Maya Norman, designer: "Picasso on a dress is cool"
As part of London Fashion Week, a new collection of the British brand Mother of Pearl was shown. After the show, Style.com ambassador and Nowfashion video director Daria Shapovalova met with brand creator Maya Norman, former partner of the famous artist Damien Hirst, and talked to her about the connection between art and fashion, old age and car racing.
Congratulations on showing your new collection. I would say that it is not about fashion, but rather about style, perhaps even yours. How would you describe it?
In this collection we remain true to our sporting style, but we add romantic aesthetics. So the collection turned out much less rigid or rectilinear. This is definitely the influence of the artist Richard Saji, who worked with us on this collection.
Did he create prints?
And made embroidery with classic pastoral scenes on the fabric.
This is not the first modern artist with whom you worked. Why did you choose him this time?
Oh, I wish I could introduce you, he was just here! We work with artists every season, do something under the influence of their work and with them. We make some of these prints ourselves, but they are mixed with his works, with his view of the world.
So you always start working on a collection by choosing an artist?
Yes.
What qualities should he have?
It is quite difficult. In the works of the artist should be a strong graphic language, but at the same time, we avoid anything too obvious. All this should somehow be expressed graphically, but we don’t necessarily strive to get graphic artists - more important is the belonging of our artist to the world of high art. And this is more than just a beautiful picture.
Are there any artists in history with whom you would like to make a collection?
If I could choose anyone in art history? I would do something with Willem de Kooning! Oh, and Picasso. Imagine "Avignon girls" on a dress - that would be awesome.
And you can not do it for reasons related to the rights to the legacy of the artist?
It is very difficult. But who knows, maybe someday it will work out - it all depends on who owns the right to inheritance. Of all our collaborations, I probably love the collection that we made with Keith Tyson most of all. He has an amazing mathematical thinking, and his paintings are delightfully abstract; he also made a machine that generates ideas - it is very difficult and surprising. He has amazing intelligence! And Jim Lambi. Have you seen our collaboration for Net-a-porter, exclusive? We worked with him earlier, about three years ago. Ever heard of a rally called "Gumball Rally"?
No, where does it go?
All over the world. I had a car there in honor of Lambi. And we had a collaboration with artist Fred Tomaselli from New York. We have been friends with him since I was sixteen. I admire his work and for many years persuaded him to come up with something together. Only after he saw Mother of Pearl developing that our brand is a long time, only then did he finally agree. His works are beautiful. He makes collages from pills, leaves on cut paper in the form of pupils - technically everything is very difficult - and then he applies a layer of resin. These three collections with artists I have the most favorite.
Even when I was five years old, I was very serious about my clothes.
How does your personal style affect the style of collections?
I prefer a sporty style, but at the same time elegant and modern, dynamic. I do motocross and surfing. Their important part is the choice of equipment: you enjoy how perfect it is technically. And so a part of me will always revel in a perfectly made double seam. Do you understand what I mean? I like the technical side and production, and I think it is noticeable that the quality of performance is very important to me.
What appeared in your life before, the love of art or fashion?
Probably a love of fashion. Even when I was five years old, I took my clothes very seriously. I still remember what I wore at that age, for example, a sailor suit. But at sixteen I discovered modern art for myself. I lived in Orange, near Los Angeles, and life there is, so to speak, somewhat divorced from art. Acquainted with modern art, I discovered new horizons and whole worlds of unusual ideas. I saw that life does not necessarily come down to the banal scheme "college - work in some insurance company from nine to five - and then a pension of sixty-five." You can live a more eccentric life, travel the world. You understand this, looking at people like Gertrude Stein and Picasso, at how versatile their lives were ...
You understand that you want the same?
Yes, and then I left the suburbs, so to speak.
You once said that with age, as you get older, you want to look more and more spectacular. Do you have a role model?
Yes, I specifically meant Iris Apfel.
True? I interviewed her.
You are lucky!
Yes! I was at her home in New York and saw her wardrobe.
I understand her idea that with age it is more and more difficult to stay beautiful, and I admire how she weights herself with layers of turquoise necklaces. All these clothes and jewelery are needed to support yourself and to explain to the world that you are still open to new ideas. And looking at her, you understand that she has a really open mind and amazing culture and she never ceases to be surprised by the world.
Do you think we should all look the same in old age?
Yes, it would be nice. The world would be much better.
which one do you see yourself in Thirty or forty years?
As you grow old, you lose your youth and beauty, physical form. But at the same time you acquire the wisdom and confidence, the confidence that is needed to carry something, let's say, unobvious. I am no longer afraid of wearing coveralls with a mink vest and a cowboy hat. Therefore, I think, it is not necessary to become more restrained, and even vice versa - be more dynamic.