Mary Katrantzou (second from left) backstage at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in New York

With a decade of successful collections behind her and a penchant for outside-the-box collaborations, Mary Katrantzou is a designer not only bursting with creativity but also with the business acumen to go truly global, as Carolyn Asome discovers

Don’t underestimate the agility required to keep up with Mary Katrantzou’s boundless curiosity, the ever-inventive ways she pushes herself out of her comfort zone, the rat-a-tat-tat of her myriad collaborations (more of which later) and fundamentally, her desire to never sit still.

Does Katrantzou, who for the past decade has wowed us with her own strand of quirky maximalism, breathtaking decoration techniques and architectural shapes, ever worry that her body may struggle to keep up with her mind? The Greek-born fashion designer (and veritable power house), who read architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design before studying for a BA in Textile Design at London’s Central Saint Martins, howls with laughter at this. “It’s true, I’ve turned 36… it probably doesn’t.”

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Few designers are able to confront the obstacles of growing their own business. Fewer still are able to articulate them quite as clearly as Katrantzou can – although one senses that she has always relished the challenge. Her voice lights up: “Growing your business is the ultimate in creativity. It forces you to have an understanding of the business of fashion. I don’t think you can have a company without that interest or without the ambition to be involved.”

In an increasingly volatile retail climate, what are the challenges she faces? “There are several, but one of them is having a voice that really stands out against the noise. There are lots of heritage brands with a rotation of designers at the helm. You need to really know what you stand for. I challenge myself to do that each year. You might think you have an idea of who your woman is, but it isn’t always as easy as you think it is. I am not designing for a romantic warrior…” she laughs. “Sure, she is bold and daring and she uses fashion as a tool of expression. What I design has an element of uplift, but it also has links to art and design – that is very much part of it, too.”

A look from Mary Katrantzou’s AW19 collection

The conundrum of dealing with an ever- whizzier hamster wheel of production also looms large. Thankfully, Katrantzou explains this is far less of a taboo subject than it was in the past. “Three years ago, no one wanted to talk about it and you almost closed your eyes and hoped for the best, but now other designers talk and you realise we are all in the same boat. Because obviously it is going to affect your creativity.”

Her solution? “While we have four drops annually, there are only two thematic collections a year so that means we have longer to talk about something, but we still have the newness.” Another challenge she mulls over is how to move outside ready-to-wear and use her design talent in other areas. Given that Katrantzou trained as an architect, she enjoys the challenge of looking at things from different perspectives and the creativity that comes with designing in different realms.

“We’ve tried to shift the brands in both directions: at one end offering shows at a demi- couture level and building on our customer relationships so that they can buy from us as made-to-measure or bespoke, but also, to do collaborations with much bigger global brands which allows us to reach a far wider audience.”

Read more: Photographer Thomas Demand on abstract perspectives

Katrantzou enjoys the fact that collaborations force her to think in a completely different way. “It’s an entirely different end use of a product. You can be democratic in a way that as an independent brand you just can’t be, because you can’t reach those price points or your minimums and production runs are so different. The modern brand of today needs to be reaching out to all different price points and different tiers. You are communicating with your customer but offering her a very comprehensive way of being able to buy your brand. We are doing a tenth of what we can do as we are still largely a ready-to-wear brand, but we’ve created jewellery with Swarovski, and done a small homeware range with a friend, Brigitta Spinocchia Freund. We’re also doing a ballet at Sadler’s Wells with Russell Maliphant and music by Vangelis, which is obviously so different from what you get when creating the costumes for the Victoria’s Secret show.”

The designer’s interesting collaborations – ones which challenge the well-trodden formula of designer/highstreet unions – are what caught the eye of Chinese investor Wendy Yu, the 28-year-old who has earned herself the reputation as China’s unofficial fashion ambassador.

Mary Katrantzou with Wendy Yu 2017

Two years ago, Katrantzou took investment from Yu. “I’d noticed and loved Mary’s capacity and talent to expand into different product categories along with her infectious energy and drive,” says Yu. “She’s built a brand with a strong and unique identity. I can see the potential of Mary Katrantzou homeware and beauty… I think the Chinese consumer would really buy into the brand at this lifestyle level too.”

Yu was one of three who came in on a ‘family and friends’ round of investment. For Katrantzou, the idea was also to look at what investors could offer aside from the financial support. “Wendy has been helpful with expanding in China. She is someone who understands how to help build a brand between east and west, between fashion and the arts.” Katrantzou has also learnt that in order to create awareness in China, it takes much more than just visiting once a year. It’s visiting regularly and initiating activations that really engages.”

