An Evening with Mary Katrantzou
It was an amazing privilege to be part of the elite collective of fashion bloggers and writers invited to spend an evening in conversation with fashion designer Mary Katrantzou. Style website, mydaily, the “go-to destination for stylish, quick-thinking women”, hosted the evening at the fabulous art deco restaurant and bar, Kettners in Soho, London.
In an intimate gathering, a combination of fashion, champagne and canapés, the evening gave us the opportunity to have a rare insight into the world of the fashion designer and the thoughts behind their collections.
Greek born, London based designer Mary Katrantzou is best known for her iconic digital prints, lampshade skirts and perfume bottle dresses shown at London Fashion Week and worn by Anna Dello Rosso and Alexa Chung. With a background in textile design and architecture, Mary really focuses on creating a “second skin” and refining the silhouette of the female form. The mydaily hosted evening gave us the chance to engage and be enlightened by Mary’s passion for the world of design whilst giving her a chance to interact with an ever present online media world that is important to the future of her fashion label.
Inspiration & Design
In the interview with mydaily’s Libby Banks, Mary hailed Louise Wilson of Central St Martins College, London as a key driver in giving her confidence to find her signature look and to help her channel her creativity to form amazing results. In the world of fashion she credits Azzedine Alaia as having “amazing understanding of womens body, respect and appreciation” for them, something which she strives to achieve and that Miu Miu are “fun and interesting” and we go the general impression that is how Mary tries to be as well.
Mary Katrantzou & Libby Banks
It was great to hear that the Mary Katrantzou label designs for the average UK women. The prints that form the collection are altered to suit the fuller figure. In fact you get more for your money for the large size pieces as the designs have more detail and are tailored to the cut they are printed on. Mary explained that you can’t just take the same print and replicate it for the larger sizes which becomes more flattering.
Social Media
Mary is a lover of both twitter and Facebook, using the social media tools in slightly different ways. She understands the importance of utilising these tools to her labels best advantage since she doesn’t have the same huge advertising budget that Versace and Burberry have in their back pockets. Mary describes how she likes the interaction that twitter gives her, she “appreciates criticism and understanding the comments on her collections” from her followers on twitter and feeds ideas in this way that normally on a strategic level she would not be able to.
Dresses from the S/S12 Mary Katrantzou Collection
It was really interesting to hear that Mary wanted feedback from the fashion collective in the room on how best to proceed with her website. From how best to make it user friendly to what features should and shouldn’t be present. This was a really intriguing feature of the evening whereby the interview table was turned and Mary could utilise her captive audience to engage in debate as to how best use the important tool of the designer website.
The Future
What we really wanted to know from Mary was what’s next for the Mary Katrantzou label. Well, there was exciting talk about a potential menswear collection in the future. Men have been coveting her print design for some time and feel they want to get a part of the action and she recognises that this would be a sensible step. Mary talked about how she wants to “keep in sync with what people want and where the label should go” and that is crucial in this competitive fashion market. In February there will be a capsule collection with Topshop which really will help to bring the concept of high fashion print design to the more affordable level and to the general public. By working with Topshop, Mary hopes to have control over how her print designs get onto the high street but she also relishes the opportunity to have access to the commercial knowledge and direction that a major high street brand possesses.
LadyM, Mary Katrantzou, Robin Budd
One thing is for sure as Mary explained herself there will be “no fragrances and no Paris Fashion Week”. It was clear that Mary doesn’t want to follow the route that other fashion labels have. She wants to create a lifestyle brand outside of her Ready to Wear collection but something that is more visual with digital imagery. It is about “thinking outside the box to create a world around the Ready to Wear but in a different light”. Mary has so much passion and energy for what she does that there is no doubt she will excel with her fashion label and there are many projects she has up her sleeve (not a printed sleeve, usually plain black, she doesn’t tend to where so much print when she is surrounded by it all day!). We are excited about what the future holds for Mary and her label in the coming years.
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Michelle November 23, 2011 at 6:24 am
Sounds like a great evening Rachel. Love Mary’s dresses!
Ayana November 23, 2011 at 11:35 am
Lovely colourful designs!