by For Mimi Plange, fashion seems to have lost its purpose.
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Perhaps it is the frenzied pace of the industry which, in many ways, is still in search of the new despite the slow arrival of brands as they try to do more with less. Perhaps it is the Amazon-ization of everything that has helped consumers develop impatience for a product that takes more thought and time. Perhaps, as the designer behind his named label that counts collaborations with Manolo Blahnik and Nike, and which was earlier this month named among the brands carried by the newly opened Atelier Jolie, says, it is more more about things that resonate on the surface than those. to dig deeper.
In her storytelling, Ghanaian-American designer Mimi Plange is going deeper – back, in fact, to pre-colonial Africa in creating the label which she describes as stories about ancient African traditions that some and interpret them into classic American sportswear.
African fashion, Plange said, is often seen as “something new that just came out of nowhere. But it is there. It has been taking effect for a long time.”
“In pre-colonial Africa, there are things that were done that I think were considered fashion, like body decoration, body piercing, body tattooing, body painting and body stretching. [these body modifications, Plange contended, set the stage for modern-day British punk]. Over time, their forms of beauty were lost and we went into this whole ideal of what fashion is,” she said. “In many ways, the core of African fashion has been lost a little bit…things that were considered primitive or barbaric or…not seen as beautiful, I’m turning into things that I see as beautiful and giving. the light of a kind of beauty that I think has been overlooked.
“When we talk about African fashion, we always think of prints … but it doesn’t start with prints. That’s not where it all came from. He started with the company. It started with the skin,” said Plange.
Sculpture, the often ritualistic practice of cutting into the skin in specific patterns or designs, informed one of Mimi Plange’s earliest collections. She drew from patterns in the skin of individuals from tribes like the Betamarribe in Benin and turned them into textiles for a line whose pieces now reside in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The separation of this particular tribe, said Plange, “is very linear and very, very elegant…Just seeing them decorating the skin [whether for protection, spirituality or tradition], I thought: this is fashion. This is how fashion was.
“If I wanted to see something from pre-colonial Africa evolve into fashion today, I wanted the evolution to start from there,” she said.
The same story-telling thought process carries Mimi Plange’s fashion today, where African principles of symmetry, abstraction, distortion, color theory, spirituality and the use of nature are key design inspirations for the label’s style. Her collection includes blazers decorated with vintage pinstripes of animals and flora, varsity jackets and sheath dresses. Mixing staple silhouettes with continental storytelling also helps inform Mimi Plange’s design partnerships.
With the creation of the LeBron 20 x Mimi Plange “Ceremony” sneaker, Plange’s fifth shoe in collaboration with Nike — this fall to coincide with the basketball player’s 20th NBA anniversary — the story and style are evident .
“We wanted to celebrate that transition from his early days to becoming kind of like an elder in the NBA, so I looked at the Maasai tribe because they have special ceremonies where the young boys transition from a young warrior to elder,” said Plange .
Therefore, the flowers sewn into the sides of the sneaker and on the toe are from a motif in the Maasai flag used in the ceremonial journey from infancy to manhood. One swoosh represents the signature Maasai plaid, and another swoosh on top, studded like beads, nods to the beadwork done in the community.
“I like to create something that doesn’t have to be African but is African,” she said of the Ceremony sneaker and her design ethos in general. “What I’m trying to do is share it with as many people as possible so they can get into the story. I’m trying to make something comprehensive so you want to learn more about where this comes from.”
At the core of Mimi Plange, the label, it’s all about injecting the “ritual forgotten histories” into the design.
“I just want to be a master storyteller who shares inspiring stories of unique identities. I graduated from the idea of wanting to be a fashion designer to realizing that I could only achieve my goals by bringing my own unique kind of magic into the world… This idea is Unfashion,” said Plange. “It’s contrary to the current climate of pop culture that pushes equality and conformity, while masquerading as diversity. Being Indeterminate means not feeling like you have to belong to a particular group or entity, and it doesn’t mean we have to adhere to a design roadmap. We will share stories of individuality that celebrate those who disrupt the status quo through their style.”
While more connectors are on the way for the label – which counts Michelle Obama, Yvonne Orji and Princess Astrid of Belgium among its cohort of celebrities who have worn the brand – Plange is working on a collection to be shown during of fashion week in February.
“It’s time for us to get back on a bigger stage,” she said.
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