Despite following a wholesale model, Katrantzou finds that clients come to her, season after season. “It’s rare these days to have a really loyal client. I don’t know what it is about the brand that elicits that loyalty but whatever it is, I don’t take it lightly.” This modesty is typical of Katrantzou. Such is her talent that she has clients who own so many of her clothes, they might easily stage a retrospective of her collections. It is telling that one of her most devoted fans is also one of the biggest collectors of Phoebe Philo’s collections at Celine – “our aesthetics couldn’t be more opposite” – and yet, there is something about the power of Katrantzou’s craft, the detailing and point of view that elicits such fandom.

Katrantzou and friends at London Fashion Week, 2016

Last September, Katrantzou celebrated her tenth anniversary, filling Camden’s Roundhouse with a collection all about collecting and collectables. Instead of a ‘best of ’ tribute to the preceding decade, she riffed on philately and entomology. One gown resembled a Fabergé egg gleaming with crystals, while a bustier dress revealed an array of coloured stone rings within a jewellery box.

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Her most recent collection was based on the elements – earth, air, fire and water – and how they exist within us. “I wanted to explore the fire – when you have that energy and passion; or air when you feel that sense of being light and free. And it was interesting to distil all of that into a collection as it was so abstract and unlike my previous collection, which was more literal and very object driven.”

A look from Mary Katrantzou’s AW19 collection

For water and air, Katrantzou explored silhouettes that were weightless, either in organza or tiers of ruffles, which “bounced in a cloudy way, or else we used feathers”, experimenting with materials and techniques that haven’t been explored before.

Today, there are 25 people in Katrantzou’s London studio and her label is sold in 50 countries. “Our strongest markets are in the US, the UK, southern Europe, the Middle East and now China,” she says. “You know you appeal to a certain type of woman, and while I’m not saying an archetypal woman, they do have something in common. And we don’t have to be big in the Nordic countries if we are not selling there.”

Increasingly, Katrantzou is thinking about how she fits into the world around her: what she stands for and how that extends to bigger topics. “Luxury for me is knowing you are not harming your environment, knowing that the pieces you create will last in someone’s wardrobe for ever. I find it interesting that clients increasingly come to me and say they want to spend x amount on this one dress rather than buy 20. There’s a return to craftsmanship, pieces that are made by hand. With demi-couture, you are supporting a more analogue approach to fashion. It isn’t a big percentage in terms of how many commissions we get, but it is a sizeable part of the business… and it’s growing.”

Find out more at: marykatrantzou.com

This article was originally published in the Summer 19 Issue.

Olivier Rousteing with models, including Cara Delevingne, after Balmain’s SS19 show at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris

The French label Balmain, known for its 1950s couture, has been turned into a leader of the 21st-century pack by its creative director Olivier Rousteing. Harriet Quick meets him at his lair in Paris to discuss glamour, music and diversity

“Glamour never went away but right now we don’t like to like glamour – it’s something taboo, a guilty pleasure. It is easier to say a grey oversized coat is chic and beautiful,” says Olivier Rousteing. Over the past eight years as creative director of Balmain, Rousteing has started a brilliant new chapter in Parisian glamour with his continual reinvention of the fashion lexicon, with his signature ballast-shouldered d-b blazers, crazy beautiful embellishments, and architectural silhouettes conceived for megawatt impact. There are many neutral, minimalist suits and swishy plissé skirts designed for 2019. He’s the master of unapologetic va-va-voom, the kind that is rewarded with fire-flame emojis on Instagram, the kind that speaks of female empowerment, dynamism and a knock ’em-out fighting spirit, a message that the brand spreads far and wide.

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Balmain’s spring/summer 2019 collection, staged late last year under the frescoed ceilings of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, was a paean to the extraordinary depth and breadth of culture in the capital, to Rousteing’s own exploration of it and to Parisian savoir-faire. Model and actress Cara Delevingne opened the show in a sculpted metal bustier, a fluid white satin trench with exaggerated shoulders and utility trousers that would suit a modern-day Cleopatra. Extreme fan shapes in triple organza arched over the torso like an unfolded concertina, micro dresses were constructed out of a mosaic of Plexiglas and black graphic knits boasting white hieroglyphics. “We’ve also riffed on the origins of modern-day Paris – and, actually, modern civilization itself. My fascination with the impressive obelisks, pyramids and columns that date from Napoleon’s campaigns and adorn this city’s most iconic public spaces is reflected in the collection’s many references to Egypt,” says Rousteing of his tour de force.

There are no half measures with Rousteing and he admires designers who work with similar conviction. “In my eight years as creative director, we’ve seen so many strong trends. I’m a huge fan of Demna Gvasalia, Hedi Slimane, Phoebe Philo and Raf Simons – they have visions and strong points of view. When I saw the hyper-real street wear of Vetements, I was happy because it is refreshing, but it doesn’t mean I have to do that. In fact, the opposite – you have to become more you. One might like or dislike Balmain but it keeps a fan and customer base, and you have to challenge and be relevant every season,” says the 33-year-old.

