M2Malletier

September 26, 2017

The designs of luxury handbag brand M2Malletier are unprecedented, yet crafted so masterfully that one may think the bags were a fashion staple—and they very well may be on their way.

Designed in Barcelona, the bags have an overt worldly and cultural range infused in their avant garde shapes and atypical, yet subtle, structural elements. Founders Melissa Losada and Marcela Velez take directly from personal experience when it comes to this, with both maintaining strong Colombian roots. "Our target audience is the globetrotter who is interested and unafraid of seeing the world on her own."

office caught up with Melissa and Marcela at their NYC studio to talk being inspired by medical instruments, the M2Malletier F/W collection, and finishing each other's sentences.

Interview and photos by Julius Frazer

First off, where are you both from and how long have you been working together?

We met at Parsons in 2006, and in 2010 we started talking about making something. 2011 is when we really started to get serious, we finally met at a cafe in Paris and started really developing the idea of it all.

When was the moment when you both knew that this was going to be a “thing”?

There was always talk between us about it when we were in school because we admired each other's work, but we were young. It all felt very organic, the timing was perfect. Melissa was in London doing a masters and was moving to Barcelona. So I decided to quit my job and move there as well, it just so happened that my lease was ending around that time, so it was literally perfect timing.

Who was the first celebrity that was seen wearing your bag?

This is actually a funny story. So we hadn’t launched the brand yet (we launched in September 2012), and we knew we needed to put a bag on Kate Bosworth. We loooove her style. She’s just one of our fashion muses. We finally locked down her publicist and sent her an email, and she responded immediately getting Kate a bag and one for herself. Within two weeks, she was wearing the bag constantly! Paparazzi had photos of her doing everything from traveling to going to the gym with it.

Where did the needle bag idea come from? I see a lot of architecture references in your work.

When creating a new brand we wanted to develop our own hardware. We were at this flea market in Paris and found these beautiful medieval illustrations of medical instruments. There was one with this needle that looked like a piece of jewelry, so we tried to translate it over.

I love architecture. Melissa’s father-in-law is an architect, so when we moved to Barcelona we moved into his studio which is actually an old cement factory. It's a really surreal space!

So are you guys coming out with new hardware?

Yeah, it's going to be very geometric and there’s going to be a ball… That’s all I can say for now haha.

How’s the F/W range coming about?

Last summer I travelled to Ethiopia, and that was the inspiration for the Fall/Winter collection. The people there are so chic and so beautiful. So far it has been pretty slow, but we’re so used to working under pressure.

How did the name come about?

M2 is for Melissa and Marcela, and the second 'M' is for Malletier which means 'luggage maker' in French. It’s really catchy in that there are lots of ways you could play around with it. It was so difficult to come up with! The name is one of the most important things but also the hardest.

What are you both inspired by when designing? Do you ever use Colombian backgrounds?

We’ve never really been inspired by anything specific when designing, but it's definitely an influence. Marcela grew up in Costa Rica, and I grew up in Columbia. In Columbia everyone from my generation started leaving early because it was too dangerous. I’ve lived in Miami, Milan, Florence, New York, London, Paris, and Barcelona since the age of 15 when I left Columbia. That’s something we thought about when starting the brand. Our target audience was the globetrotter who was interested and unafraid of seeing the world on her own.

It seems like your collaborative efforts work really well. Do you ever step on each other's toes?

Yeah, we’re like sisters! We just come from families with very similar values, so we respect the same things, we take care of each other, we even sleep in the same bed when we’re on the road. It's almost like a marriage! Sometimes we do step on each other's toes, but that happens with any relationship that close.

Can you finish each other's sentences?

All the time! Buyers and editors always say it! Sometimes when we’re not together we’ll be texting and she’ll text me something I was about to text her hahaha. We’re really lucky to have found each other. It's amazing to be in business with a friend you work so well with.

Fashion

I am the makeup on your eyes

PRINCESS GOLLUM wears HAT by HELENA EISENHART, SHIRT by CD1974, EARRINGS by KARTHUR all c/o RETAIL PHARMACY, and BRACELET by MARTINE ALI

PRINCESS GOLLUM wears NECKLACE by CHRIS HABANA, SCARF by ALEXANDER WANG, EARRINGS by MARTINE ALI

PRINCESS GOLLUM wears JACKET by ALEXANDER WANG, SHIRT by BLONDITA SHOP, SKIRT by GOOD MANNERS, BOOTS by FERRAGAMO, JEWELRY by MARTINE ALI

PRINCESS GOLLUM wears DRESS and BODYSUIT by RUI, BELT by HOLLYWOOD LOWBROW c/o RETAIL PHARMACY, BOOTS by FERRAGAMO

Fashion

Go-See Situation

Agnès is wearing a top from Peng Tai, a skirt from IRO Paris and boots from GmbH

Moli is wearing a top from Mengche Chiang, a dress from r . l . e with with tights from Wolford, ring from Julia Bartsch and shoes from empty behavior

Chloe is wearing a top from Acne Studios, pants from MM6 with a belt from Julia Bartsch, sunglasses from Uvex and shoes from Proenza Schouler

Glory is wearing a shirt from IRO Paris, pants from peng tai and shoes from Yume Yume

Timothée is wearing a shirt from Paloma Wool, pants from helios Emil and shoes from Yume Yume

Youssef is wearing a shirt from Dries Van Noten, pants, boots and underwear from GmbH, and a vintage hat

Fashion

The People of Lang

April 05, 2024

“The person gives meaning and value to the clothes and not the other way around,” said Peter Do of Helmut Lang SS24, his debut collection for the brand, which has finally hit the shelves.

It is an interesting, if not provocative choice — not only to ont put the garments primary, but to focus not on the “people,” as in a collective, but the “person,” as singular. It's a nod to what the brand has set out to establish since Do’s arrival, framing dressing as a system. It's a democratic formula which feeds off individuality and personal expression, relying upon character as opposed to custom. It’s a manifestation of personality, a farewell to performance. And it leaves us with one question, who is person enough to embody such a humble request?

By Vilda Krog
Photography by Huy Luoung
Styling by Jason Rider

The person in motion, the person of passion, the people passing by on the street who don’t care where you’re going, because they’re on a mission of their own. As Do crafts his garments, likewise do these individuals carve out their paths for themselves. No rules, no guidelines, and if there were — aren’t those meant to be broken? Suggestively, Do broke several rules once he interrogated assumptions around everyday dress back in September last year. Criticism came from more than one place at once. However, by staying true to his vision, he’s already beginning to see the fruits of his labor: his system of dressing, crystallized. It's subtly arrogant, yet widely accessible, dynamic, and utilitarian: it's a blazer, those striped trousers, that turtleneck top, and the traditional flattering denims. In other words, it's your carte blanche, thus let their personality be the color.

Who are they? The campaign, photographed by Huy Luoung and styled by Jason Rider, stars An-My Le, Armina Howanda Mussa, Ash Owens, Connor Sen Warnick, Devin B. Johnson, Eli Ping, Frederique Thiollet, John Yuyi, Kai Avent-Deleon, Linda Rodin, Michael Abel, Mindy Seu, Minjae Kim, Oscar Yi Hou, Sam Stewart, Sophia Roe, Steph Shiu, Yahdon Israel.

Usually, I’d hesitate to spell out more than four names, but in this case, perhaps we should consider them adjectives. Not at the expense of individuality. But rather, the definition of it.