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Maria ke Fisherman: We have distilled the gathered over-information floods in the digital world to process a clean, flat, digital, and futuristic graphic product. You can't be too thin, or too powerful: think 'Thinnovation'. Those kind of slogans helped us to understand our thoughts while composing the collection. We wanted to find the depth through the powerful, flat colours found in competitive skiing's technological fabrics, crossed with the sharp, accurate edges of techno rave-shaped typography and tribal designs using penetrating matte vinyl. What always really inspires us is to question ourselves as to what's coming next—then to exaggerate that idea a bit and to mix it with our ironic, relaxed view of life and fashion.
We have tried to squeeze all the digital junk found in the internet—like when doing a random search in Google Images, for example—to create the deep, pure opposite of it.Your pieces often mix a futuristic vibe with distinctive 90s references - would you say that contrast is important to your work
Definitely! We hate typical themes like 'the sea' or 'fall in the '70s' or 'Andy Warhol spy friends' - we even hate theming our collections. Our inspiration and influences are often so mixed and personal that [designs] even graze Dadaism in feel.
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It's important for us to understand fashion like a move-forward game. We are in the ‘10s now. We love the idea of expressing this concept through our lines, though we're passionate about European classical lines and cuts too—it's important for us in the same way as the quality of the finishes, to create futuristic but realistic and mathematically perfect lines. This decade has seen the decline, commercialization, and homogenization of street cultures. The only way to fight this existential emptiness is to play your own game, to find a funny way to found your own tribe. I think people will love the opportunity of doing so through our lines.So how would you describe founding the MKF "tribe"?
Like some kind of universal, digital-friendly quest. A bit neutral, a bit self-governing but world-dependent.Do you use any advanced/cutting-edge design methods when putting clothes together? Obviously you're already pretty big fans of digital print.
We love using a computer for details and to design. This is good and bad because when using vector design software you can zoom to infinity—which means creating kind of fractal designs which get more and more complicated in the smallest pieces, meaning a lot of extra work for the dressmakers. The result is worth it when you look closer though. We work with positional digital printing too, using digital patterns and positioning prints in each piece. This allows us to create complex and developed stories in each look.
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We would sell our souls for an elastic zipper!As a brand known for its futuristic designs, how do you react when you see high-end labels continuously using references to retro periods in time? Like when there are looks from the 70s all over the catwalks, for example. Should fashion be more about looking forward than looking back?
It's a responsibility of the high-end labels to satisfy their investors, as well as mainstream clients that demand profits and socially accepted designs each season. They find a way to bore less through those cycles. We, personally, hate that, and find it terribly boring. We understand fashion as being closer to art, like something personal.
In 100 years, people will wear digital clothes. Humankind won’t be as we know today, their consciences will have been transferred to a global computer that lets them live eternally, ethereally. [Fashion] won't be about clichés or seasons.And finally, can you give us a clue as to what you've got lined up for S/S14?
The only thing we can say is that we have been working in a flat tri-dimensional, deep, sharp, monochromatic set of prints for logomania lovers.
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