Top 10 Menswear Designer At Not Just A Label
by Mertol Akinci posted on June 10, 2009It isn’t unusual in our fast moving society that tons of labels are founded, rise to fame and then as quick as they hit the stratosphere they fade back into the creative stream that they were catapulted from – but that doesn’t mean that they disappear completely – at least not physically. But no one cares. Others would rather focus on the next big, hot off the boil, Tom, Dick and Harry – for which I personally have no time for. For me personally, profit should not be your pure motivation – even though it is an essential ingredient to pay your rent and your bills.
But I‘m absolutely convinced that there are labels and designers which are creating their work and pieces purely out of passion. They love using their time in a sensible way to create something from nothing. It frees their souls and effects the quality of life in a wholly positive way. And if they earn money in doing this, its just another side effect that doesn’t normally manifest itself in new projects.
NOT JUST A LABEL, or NJAL, is such a project, that aims to give highly gifted, young and independent labels and designers an online platform through an unlimited global showroom where trend scouts, tastemakers, stylists and retailers can source talent and ideas globally. The leading global business directory is showcasing avant-garde fashion designers of today and nurturing the upcoming talents of tomorrow.
Being the kind of guy that I am, I have separated the weak from the strong and listed the top 10 brands/designers from NOT JUST A LABEL below and look forward to introducing you to some more of them in the coming weeks.
Agape Mdumulla
The London based designer is, which came as no surprise, currently working for Alexander McQueen menswear. At the same time he is beginning the foundations for his own label and is looking for collaborations with any creatives be it in the medium of film, graphics, photographers , stylists, magazines or within the realm of fine art. If you have any requests please do not to hesitate to get in touch.
Destiny
This is another high-end London based fashion label. Destiny really has an amazing balance between the late 19th/early 20th Century completely contemporary style. As well as that, the clash between modern and earth colours of the collection called Mad World is truly something to behold!
Luise & Franck
The East German duo met each other on the banks of a Parisian fashion school in 2005 and could instantly imagine their collaboration in a clothing line for men. Mainly inspired by expressionism, psyche folk music and modern architecture they launched their first collection in Paris in 2007.
Ethosens
The ESMOD Japan graduate Yui Hashimoto is currently working as a freelance designer. Yui started his own high end brand ETHOSENS in 2007/2008 with an Autumn/Winter collection and first presented a Spring/Summer Collection in Paris 2008.
Damir Doma
Born in Croatia in 1981 before growing up in south Germany, Damir moved to Antwerp after his graduation at ESMOD in Munich to work with his idols Raf Simons and Dirk Schoeneberger. He launched his label in 2006 and now focuses all of his creativity to conceive a style that reflects his romantic, poetic, sensitive and melancholic moods and state of mind.
Felipe Rojas Llamos
The London based, Central Saint Martins Graduate has thus far had an incredible career: 1st class BA Honours Degree in Menswear 2008, shared prize for best portfolio of the year from the design agency Simth & Pye, an intern at the Lanvin Menswear Studio in Paris and he has also received an esteemed bursary from Giorgio Armani – his life so far seems an endless check list of amazing proportions.
Ute Ploier
The Austrian designer, who has already worked for couture houses such as Viktor & Rolf and Raf Simons, started her formal education at the Univerity of Applied Arts in Vienna, after spending one year in London attending fashion and graphic design classes at Central Saint Martins. Ute launched her label in 2000.
Georgina Vendrell
The Barcelona based young designer was born in 1983 and studied fashion at the Catalan Fashion Institute. She had her debut in the 24th edition of the Modafad Awards where she won the award for the best collection. Georgina will have her debut in Ego Cibiles with her Spring/Summer collection 2009 in September.
Chris Holzinger
The graduate of the Univerity of Applied Sience in Pforzheim, Chris Holzinger, is another up and coming high end designer that is based in Berlin. Chris designs with an incredible richness using various techniques. Throughout however, Chris Holzinger consistently engraves very clear lines in all of his pieces.
Rach Heuston
All I could find about Rachel Heuston, is that she is based in London and doing high end fashion. So, if you know more about her, please let us know, so we could push her name into the limelight she deserves.
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