Manifesting Community and Legacy with ManLuu

August 28, 2023

To MoAnA Luu, jewelry symbolizes much more than decorative elements for the body. Jewelry is a way of life and a snapshot into Luu’s lush, protean heritage that has shaped her into the spearheading woman she is today. Taking note of her French Caribbean ancestors’ unabridged sense of style and personal expression, Luu’s designs are all radiant interpretations of the culture that molded her.

From stackable, 18k gold rings to fine jewelry selections, each of ManLuu’s creations is meant to shine bright while also highlighting the individuality of each wearer — as Luu expresses, “Our differences actually make our richness.” When she isn’t designing or sourcing inspiration, she is advocating for marginalized voices, proving that her creative intentions gleam just as bright as her designs.

Interview by Kayla Curtis-Evans
Photos by Halle Klum

The brand just celebrated its two year anniversary at Luu's home in Sag Harbor, elevated by sycnhronized swimmers and the unveiling of her new swim line — a fitting celebration for the splash the founder has made thus far. Read more about Luu’s plans to continue providing visibility for her culture below.

What does being of Creole heritage mean to you? Where does your passion for your culture stem from and what are the magical, meaningful parts of your upbringing you would like to share with the world?

I was born and raised in Martinique, the French Caribbean. It's a little bit more than 400,000 people and very rich in our cultural heritage. I felt blessed during my childhood to witness some of the iconic people from our culture, from dance to politics. My childhood was spent around talented people, creative people, and philosophical people. So I felt that we had the duty to actually think bigger than our island and to try to share our thoughts and our knowledge with the world. And as soon as I was able to go outside of my island, I decided to start a career abroad. When people ask me, 'Oh, where are you from?' I will always champion that I am Martinique, French Caribbean because we have such a unique point of view. And because of this point of view, we are a melting pot of culture. We have this Caribbean heritage, we have French heritage, and we have the Latin attitude because we are surrounded by islands with Latin cultural backgrounds.

So what was essential for me and the knowledge I've gathered from my childhood was that cultural richness. So when I decided to create my own brand, it was very important for me to actually bring this notion with me — that what makes us different is what makes us stronger. So by creating ManLuu, I was able to do things that I love — fashion, but also lifestyle because I believe that the art of living is the best way to enjoy your culture and preserve French Caribbean heritage.

I really love the fact that you mentioned all the different people around you that inspired you. I know some of your inspiration for the brand comes from your family. Can you tell me about your origin story with the brand, which began from collecting vintage postcards?

The birth of ManLuu actually comes from the pandemic. I was very sick and it put everything into perspective. I was thinking, 'What will be my legacy?' And thinking about what I wanted to share with the world. So I started to go through postcards of my heritage and family photos, and those photos are just so strong. I refer to them a lot to show the resilience and the beauty of Caribbean people during that time. And you see all these women wearing jewelry as a powerful fashion statement, so that inspired me to start collecting jewelry. I had the idea that I wanted to do a book and then an exhibit about Creole jewelry. By sourcing information about it, I realized that not only was it very hard to find the history of Creole and Caribbean heritage, but beyond that, we were not always portrayed in a very elevated way. These histories weren't showing great aspects of who we are and what we stand for. So it was then that I decided to design my own. There is no gender attached to my pieces; I create things that will be a pleasure for everybody. Gwyneth Paltrow's team reached out to me to pull pieces and that was just the beginning. Then Cardi B wore ManLuu and our lives changed. When I started this project, it had always been my goal to democratize my culture, and it felt like that goal was reached right away.

I feel this inherent duality with the brand and see it manifest in many different ways. There's this sense of paying homage to where you come from, but also doing so in a modern sense and elevating it. I want to dive into your creative process. I know you've even designed hotels. But when it comes to jewelry, how does that process work? What inspires the shapes and the designs that you come up with?

I've always been a big accessory person. I believe that you can wear any basics if you have great jewelry and great shoes. Through my designs, you can see the journey of ManLuu over the past two years. The first things that I wanted to create were statement pieces that you can wear every day. So I was trying to balance the level of comfort because comfort is really key for me when I'm designing. When I design hotels, I love architectural lines, so I think that's something that you definitely feel in my jewelry designs. I think what makes my pieces different is that I don't approach jewelry like a jewelry maker. I approach jewelry as an architectural element. So what are the layers and how can they be combined together between geometrical form and organic forms?

I also wanted to make sure to highlight my cultural heritage through elements that are important to us. I have these beaded necklaces and there's a real cultural story behind that. For every important moment of your life, we will give you a bead — for a birth or for a wedding. The bead closure is a barrel, and those were the first elements that I designed for ManLuu.

I think it's just really interesting how you've been able to mesh so many different aspects of what you do and who you are into the pieces that you make. I know that, in general, Creole jewelry is a big part of your artisanal heritage that has persisted for decades. Can you tell me about those practices and in what ways jewelry history has shaped Creole culture?

