London Talks About Marcus and Aitor
October 16, 2007
Looks like they won't need our help anymore. Of course, we will always be there in case they need us, but according to the latest news their wings have grown strong and powerful, enough to survive on their own. We had no doubt about it but, you know, until it doesn't actually happen you never let yourself make that "I knew it" smile... Oh, we're sorry, this whole introductory lead must be very confusing without knowing the topic! We're talking about Marcus Wilmont (winner at ITS#FOUR and now working with fiancée Maki Loftvander) and Aitor Throup (winner at ITS#FIVE). |
 On 20 September, during London Fashion Week, the finals of Fashion Fringe took place. You might remember an article talking about this event on these same pages just a few months ago (here's the link). Set up in 2004 by esteemed fashion writer Colin McDowell - we had the honour of having him in the ITS fashion jury this July - Fashion Fringe aims at helping new designers get their business started and established. Marcus and Maki with their brand AminakaWilmont were among this year's finalists. Well...guess what? |
It was Tom Ford (yep, you're not mistaken), chairman of the Fashion Fringe finals jury, who announced the winner. And when his lips, teeth and tongue coordinated their movements to produce the sound "AminakaWilmont" we can easily imagine both Marcus and Maki's heart skip and their jaw drop. Gavin Douglas, winner of last year's edition, handed over the trophy to the winners (created by shoe designer Manolo Blanik), while guests Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer in the front row approved the selection with a big round of applause. The importance of the prize for Marcus and Maki's work is significant. Fashion Fringe, together with the visibility at the event and the press articles written after it, will give business support and mentoring for aprox. 100,000 pounds, and will provide AminakaWilmont with experts in the fields of fashion marketing and advertising to help the brand establish itself in the United Kingdom. When we heard them on the phone to congratulate them on the win - this was a few days after - the emotion was still in their voice, and we can understand why. Marcus and Maki are the perfect example of what it takes to make it in this field: talent (they have loads of it), sacrifice (they never lost sight of their goal, working hard 24-7 and investing all of their resources), humbleness and complete dedication. It's a big relief for them to know that in a medium-term basis their future as fashion designers is now in safe hands. This is good news also because they had said that if they were to win Fashion Fringe they would get married!! We'll see what happens and keep you posted... There's another ITS finalist who's getting a huge amount of attention with his work. Everyone seems to have his name on top of their "most promising designer" list. Our comment is: Why should anyone be surprised? It was clear from the start, right from the first time we met him at Royal College of Art in March 2006, that Aitor would have gone a long way. Aitor was sad when he left Trieste after ITS#SIX. He felt that the presentation of his new collection had not communicated enough of his work. That's because there's always so many concepts and so much inspiration in every single garment he does, that for him exposing and explaining everything to the viewer becomes a difficult task in itself. So what Aitor did was to rethink the whole presentation process. His is a different approach to fashion that needs a different way of presenting itself, and a catwalk is definitely not enough. Aesthetics without a purpose means nothing to Aitor and all of his garments are made how they are made for a precise reason. Be it the concept/inspiration behind the collection, the creation process, or the functional element, there is always a precise reason why his garment is made as you see it. And for Aitor communicating this process and the reasons behind it is as important as the garment itself. His is a work that crosses the borders of pure fashion design. What the guests saw at MAN (London Fashion Week's dedicated menswear section) surprised them. Rather than a traditional fashion show, Aitor created an installation with dummies wearing the outifts of his "Funeral of New Orleans, Part I" collection, together with a video created in collaboration with SHOWstudio (here's the link to see the video), made to to explain all of the functional/transformable parts of the garments. In this way Aitor was able to justify all of his designs, this being his main concern in everything he creates. The music going with the installation was the icing on the cake. It was specially produced for the collection and recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles recorded most of their songs. |
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The reaction of the press, opinion leaders and professionals attending the show was huge, and words like "amazing", "best show at London Fashion Week" and "most promising newcomer" only testify the beginning of what could be a really new track in fashion. And if we're wrong, keep an eye out on comic art. If things go bad in fashion, Aitor can easily go back to his first love, drawing stories. He could easily be the next big thing in this field also... |