Olivier Rousteing, photographed in Paris in 2017 by Pascal Dangin

“I love what is figurative and what people can see. I use a lot of patterns and craftsmanship because I love the first IMPACT! But just because a piece is shiny does not mean there’s no depth. It’s so easy to say ‘bling’ but that means nothing. A piece can be shiny and be created with so many innovative artisan techniques – it is more than surface. The Tour Eiffel is impressive with or without lights; I hope, night or day – these clothes can stand up,” says the designer who joined Balmain and became its studio manager under his predecessor, Christophe Decarnin, in 2011. Previously, he had worked as Peter Dundas’s right hand at Roberto Cavalli, excelling in that brand’s neo-bohemian glamour.

Read more: In conversation with artist Victoria Fu

Balmain is majority owned by the Qatari investment fund Mayhoola, which is also behind Valentino, Pal Zileri and Anya Hindmarch. The luxury investment business that is supported by the emir of Qatar paid around $560 million for Balmain in 2016. The operations of the royal family-owned luxury investment business is secretive, with turnover figures for the brand undisclosed. To date, 80% of the turnover of Balmain has been at wholesale with collections for men, women and children being sold into multi-label boutiques and department stores around the globe. Success at wholesale equates to customer loyalty, which is impressive in this era of promiscuous label shopping. This year, under the new CEO Massimo Piombini, there is a major expansion into brick-and-mortar stores, with flagships opening in Miami, Moscow, Paris, Rome and Las Vegas. “Piombini is daring and is not afraid, and I love to push the limits of design. This is the base of making a great business in fashion. With Mayhoola, we want to make the business BIG and push it to the next level,” says Rousteing. Currently, Balmain employs 350 staff with 25 in the design studio.

This year has also seen new developments with the launch of a demi-couture collection entitled ‘44 François Premier’ (it carries the address of founder Pierre Balmain’s original atelier); a twice-yearly women’s wear capsule called Episode, which is showcased during the menswear shows; and a big boost to shoes and handbags. The line ‘Beauty’, following a capsule line with L’Oréal, is in the works. In total, Rousteing designs 14 collections a year.

Balmain SS19 ready-to-wear collection

The shift into demi-couture is significant in its appeal to a growing number of younger couture clientèle. Where a typical heavily embellished cocktail dress might cost £2,500–4,000 in ready-to-wear, a gown in ‘44 François Premier’ is £20,000 and up. “The line is not about trend or future forecasting; it’s about beauty for beauty’s sake, with iconic pieces; we have a huge market for that with so many celebrities embracing the brand,” says Rousteing, whose designs were inspired by his delving into the archives and by the golden years of Pierre Balmain, who dressed Hollywood, socialites and royalty in his exuberant designs in the mid-century. For Rousteing, the jewel-coloured ‘Dynasty’-style gowns, with their gigantic ruffles and furls and sinuous Grecian drapes as well as hand-crafted embellishments by Maison Legeron (a long-established maker of fabric flowers) proved a timely recalibration of the couture dream. The line quickly picked up red-carpet strikes with Lupita Nyong’o and Penélope Cruz parading looks at summer premieres.

Rousteing’s latest show was streamed live to the few lucky owners of Oculus VR headsets. While virtual reality has been used by brands including Chanel (in exhibitions) and Dior (in VIP presentations), the VR stream flagged up the digital savvy of Rousteing who embraced the peer-to-peer power of social media and Instagram (where he has five million followers) early on, much to the snobbish dismay of the old luxury elite. “We always have to remain two steps ahead,” says Rousteing, thumbing the shiny gold Balmain buttons on the shoulder line of his cashmere Breton sweater as he sits behind a vast desk of brown marble and bronze.

Balmain’s new store in Miami

The contemporary take on the Parisian dream is epitomised in the micro-detail of the scintillating embellishments, as much as it is in the flagship interiors. The stores offer a new version of the traditional hôtel particulier with white stucco interiors, gilded mirrors and parquet floors that you could skateboard across, with the associated uptight, cloistering atmosphere banished. Likewise, the virtual universe is vibey with campaigns directed as pop videos. Cue the sonic autumn campaign video entitled ‘The Balmain Beat’ (their ad campaign using a series of films) directed by Jake Nava who has worked with Beyoncé and Britney Spears. It features a group of disparate performers including Milla Jovovich and Daphne Guinness in diverse locations in Paris, from empty office blocks to an 18th-century folly, drawn together by a spontaneously evolving tune played out on found instruments. It shows off the brand’s hero bag – a classy BBox bag with a medallion clasp – and clothes that vibrate with neon colour and metallic sheen.