Something that is unique to Creole and Caribbean culture is that when you look at those postcard photos that I mentioned, you see the art of accumulation. You see that they created the art of stacking before stacking was a trend. And this is what I want to keep in mind when I design my pieces. They are made to all wear together. I want people to be able to go big like women were doing before — you can put everything together and look glorious. As well as the art of how we've been wearing jewelry, I also want to show that we are jewels ourselves. So we are showing our pieces off and we are shining with them.

That's a beautiful notion. I read that your grandparents' owned a jewelry store in Martinique when you were a young girl. What lessons do you carry with you today that you picked up back then?

Even though I design jewelry, I'm still wearing the fine pieces that were passed down from my grandmother to me. What they really shared with me is the art of sharing jewelry. And to tell stories with jewelry, as they were when they were crafting in the very small store in Fort de France. As they were creating pieces, they were forming relationships with their customers. I discovered that that was the most important thing for them — their customers were part of a family. And this is what I really try to focus on when we do custom pieces today with ManLuu. I love making people unique pieces because that is where you have the time to create connections with people. And at the end of the day, it's all about connecting with people.

I think it's so important to assign meaning to certain heirloom pieces in the way that you are because then you treasure it more and that jewelry becomes something you hold on to forever. You have advocated for your heritage every step of the way with your brand. But you also just wear a lot of different hats and have worked in other roles, uplifting young creatives, especially young Black creatives. What is your advice to young Black creatives attempting to break into the scene?

It's been more than 15 years that I've been trying my best to wear Black designers and work with Black creators. Not only that, I try to work with all people from diverse backgrounds, from Indian to Brazilian, because I really strongly believe that this merging of cultures can really change the world and create something that is just so much more fruitful because you have different points of view coming together. I've realized that the secret of success for Black creatives is authenticity. It's unique and it's priceless. The way that you show up to the world and share your work is important. This is the only way for people to know that you exist. And when that true talent shines through, you will create space for yourself. The sky is actually not the limit. Behind the blue of the sky, there's so much more. So another bit of advice would be to not limit yourself regarding what can be done. This is what I applied to myself my whole life. Life is also about opportunity. So the more people you meet, the more opportunities you will create.

I feel like the hardest part for so many creators or creatives who come from diverse backgrounds is the beginning. Just believing in themselves enough to get over that first hoop. Once you get past that, the possibilities can be endless. It's just that you've got to be on your own side too.

And I think it's important that young creators understand the notion of community too. When you move as a community, you actually have more impact and everybody is trying to bring everybody up.

I agree; I think it's so important, especially in design and in creative realms to have like-minded people surrounding you. You mentioned earlier in our conversation the idea that the wearers themselves can then be a part of the story they are telling with their jewelry. Why do you think jewelry is an important part of displaying your identity or self-expression?

Life is a journey and you can almost signify this journey with every piece of jewelry that you wear. From your beliefs, values, or religion — all of that intersects and can be communicated in jewelry. But beyond that, your jewelry can actually tell people a lot about who you are. If you are a leader, you may wear rings on your index finger. So you share messages about who you are, not only with every piece that you wear but how you wear it.

I'm sure it's really interesting to see the ways that people interpret your pieces in their own ways. Though it is early days for the brand, you've accomplished so much already. Where do you hope to see yourself in five years' time and in what ways would you like to expand this world into the lifestyle and design realms?

The journey was always to extend ManLuu into lifestyle, especially since I was designing hotels already before. It's about the experience that you create — that's important to me. And since I love the beach, we launched a swim line, that now includes 5 pieces. So we are actually starting to go out of the jewelry space already. It's a first step. But in the next five years, I want us to really be a destination and a home to many other designers. I think that what I want for ManLuu is a strong community. I've always thought, 'What's the point if you can’t have people around you?’ On this journey, I just want to bring people with us. I don't want to do it alone. I want to be surrounded by people that I find incredible. And then they get to grow with the brand as well. It's an amazing feeling.

Fashion

District Vision x New Balance: Eco-Friendly Trail Runners

Fashion

After 30 years and over 100 cult fragrances, COMME DES GARÇONS PARFUMS 1994–2025 BY SIMONETT & BAER launches this month

December 17, 2024

“I have to add that the topic is, of course, an irrational one, because it's not art and it's not fashion. It has to do with scent, which is something in the air,” explains Dino Simonett, renowned art-book maker and designer/publisher of the new COMME des GARÇONS x SIMONETT & BAER book, which details 30 years of CDG perfumes.

“The moment you smell something is irrational,” he continues. “This book transports you and brings you to the idea behind the perfumes. People have gotten thousands of art catalogues from me, but this fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy, you know? Because everybody has this bottle; and that bottle smells like this on them; and this bottle I need; and all the memories and everything. I like it a lot that we made this.”

