Out of the darkness, comes the light. The ancient Mayan saying might not be British designer Matthew Miller’s how-to-make-it catchphrase, but it’s pretty close. For someone who launched his menswear label in the depths of the 2009 global recession, Miller, a graduate of London’s Royal College of Art, has seen his stock rise steadily in the last few years.
Now stocked around the world, including at Dubai’s newest concept store Mahani at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Boulevard, the designer was recently in town to introduce his latest collection. Known for his wild play with digital prints and structured tailoring, Miller is also a regular at London Collections: Men, the three-day menswear showcase, which concluded recently.
The Directory caught up with him to talk fashion, philosophy, business and how he’s building a global label.
Q: So you’ve brought your Spring Summer 2014 collection to Dubai. Tell us what it’s all about.
I’m writing a design philosophy. Every good designer, philosopher or artist or thinker has some kind of statement about what their intent is and where they think design sits in the world. Mine is based on a philosophy that a garment has two lives: one is where I make it, like a canvas, and the second stage of its life is when people wear it. How they put themselves in that canvas and what they do with it, it changes it.
So all of our branding and labels are paraphernalia. And we’ve labelled them all like a canvas. I just mark it with two Ms. Like any designer in the 19th century would have marked a canvas.
Does the way the economy moves affect you?
As a small designer, yes and no. It affected me because when I graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2009 the crash happened. I thought two years and it would be over but it turned out it was one of the worst crashes. There were no jobs, no opportunities. So the best thing to do was set up something yourself and hope for the best — and that’s what I basically did.
I didn’t have any expectations. I just constantly designed and got it out there.
You earned rave reviews at ‘London Collections: Men’ and have been a regular since. What’s your thoughts on the event?
There’s always room for improvement. But at the moment, for me as a brand, it’s been amazing. We went from five stockists over the past two seasons to 28. So that rapid growth globally is insane. This season I don’t see why we can’t go to 38, and that’s a massive growth in a space of a year and half.
And you can see people are interested in new designers around the world. Men are interested in clothes.
There’ve been murmurs from some designers about major brands coming back to the city for ‘London Collections: Men’ and that they were in danger of overshadowing smaller, up-and-coming designers.
‘London Collections: Men’ was started by young designers. And now that it’s a success the big brands are getting on it. I think everybody involved needs to understand that one can’t survive without the other. We need the big brands to bring the big sponsors. But the big brands need the young and new designers to make it exciting. It needs to be fresh — otherwise it will be a failure.
Would you say you are a good businessman?
It’s something I’ve had to learn very quickly to be honest with you. It didn’t come naturally. But in the past year and half I have developed quite a bit. Sometimes I have to be careful — if I’m too focused on business I lose creativity. So there is a delicate balance. I don’t know if I’ve mastered it but I don’t think I’m too bad. But I work with a lot of mentors who guide me.
We’re not short of big brands here in the UAE, from heritage European brands to high-end luxury. What’s your take on them?
If you look at the way people are buying, the big brands with the big logos, their sales have begun to tail off. People are starting to look for something different. Maybe the next decade you will see the rise of new names. Stores like Mahani here. It’s like curation, curating labels from around the world. Like a gallery. I think that’s where fashion is heading.
Mega brands have reached a tipping point. We are in the age now when people want to buy interesting products, hear stories about who makes them, especially after the crash, everything has to have a purpose now. Origins that people can believe in. Unlike mega brands that are just churning out stuff. Maybe that’s a good thing about the crash.
How would you say has menswear evolved?
Statistically, it’s growing quicker than women’s wear. I think the biggest change has been the communication revolution. Everywhere you look we are consuming images, information, style and health advice. That’s been a big factor in influencing the menswear market.
There’s also cross-pollination. Women are buying menswear because they like the fit and design. Maybe that’s where the boom is coming from.
How does a new collection begin for Matthew Miller?
Sometimes it can be a bit political. Sometimes it’s a paragraph in a book, sometimes it’s a sentence or a writer. And I turn that ideology into a wall of images. I also collect objects. I blend them out and create a world. I really like that.
Where would you like to take your label from here?
I’ve got a 12-month plan for further expansion. Now that we have a design philosophy down and it’s going to be released as a document I feel like the brand has a place in the world: It should be of this time, it should be now and should be able to consumed by anyone in Europe, Asia to the USA.
I am looking to expand, hopefully to 13 stores this season and possibly to 15 next season. It’s going to be difficult. But if you don’t try, you will never get there.
*Matthew Miller is stocked at Mahani at Jumeirah Emirates Towers Boulevard. Go to mahanifashion.com
