Guest Interview n°42: Miista
Miista is an East-End London footwear brand that likes to break the rules, but always pays respect to the craftsmanship. Independent, charmingly irreverent and curious, the brand is mixing elegance with crazy in every thinkable mix of materials. The Blogazine had a chat with the founder Laura Villasenin and talked about madness, Galicia and social media.
Miista’s signature as a brand is ‘measured madness’. Do you have to be a bit mad to be in the fashion industry?
Well, I can’t speak for the industry as a whole, but you certainly have to be mad to start and maintain a shoe line! I mean, I’m living out my dream but it’s definitely a nonstop whirlwind of insanity day in and day out.
You experiment a lot with new techniques and unexpected design combinations. Do you like to surprise?
I think as a designer that is ultimately the goal. You always want to present something new, something unexpected. Derivative design is something foreign to Miista; we march to the beat of our own drum and while we spend a lot of time trending and combing the web, glossies and the streets for inspiration we try to not look too much at what other designers are doing.
You’re originally from Galicia but today you live and work in East-End London. How are you mixing the best of ‘your worlds’?
It’s interesting because these two places couldn’t be more different from one another. Galicia where I grew up is a very traditional place. The culture is strong, so naturally the fashion and really the overall social vibe are very classic and conservative – people do not really dress outside the box so to speak. What’s incredible is the local markets that are filled with handmade goods – old world artisans are creating things using techniques that have been passed throughout centuries! It’s incredible to see the craftsmanship and quality, two markedly important elements of Miista.
In London I immediately fell in love with the freedom of expression that permeates the city. East London in particular is an ‘anything goes’ kind of place and I found that to be so inspirational – there is experimentation going on everywhere; art on every wall, music from every window, and the fashion is out of this world. Exposure to all of this helped me to really tap into my own personal style. ‘Measured Madness’ as the cornerstone of our design can certainly be attributed to London’s influence, while the traditional production, quality and techniques are derived from my upbringing in Galicia. Miista is all about unexpected juxtapositioning, so really my natural view into London style through the lens of traditional Galician sensibilities is Measured Madness in and of itself! In that way I think my two worlds have combined quite nicely and I’ve really worked to showcase the best elements of each.
What part of the creative process is the most essential one, for you personally?
For me it’s always been about the initial research. I love the process of searching high and low for inspiration, and I always tend to look equally outside of fashion as within. For example, our upcoming SS13 collection is heavily influenced by biological structures, organic textures and outer space. The process of collecting all of these ideas and then editing them down to key themes and beautiful mood boards is just such a cool inspiration journey. And this time around I put together a massive board on Pinterest with all of my favourite inspiration images so it’s been really fun to be able to share that with our customers early on, and kind of give them hints at what to expect while still remaining utterly obtuse.
Talking about Pinterest, Miista have really embraced social media. Is it a PR tool you truly enjoy or a ‘necessary pain’?
We love social media and we’ve really just been having so much fun with it. We’ve always worked to remain highly interactive with our customers, and building that relationship with them through social media platforms is a fantastic way to create a legion of loyal, involved ladies. We are obsessed with the little community we have and it’s incredible to see how they relate to the collections. Basically, anyone who keeps up with us online really gets a sense of who the Miista team is and what we’re all about.
So it’s mostly just a lot of fun!
Don’t get me wrong – it’s a lot of work. There has to be a constant flow of content and a sincere rapport going on or no one will care. We make sure to keep things as interesting as possible by working new promotional angles – people want to be engaged! Also, our social media Miista, Chloe, is stationed out in NYC, so on top of having all of London to play with, having representation in both Europe and the US doubles our network of possible collaborators. It has really cemented our international brand status. American brands seem to have caught onto social media much more quickly than those across the pond, so we have a bit of a leg up on our local competition in that regard. Chloe is our secret American weapon!
A lot of what you showcase seems to be about a full styling experience and about creating a feeling for Miista, rather than only showcasing the shoes. What is the emotion you want to evoke in the recipient?
We definitely aim to breathe as much life as possible into our collections; we want them to go way beyond just another pair of shoes in your closet. Our Fall 2012 collection Electric Witches was deeply inspired by ‘90s rave culture, Boy George and elements of Victorian detailing, we’re moving back to our roots after SS12 where we dabbled in a more classic, feminine realm. Each of our four collections emanates a certain power, be it sly and wily or subdued and feminine, we live for strong statement shoes. Miista is all about strength and freedom and personality, so above all else we want our customer to feel a sense of irreverent cool.