As fans and family of the world’s coolest brand prepared to gather at Dover Street Parfums Market in Paris to celebrate the launch of the book, our Editor-At-Large Paige Silveria shared some coffee and cigarettes with Simonett to discuss his wild trajectory, making books with Joseph Beuys and Tilda Swinton early on, and the importance of nonconformal thinking.

By Paige Silveria

This fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy.

Paige Silveria: Tell me about yourself. You make books.

Dino Simonett: My books are my art. Each book might be a painting or sculpture. And you should not do the same sculpture all the time. When you hike somewhere, you never should go the same way back home — this is something my mother taught me when I was young. In the same way, it's boring to make the same stuff all the time. So I try to find a way to invent my own language.

PS: This book you’ve made is really beautiful.

DS: It’s hyperrealistic larger-than-life images of boxes and flacons in an endless row presented on paper the thickness of a children’s book.

PS: I loved how it said in the press release that you woke up one Sunday morning and the idea for the book suddenly came to you.

DS: The backstory is that Remo Hallauer [COO of COMME des GARÇONS International] is a true book lover. We met at the Offprint book fair in Paris. And one day, shortly after peak COVID, this email came from him asking if I’d think about a possible collaboration with one of the young stars here — and no hard feelings, but it didn’t work out. So then, as it is in life, which is the essential thing, you have to have an idea. And most of the time, they’re not good enough. You have to have another and another and then you go, Ah ha! Perfume.

PS: And you’d already been pretty familiar with their fragrances?

DS: I’ve known this stuff since the beginning. I wore the first perfume they created. It was part of my life all the time, and I thought, It's so funny. There’s a connection with how I make the books: like two, three books a year, all collaborations and each is different. Just like their perfumes. So I immediately texted Remo.

PS: And what perfect timing, with the 30-year anniversary.

DS: Yes, but this was two years ago or so. I hadn’t had the jubilee in mind. It might not look like much, but there was a lot of work to do.

PS: Many of the advertisements and images weren’t archived, physically or digitally, right? You had to search all over for a good portion of the material?

DS: Well we also had to wait for the official deal to go through in the beginning. Adrian Joffe [President of COMME des GARÇONS International and Dover Street Market International] wanted to do it but he didn’t have the mind space at the time; they were about to open the Dover Street Market here in Paris. So we were on our own for a bit, developing the project from zero. We looked all over the Internet and tried to create the chronology. I had a young guy helping me. He kept reminding me to be patient and to continue to work on growing the book. The door was open, but we had to wait in front of the next room. So we took little steps to prepare ourselves. And stuff slowly worked out.

PS: And thank God for the Internet.

DS: Yes, because as you mentioned, there was no archive. We thought surely they’d have something in the basement. But no, that didn’t exist. At one point they sent us a list of all the perfumes so we had a clear checklist to manage. I had to become an expert.

PS: There are so many, over 100?

DS: Yeah, and at one point the CDG team was activated. It was like a machine and in the spring suddenly a load of stuff was coming. First we had to grow the grapes, then make the wine and then the grappa. And at the end, it's a really strong grappa. And so things came together, and then one day Adrian said, “All is fine, but Rei [Kawakubo] must now also approve it. This is how the system works.” But nobody had told me! So Remo met with Rei to show her the book.

PS: That’s a bit of pressure!

DS: She could have said no and we’d have to throw everything in the garbage, two years of work. There was indeed a little bit of pressure. But it was fine. She liked the book. Then at the end of this summer we met again and they asked if they could have some of the finished copies on 20 November in Tokyo. I said, “I’m sorry, what?” He was thinking that the book was finished, you know? I told him we still needed a lot of material to finish it. Sometimes it's nice though to have this pressure. It's motivating and thrilling when you finally accomplish it all.

PS: Let’s go back. How did your upbringing inform who you are?

DS: It has to do with nonconformal thinking. Most people think the same. And we’re constantly pressured as well, by everything around us to conform. You have to really fight to keep your head and so I had this upbringing with this rather eccentric mother who was absolutely nonconformistic in every way. She was resolute. Why should we follow the path of the masses? It was never my thing. Voilà.

PS: How were you in school?

DS: I was not so good at school. I was only skateboarding at that time. I was on the Swiss National Team. I even was here in Paris at a European championship when I was 15 at the Trocadero. And my mother said, “You are not going to school anymore. You need an apprenticeship. It makes no sense to send you to school any longer.” I was independent and had my first salary at 16.

PS: What were you doing?