Watch ‘The Balmain Beat’ Fall/Winter 2018:

What are his views on social media? “It’s a fantastic communication channel yet we have to be careful. Five years ago what I loved was the transparency and authenticity of social media – it was spontaneous and honest. Right now, it’s too commercial and you lose the magic of honesty and credibility. The millennials are not going to like it, as they don’t want to feel trapped,” he says.

In the Balmain world, real or virtual, music is a constant. Prince’s ‘When Doves Cry’ was the opening track to the spring/summer 2019 show. “We are witnesses of our time. I’m very passionate about inclusivity; I’m mixed race myself, and I look for diversity in everything I do. And listening is a key to that inclusivity. There’s a rhythm of life happening all around us. You won’t be scared of what happens tomorrow, if you take the time to listen,” says Rousteing.

Rousteing’s ‘lair’ is a spacious glass-walled office on the top of a six-floor HQ in a narrow street in the 8e. The brown marble and bronze desk, stacked with piles of books, devices and leafy plants, is his own design. While he is working, at the gym, or sketching, loud music is his constant companion. His catholic taste includes David Bowie, Rihanna, Ed Sheeran, 80s electro pop, rock and roll, and RnB. His spring/summer 2019 menswear was devoted to Michael Jackson, with its sequin jackets, rolled-cuff denim and white sock/patent shoe combos.

Read more: Italian brand Damiani’s Kazakh-inspired jewellery collection

Rousteing is one of the few black designers currently at the helm of a major brand. Recently, Virgil Abloh was appointed head of menswear at Louis Vuitton, but the numbers are tiny. Independent talents, who have the black experience at the heart of their work, include Duro Olowu and Grace Wales Bonner in London; Stella Luna in Milan; and in New York, Telfar, Pyer Moss and Shayne Oliver.

He has brought pop into fashion and fashion into pop and, by virtue of that ambitious confluence, has opened up a once tired old fashion house to the world. Balmain resonates with a vast audience that exists in and beyond the relatively limited fashion devotee circle. His collections are anthems built on a masterful spectacle and pageantry. He works closely with Rihanna, who first visited his studio in 2013, and he has created hundreds of looks, running the gamut from Egyptian goddess to American high-school denim and sweats, for Beyoncé and her crew for Coachella 2018. A limited-edition line was released shortly afterwards.

Balmain SS19 ready-to-wear collection

“Sometimes people love the tortured element of fashion – depressed, dark and wounded – and there is a depth and struggle in my clothes, but I am pudique (modest). I don’t like being in your face with the torment of creating my clothes,” says the designer who wears no sign of angst on his dewy, unlined complexion. Rousteing has a naturally mellifluous voice and a gentle, warm smile that mellow his fierce rhetoric.

While Rousteing might be a champion of diversity, global messaging and universality, he also remains particularly and brilliantly French. He upholds the values of Parisian glamour that he first fell in love with when a young boy of mixed race raised by adoptive parents in Bordeaux, gazing at images of Iman, Betty Catroux and Catherine Deneuve with their just undone coiffures and smouldering sexuality. He faced adversity (although he does not go into details) but one can assume that a bourgeois city in south-western France might not have been as liberal as it appears now.

Read more: The Bahamas’ new 1,000 acre luxury resort

“I’m obsessed with being French. I am not conservative but I love to push traditions to the next level,” says the designer who joined Balmain at the young age of 24 and brought about radical change making the brand diverse, inclusive, ‘empowered’. Those values, championed by the greats in the 1960s and 70s – Pierre Balmain and Yves Saint Laurent included – had fallen by the wayside in the following century. Now, a more humanistic approach is considered a vital ingredient of contemporary fashion. Frenchness to Rousteing is about creativity, breaking boundaries and yes, freedom, liberté, egalité and fraternité. His own ‘nest’ is in a light-filled Haussmann-heritage building in the 11e that is a contrast of bold minimalism and flamboyant baroque style. His pride and joy is a vast sculpture of a bronze eagle that boasts dazzling amethyst rock. Thinking about the price of Balmain demi-couture, I ask the designer what he would do with 40,000 euros. His answer is a big slab of brown marble to create a piece of furniture from, to go alongside the gym. “I love the way light dances off marble,” he says.

“Being too popular? I’ve never understood that language. Democratising is not something that’s not luxurious. People talk about chic, about style, about proportions, about the front row, but who is defining these words today and what do they mean? If you take a dictionary 20 years or 100 years from now, you will have new words and new meanings and it’s time for fashion to take on a new meaning.”

Discover the Balmain collections: balmain.com

This article was first published in the Winter 19 Issue