend and I, we were like the weirdos of the class, we were into drawing and our teacher pushed us very much in this direction. That's when I discovered that I wanted to be a designer.
And from that moment, I began to focus. I studied fashion in Spain, London and Germany. I worked for others and learned a lot, I am very curious. Of course, I continue to learn from my successes, and even more from my mistakes.
Although I am not the typical designer who wanted to become famous, have her own brand and do fashion shows, life naturally led me to Marlota. In a way, I didn't want to regret not having done it.
YOU DIDN'T LOVE DOING FASHION SHOWS?
I did 14 fashion shows for the designer I worked for and when I started with Marlota, I chose a path that was more suited to me.
I decided not to do fashion shows but to organise events in art galleries linked to dance and other art disciplines instead – to go beyond fashion.
The fashion shows are another matter...
LAYERS AND LAYERS OF PIECES THAT CAN BE SHIRTS AND JACKETS AT THE SAME TIME AND THAT BUILD THE SILHOUETTE THROUGH THE BALANCE OF VOLUME AND TEXTURE
PHOTOS: LOURDES CABRERA
I ADMIRE MANY OF THE WOMEN I DRESS. CURIOUS, SINGULARS AND UNIQUES, TIRELESS SEARCHERS.
DID YOU ALWAYS THINK THIS WAY, OR HAS YOUR APPROACH EVOLVED OVER TIME?
You know, when you are young and starting out, all you want to do is "express yourself" and you are more focused on your own needs.
Over time this has changed. I'm interested in continuing to focus my work on the creativity that goes through my perception, bringing back my view of things. But with the purpose of connecting with people and to people.
My clothes are a little bit like me, there's something about them that you don't see. But it's there. So, when you put it on, 'you just know.' Nobody can understand what's happened. But when they look at you, they think "wow!" Because my goal when I dress someone is for the person to be able to transmit who they are, the best of that person.
'DRESSING UP' SEEMS LIKE ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING 'FEELING UNCOMFORTABLE'
Indeed, costumes for parties and playing at being someone else. Which can be really fun sometimes!
But in your daily life and without a real goal, it doesn't make sense. The more coherence between your thinking, what you feel, what you say and what you project, the better, because it generates trust in others.
That is why the image must be in line with who you really are or what you want to convey. And not putting energy into the discomfort of acting or putting on a character to fit into anything.
That's why, if you find a fashion brand or someone who helps you discover wonderful quality that makes you feel "wow!", you project how good you feel and you shine! That's the key.
For the same reason, the relationship between the object and the emotion that the object can give us is important. Always speaking in terms of pieces, not clothes. Because it's like an object that connects with you.
For me, this is the most interesting question: what connects us to these objects?
CONNECTION MUST BE IMPORTANT WHEN YOU'RE WORKING DIRECTLY WITH YOUR CLIENTS?
YOU MUST HAVE A STRONG EYE FOR DETAIL
MARINA ABRAMOVIC IS ONE OF THEM, IS THAT RIGHT?
, ,
Yes, Marina Abramovic is one of my clients. I deeply admire her work and to dress someone like that was amazing.
I admire many of the women I dress. Curious, singulars and uniques, tireless searchers, mostly connected with art, or one of its disciplines, also many architects. I imagine that vision of the world unites us.
In the past I was worried that my work was maybe a bit frivolous. But it's not at all. Women and also men put themselves in my hands to project what they want to convey at a specific moment and helping them achieve this is very interesting.
The importance you give to the beauty of subtlety and detail is something you carry within you. It has to do with your sensitivity and perception, for me it is natural and it flows. But you can make more or less effort to achieve it if you don't have it.
IT MUST BE FASCINATING AND REWARDING TO STUDY AND UTILISE ARTISAN TECHNIQUES, PRESERVING THE GENIUS OF TAILORING'S HISTORY?
I make everything here, in Spain. The most important thing is to work with craftspeople who have a lot of experience in the profession. I have been working with the same people for 20 years, many of them inherited the craft from their parents and grandparents.
But if we don't teach new generations, many of these crafts will soon be lost. Things like pleating, dyeing, tailoring techniques, or how the Carriches who worked with Balenciaga used to give shape with a single iron.
The big brands are buying up all the small family companies. In France for example, Chanel and, Louis Vuitton, they are buying all the small companies in order to control production, because they know it's getting harder.
THE EMOTIONAL FACTOR OF OUR PIECES REFLECTS ON CONSTANT CHANGE AND THE BEAUTY OF MOVEMENT.
SO, WHAT DIRECTION ARE YOU THINKING NEXT?
I love my work and the idea of having mixed Marlota with other art disciplines, from a more transversal and open view. I am interested in many things, life is long and my curiosity is infinite. That's why I believe in living projects that are mutating and hopefully I can turn Marlota into a unique experience for everyone beyond fashion.
WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE, DO YOU START WITH PEN AND PAPER?
The creative work starts in my head at any time of the day. I could be in the shower or driving...
When I work though, the important thing is the volume of the silhouette, I always think three-dimensionally. The volume is what gives the piece its character. I always think of pieces almost as objects that you wear in a thousand ways, rather than garments in a standard way.
I work very early in the morning, after swimming, the best way to start the day! But to draw I need to be calm, so most of the time I have to draw outside the studio, or when no one is there. The days in the studio are very busy.
My inspiration comes from everything I see and breathe every day. We are all connected. Especially with the internet, it's impossible to live in isolation. But my inspiration, more than in fashion, is in the beauty and emotion that comes to you through life experiences, the arts, exhibitions, dance, literature, travel.
Everything can be an inspiration. And if you are working and stay focused, things happen.
THERE'S SO MANY DIMENSIONS TO CONSIDER!
