Polish brand Misbhv, designed by the super talented Natalia Maczek, managed to be always on the edge of fashion in last seasons. The unique mix between eastern culture, street attitude and design at it’s finest led the brand to have a huge following all around the world. Many super-models, celebrities and fashion influencers have been caught by the eye of steet-style photographers rocking Misbhv pieces, during fashion weeks. Rihanna, Cara Delevingne, Kylie Jenner and Nabile Quenum are only few examples. Through the seasons, the brand gained a really strong identity. The secret behind their success is the talent to keep up with newest trends every season and give a really strong personality to every piece at the same time. Graphics also play a fundamental role in Misbhv fashion. The brand has always made an awesome work with graphic design, innovating and coming up with strong new graphics every season. We asked Natalia to tell us about her methods, inspirations and beliefs to understand her approach to menswear and the reason of her quick escalation to the top of nowadays fashion.
Fucking Young!: Describe the evolution of MISBHV in the past seasons.
Natalia Maczek: We strongly believe in pushing our boundaries. We started out by making tees for our closest friends to wear in the club – I never was and still am not business oriented. We slowly branched out into more complicated garments like leather jackets,denim, swimwear simply because we enjoy the process. Spring/Summer 2017 brings a big change for us with a first standalone Womens line that we have just presented in New York. We start to take things a bit more seriously now.
FY!: What a brand have to do to be ahead in today’s market?
NM: I think to be ahead of the game in whatever field you’re in it’s absolutely necessary to listen to your own voice. Followers can at best come second.
FY!: What’s the importance of research?
NM: Fashion is a social study. We learn about the subcultures, about the history of fashion as such, about the human body. Clothing is meant to be worn by actual people in the end of the day – it’s meant to make you feel comfortable and self-confident.
FY!: Is creativity still important?
NM: You can not change the game by following everyone’s rules. Creativity is a notion that leaders share. Followers not necessarily.
FY!: Is PR and promotion fundamental in fashion today?
NM: The answers is yes. But these do not have to be dirty words. Social media does not need necessarily to be a numbers game. I believe the way you promote your brand is just another extension of you – whether you trade your ideas for numbers or you stay true to what you believe in is totally up to you and you only.
FY!: Define your creative process.
NM: We usually start with a big idea that is later translated into mood boards and lots of drawings. We will come up with a few hundred different ideas that are in the process reduced to the top 60-70. We will then drop another few. At the moment we feel safely at about 50 pieces per collection.
FY!: Is it easy for a woman to design menswear?
NM: It’s definitely easier to design Womenswear – but I like being challenged. I am also lucky to have super talented guys in my team that help me out a great deal.
FY!: Best and toughest part of designing a menswear collection.
NM: The toughest part is the balancing act of staying grounded in the inspiration but in a creative and new way. I feel like Menswear is much more about codes and social references than Womens. Creating Womens is a much different process in that sense, it feels more free. What I like about Mens is that you can go crazy with the graphics. We have an amazing design director within the team who brings great ideas to the table.
FY!: What’s the main inspiration behind last menswear collection?
NM: Our last collection – the Futumn/Winter 2016 “Hard Core” – is a lot about the social codes and how we interpret the simplest means of communication – colours for instance. I like how the main design of the collection – “Hard Core” is so open to interpretation. It has a much different meaning in Warsaw, Rotterdam, New York or on Rihanna.
FY!: Plans for near future.
NM: Womens SS17 “Object Of Desire” showroom in Paris that we open on the 4th of October.
FY!: The best advice for a young designer.
NM: Be you.
