On a November evening, the MMC Studio duo Ilona Majer and Rafał Michalak invited their guests to Warsaw’s Praga district, to the WARZELNI building, which dates back to 1899. A unique, post-industrial space was created at Szwedzka Street – Bohema Strefa Praga, with a climate reminiscent of Łódź, the designers’ beloved city. How close to the designers is the slogan of the Prague project “History that lasts”
The history of the MMC Studio duo goes back more than a quarter of a century. The designers always make skilful use of various inspirations and draw on the best. When preparing the concept for a show and the vision for a new collection, they meet well in advance with their long-time friend Kasia Sokołowska and talk about the show space, their own emotions, feelings, music and art, which always has a huge influence on MMC Studio’s designs. As a result, each new collection features a modern mix that ponders and interests
“Despite the passage of so many years we still play with fashion! We derive a lot of pleasure from designing, and we still really like the concept of painting or rubbing off materials. We have rediscovered a fascination with this style and decided to make a unique return to our beginnings.” – says Rafał Michalak
The AW23/24 collection is strongly inspired by the 80s and 90s, the sounds of electronic music, the student years, where the art of painting and wearing deliberately destroyed clothes created the GRUNGE trend. After many years, the MMC Studio duo returned to collaborate with the eminent artist Oskar Zięta, whose poetic vision and proprietary metal-blowing technology is close to the MMC Studio duo’s heart. The unique objects made of polished silver steel became not only the setting for the show, but also a huge inspiration for the forms and materials in the new collection. The MMC Studio’s iconic down trousers will be like Zięta’s mirrored objects from now on
Invariably, oversize and nonchalance reign supreme in the mixing of sporty and elegant styles. The nobility of the fabrics and their unconventional combinations are also extremely important. This is where the DNA of the brand can be found
“Oskar Zięta’s work, characterised by the effect of inflated steel, is one of the foundations of our new collection. The uniqueness of his objects has been transferred to fabrics. We decided to use silver mirrored leather, and from Italy we imported ultra-lightweight mirrored neons, from which we sewed our famous down trousers.” – say the designers
The autumn/winter season is definitely the MMC Studio duo’s favourite season. More than 40 layered looks were presented during the show. The designers’ favourite fabrics reigned supreme – leathers, sequins, nylons of various looks and colours. The leathers were largely hand rubbed and at the last minute some of the garments were also hand painted. This created an effect of elegance, mixed with a nonchalant undermining of the fabrics. The creations were not limited to obvious solutions – some of them were scaled down or made of ultra-modern fabrics
There was no shortage of down jackets on the catwalk! They ranged from short, extravagant to long coats. The dominant colours were mirror-silver, inspired by Zięta’s objects, but also intense red or those in bold black and white prints
The MMC duo decided to break out of their monochromatic style by expanding the collection’s colour palette with colours such as lime green, red or intense purple. The designer duo emphasises that lime green will be the HOT colour of the coming winter. The foundation colour of the entire collection is brown
The new collection features men’s underwear by MMC Studio x Atlantic. The attention is drawn to the details – wide elastics at the waist with the MMC Studio and Atlantic logos, the slogan Touch Me. Touch me now and the contrast stitching. Joanna Zielonka, the designer of the Atlantic brand, studied together with Rafał Michalak and Ilona Majer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. For years, together with Atlantic, she has been a fan of the duo’s aesthetics
Great importance was attached to the styling, for which Agnieszka Ścibior has been responsible for several seasons. The silhouettes did not lack for a unique finishing touch in the form of jewellery. On the catwalk, one could see the silver collection of the Apart brand – chains that are very popular among women, expressive bracelets and necklaces, phenomenal rings and earrings complementing the styling. Large, geometric forms, cascading compositions and the most desirable motifs are sure to be the perfect accents during the show
The hair was the responsibility of Emil Zed with the team of stylists from Schwarzkopf Professional’s Session Label products, who created the image of a 1920s woman. The Clinique make-up team did three different make-up looks. The make-up was conceived by brand ambassador and celebrity make-up artist Iza Kućmierowska, who opted for heavily groomed skin, beautifully modelled lashes with Clinique’s latest high impact high-fi mascara, modelled cheeks and accentuated lips with the iconic Almost Lipstick in Black Honey and Pink Honey. All this in the spirit of being open to individuality and enhancing natural beauty
Healthy and balanced meals for the whole team on the set were taken care of by Magda Gessler’s diet catering service, Dieta POMIDOR. The Cisowianka Perlage brand took care of hydration for the models and the crew on set. It is a gently sparkling water in which the bubbles are much smaller than those contained in traditional carbonated water
WhiteMAD magazine had the pleasure of becoming a media patron of the event
See also: Fashion show | Fashion | Jacket | Collection
