E-MERGING: Clara Colette Miramon makes your wildest Y2K dreams come true
The Berlin fashion designer takes us into her world full of butterfly emojis, exposed thongs and puffy gems.
E-MERGING: Clara Colette Miramon makes your wildest Y2K dreams come true
The Berlin fashion designer takes us into her world full of butterfly emojis, exposed thongs and puffy gems.
Text by Juule Kay.
The world is changing, and with it, a new generation of trailblazers is taking over. In our new monthly series E-MERGING, we introduce the people adding to the cultural moment with their creative minds, new ideas and unique approaches. It’s a glimpse behind the scenes, a way to dig deeper and look beyond the picture-perfect outcome we’re swamped with every day.
I identify myself a lot through the music I listen to, the movies I like, the books I read, and the shows I watch
“It just always made sense,” says Clara Colette Miramon who decided to become a fashion designer when she was a teenager. Since then, the 27-year-old established her own brand, made custom stage outfits for American rapper Doja Cat and worked with artists like Caroline Polachek and SPFDJ. “I envision a lot of the clothes I make on a stage,” she explains. For Miramon, music is not only an industry closely connected to her work, but also an integral part of the creative process, blasting in the background all day in the studio when sewing, fitting models or just brainstorming together with her team. “I identify myself a lot through the music I listen to, the movies I like, the books I read, and the shows I watch,” says the fashion designer known for her playful designs mixed with a soft colour palette.
Inspired by subcultures and their own visual language and community, Miramon loves to challenge the idea of outcasts, people who don’t fit in. Drawing from her own experiences, the Berlin-based fashion designer went to a Christian school in England where everyone was wearing school uniforms, dressing the same. “They always played this game called ‘odd one out’, so if you were three people and one had something different for lunch, for example, you were pointed out as the outsider,” she recalls. “It took me a lot of time to realize I didn’t have to be like the others.”
These childhood memories not only made the 27-year-old the person she is today, but also became part of her butterfly season one collection connected to her own research project on how girls present themselves on Instagram. “I thought of these girls who use the butterfly emoji,” she says. “It’s a very specific type of girl, and it’s a culture we kind of developed for ourselves.” For the fashion designer, womanhood is the main topic of her work and something she personally reflects on and talks about with her friends on a daily basis. “Everyone has a unique experience, but they are also homogenized in a way,” she tries to explain. “For me, my own womanhood is often defined by the relationships I have with other women – our love, friendship and discourse about these experiences is what makes it so distinct and powerful.”
With her designs, Miramon explores the complexity of female sexuality and envisions how it can exist outside the male gaze. “In the end, it’s more like a utopian idea, but it’s interesting to question it, to be aware of it and to move out of the way of it,” she wants everybody to know. “Obviously, gender is a social construct, but femininity is something everyone carries within themselves, no matter their gender identity.”
Describe what you’re doing without using the words “designer”, “designs” or “fashion”.
I make women look and feel their best.
What’s been the last thing that felt “new” to you?
I went to see “A Divine Comedy: Florentina Holzinger” at Volksbühne. I’ve personally never seen something like that with my own eyes before. The way the topic of strength and fragility of the body was explored felt very touching.
When are your best ideas born?
It’s always stuff I don’t have to think about. Something I draw or make later reveals itself as the right thing to do. But the best ideas are also born when I talk to my friends.
Nothing goes right, and you’re having a bad day. How do you start a motivational speech to yourself?
“We’ve been at this point before, it does work out in the end. Don’t get overwhelmed and put things into perspective.”
What moves you?
Personal journeys people are on.
@juulekay is a writer, editor and creative producer based in Berlin taking care of our monthly E-MERGING series. If she’s not hunched over her laptop spotlighting new talents, you’ll find her dropping fun facts in small talk conversations.
Follow @electronicbeats