The worst thing is the blank page. At first, it's all in my mind. I need to be calm. And working in parallel taking into account too many things. It is like a puzzle.
My goal is to create timeless pieces but with a touch of novelty, with a modern feel. And that's why I look for materials with a noble base but with a contemporary look and with different colour nuances. That's not easy at all.
As designers, we need to think about what people will want in the future. That is why it is necessary to be 'avant', looking for interesting things that fit into the puzzle.
The pattern making, the volume supported by the fabric, their quality, and the craftsmanship when making the pieces is what completes the process.
And later, when we do the image campaign, convey the concept of the collection in coherence.
When I close that circle and am satisfied, the feeling is incredibly wonderful.
IT'S A VERY HANDS-ON PROCESS?
WITH THE WEARER, GIVING YOU THE CREATIVITY TO DRESS IN A THOUSAND WAYS
Sometimes I take fabric and I put it on the mannequin and I just begin to work. I don't have limits on the mannequin. Drawing on paper is different, limiting.
I need to touch and feel, that is so very important. There are the technical things too, maybe I need to ask for a fabric at 50 grams less, or something like that, because the hang is different. After this we make the pattern by hand to control the volume on the mannequin. And when that's finished, and we've got it in the definite final fabric, then we make a production run, or save it for one of our 'pop-ups'. Or maybe it's something for wholesale.
WHERE DO YOU DO YOUR POP-UPS?
For the moment in Madrid and Barcelona. Hopefully soon outside Spain, we just have to find the right partners. Suggestions are welcome.
CO-CREATE
PHOTOS: LOURDES CABRERA
DO YOU STILL PRODUCE WORK FOR THE WHOLESALE MARKET?
Yes, of course, we continue to produce for wholesale markets, especially in Asia. I create customized capsule projects and collections where the entire Marlota world is represented.
DO ALL YOUR PIECES JUST FLOW NATURALLY OR DO SOME NEED TO BE WRESTLED INTO BEING?
When you are developing a collection there are always pieces that come out the first time and others that resist so much that sometimes it's better to let them go. It's mentally more healthy!
One of my most memorable pieces, from my first collection in 2004, is at the Barcelona Design Museum in a retrospective, "The clothed body. Silhouettes and Fashion" (15502015).
WHAT KIND OF STATE WOULD YOU SAY THE FASHION INDUSTRY IS IN, GENERALLY?
As Dutch researcher, thinker and intellectual Li Edelkoort would say, "Fashion is old fashioned." However, we still believe it can be changed.
The fashion system is broken. What we need to find are new ways of how the industry could catch up with today's reality and regain its cultural value as an agent of change that pushes society forward.
With fast fashion, the dimension and value of things has been lost. Things no longer have value, they only have a price.
Marlota does not do sales, and we have never participated in a Black Friday, because the value of our clothes does not lie in satisfying compulsive consumption, but in their timelessness and quality. Sales are actually the result of an artificial price at source, articulated around an accepted system.
As Oscar Wilde said "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing".
HOW CAN I, AS A CONSUMER, GET BACK TO THIS MORE AUTHENTIC WAY OF DRESSING?
By trusting yourself to someone like me!
PE'L SCHLECHTER Graphic Design 2017
38 TIM JOHN & MARTIN SCHMITZ Scenography Design 2017
39 BROSMIND Illustration Design 2017 40 ARMANDO MILANI Graphic Design 2017
LAURA STRAßER Product Design 2017 42 PHOENIX DESIGN Industrial Design 2018
43 UWE R. BRÜCKNER Scenography Design 2018
44 BROUSSE & RUDDIGKEIT Design Code 2018
45 ISABELLE CHAPUIS Photography Design 2018
46 PATRICIA URQUIOLA Product Design 2018 47 SARAH-GRACE MANKARIOUS
59 DAVID KAMP Sound Design 2021
60 THOMAS KURPPA Brand Design 2021 61 NEW TENDENCY Product Design 2022
62 MARTHA VON MAYDELL Illustration Design 2022
63 STUDIO KLARENBEEK & DROS Design Research 2022
64 JOUPIN GHAMSARI Photography Design 2022
65 LOTTERMANN AND FUENTES Photography Design 2022
66 SUPER TERRAIN Graphic Design 2022
67 EIKE KÖNIG Art Design 2023
68 CHRISTOPHER NOELLE Light Design 2023
69 DENNIS HINZE Sport Fashion Design 2023
70 KLASIEN VAN DE ZANDSCHULP Interactive Design 2023
71 VALENTIN VODEV Industrial Design 2023
72 GERMANS ERMICS Sculptural Design 2023
73 MADE BY JAMES Type & Logo Design 2024
74 SNASK Branding & Video 2024
75 CRAFTING PLASTICS! STUDIO Design Research 2024
76 STUDIO BRUCH Graphic Design 2024
77 GEMMA O'BRIEN Graphics & Lettering 2024
MARC TAMSCHICK Spatial Media Design 2020
54 TYPEJOCKEYS Type Design 2020
55 MOTH Animation Design 2021
56 JONAS LINDSTRÖM Photography 2021
57 VERONICA FUERTE Graphic Design 2021
58 CHRISTOPHE DE LA FONTAINE Product Design 2021
Design Friends would like to thank all their members and partners for their support.
COLOPHON
PUBLISHER Design Friends
COORDINATION Guido Kröger
LAYOUT Guido Kröger
INTERVIEW Mark Penfold
PRINT Imprimerie Schlimé
PRINT RUN 250 (Limited edition)
ISBN 978-2-919829-06-4
PRICE 5 €
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This catalogue is published for the lecture of Marlota
lettre." at Mudam Luxembourg on 20th of November, 2024 organised by Design Friends
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