DS: I was a carpenter making tables, chairs, all that stuff. All my friends went to high school with like 16-week holidays, while I had only four. And so it was really, really tough shit for a 16 year old. But I learned two important things. The first one was discipline; seven o'clock each day it started and lasted nine hours. And the second thing was precision; you have to do things right. People always said to me that the apprenticeship was good as I’d really use it for the rest of my life. And I always thought that was such bullshit. But actually, it's kind of true. And so anyways, the moment I finished my apprenticeship, the very last day of the last test, I went on the Interrail for one month and never went back to a carpenter shop.

PS: What’d you do after?

DS: I wrote a letter to this very super famous music guy, Claude Nobs who was organizing the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, telling him I’d like to work there that summer. I mentioned that I’d just finished my apprenticeship for carpentry. He phoned me back immediately after getting the letter. He said, “Oh you’re a carpenter? You can come right now.” He was renovating his apartment in Montreux. So I stayed and worked there alone while he was up at his chalet. I felt like Kevin McCallister from Home Alone in this completely furnished apartment. And then the festival started, and there was this guy from New York doing a large mural painting. It was Keith Haring. I had no idea who he was. We became friends. Then I met George Benson and Herbie Hancock. It started from nothing and then one thing comes, another thing comes, another thing comes. This is how I started, which is maybe not the natural way. But I was following my intuition and taking chances and putting myself out there.

PS: And you're going after what you have a passion for.

DS: I think that’s the best way to live one's life. It was like my own private art school. I met all the guys I was totally hot about. I met Joseph Beuys and told him I wanted to do an art project with him. I got his number and he told me to ask for his assistant. But I took everything for granted, what people said to me. So I had this phone number in Berlin. And I called the guy 20 times until this fucking meeting with Beuys finally happened. And we met and made a small collaboration art magazine called “Quer.” You just have to stick to the stuff.

PS: Wow. You don't still have one of those copies around, do you?

DS: I had one and I brought it to Remo at one of our meetings. Adrian saw it and immediately took it … I hope he gave it back to Remo. Adrian has a pile of my stuff that he wanted to see, so that’s good.

PS: Yeah, of any coffee table in the world for it to be displayed, his is probably in the top 10.

DS: So then I decided my dream was to be a film director. There was a film school in Berlin that I applied to. They only took about 18 people from 600. We waited all week to see this list on the wall for the final call back meeting. And my name wasn’t there. I was like, “Shit!” And then a week later, I received a letter saying I’d been accepted. Later the director told me it was clear enough with my application and the art magazine I’d sent that I’d be accepted. I don’t say this to brag. I say this to tell you that every young person that wants to go somewhere, all they have to do is fight. You have to get out of your house and your small town and your comfort zone and all that shit.

PS: I agree. So you’ve made films?

DS: I made a feature movie and went to the film festival. It was really amazing and everything, but I was not Tarantino, you know? So it’s the last semester and Tilda Swinton is supposed to teach a seminar. I really wanted to attend it. It would be the cherry on top of the cake. Then she postponed it once, then twice. The third time, I’m on the tube and there’s a woman in front of me with a newspaper that says that Tilda’s super mentor, Derek Jarman, had passed away. It’s the very Monday morning that her seminar is set to begin. And I thought, Oh shit. She’s not going to be there. But then she was there after all and it was a fantastic week. There were only five of us students and we all fell in love with her. And she fell in love with us. I’ve known her since.

PS: I can only imagine. How’d you make the transition into books?

DS: You have to find out what you're really good at. I had long discussions with this guru, an old guy who was a very diligent, very bright guy. I was really miserable, feeling directionless. He asked me why I wasn’t continuing with filmmaking. And I couldn't give him an answer. Then he said right into my face, “Probably it’s because you’re not good enough.” The message was one-hundred percent received. It was a relief; I'm not a bad person. This guy told me the truth, and I could accept it. And when you can do this, you can figure out what you actually want to do, what you’re actually good at. I started making books. I made one with another film director. And we visited Tilda at her hotel, bringing one to her as a present. As we’re knocking, I thought to myself, If I did another book focused on people in this business, it’d have to be her. And she opens the door, looks at the book and says, “Oh, I would like to have a book like this on me.”

PS: These situations seem unreal.

DS: I spent five years on her book, which was an enormous success. It included stills from all her films and launched it in different cities. Fantastic shit.

PS: And now you’ve just released this soon-to-be iconic CDG book.

DS: I've learned to be patient; things can take you years. This book with Adrian and Remo took two years and I didn’t even know if it was going to be approved! Follow your dreams as much as you can. It's not so important which dream it is exactly. If I see a step in front of me, I try to take each chance I get. This is what I wish for everybody, in whatever situation you find yourself, start to do something with nothing. This book started with just a simple idea. You can not find anything like this on the Internet, this compilation, this narrative. It’s something we had to bring together with enormous work. And here we are. I think in our digital, splattered times sometimes you have to make something which is real. That you can sit with and focus on in silence and really take time alone with it.