Carlotta Gherzi, who has spent the past decade working in fashion design and showcased her work across London, Milan and Moscow, discovered a gap in the luxury leg-wear industry that she aimed to fill with her newly-launched brand My Love My Leggings. The collection includes a wide range of high-end leggings crafted from the finest of French and Italian fabrics and entirely produced in the UK that perfectly substitute for trousers and pants in the world of the body-conscious woman. Read on as Carlotta discusses her young brand, following trends and winning over the fashion industry, and expresses her views on the limitations in who can wear skintight clothes.
What were you doing before MLML?
My first label Sado, specializing in tailoring and dresses, launched in 2004, and has been presented in fashion and trade shows within Moscow Fashion Week, London Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. In 2006, it relaunched under Carlotta Gherzi for Sado, and a few years later, in 2012, I launched My Love My Leggings, a sister label under the Sado Fashion House wing. The concept was to provide leggings of maximum comfort with no restricting zip pullers that would take only two moves to put them on.
How does it feel balancing a womenswear line and staging shows, and a leg-wear line and presentations or trade shows?
It’s challenging, as everything is planned before, but something always happens in between. First comes the fabric sourcing, followed by creative ideas, then the making of the collection and finally the showing or selling part. And then it all starts again. Did I mention keeping up with the orders made in between?
How are your previous experiences in the industry helping you establish your brand?
I’ve found that the industry is working in a completely different way. Getting more attention from the public – and then the buyers – is what counts the most, while before buyers and press were more influential. They were the ones to tell customers what to buy. Today, it is the customers and their needs or trends they follow that influence what buyers buy.
How do you stay inspired?
I’ve always been inspired by art deco and the different textures I see in nature. I don’t really follow trends anymore, as I find that they restrict me creatively. I only check them after I’ve finished the collection. I do, however, keep myself informed on the colors that are in fashion through Première Vision fabric trend reports.
Tell us a few words on the materials you use, and how you source them.
I use a lot of stretch lamb leather, and natural fabrics like silk and viscose. Sometimes I see something, and I ask the suppliers if I can do something different with the texture. For example, my signature pleated leggings were made in an old heritage Italian mill. At first, they thought what I was asking was impossible but it did happen. We managed to transform jersey viscose silk into a pleated beauty.
Pleated leggings are your signature. What was the inspiration/idea behind it?
I always liked the idea of movement and textures. I was looking at the motion of sea waves, the color changes in the water and the hit of light from stormy weather to sunshine – that was the start. Silk has an excellent reflective property; jersey is known for its stretching capacities. Mixed together thanks to the Italian mill expertise this fabric was created.
To what extent, are you influenced by trends? I hear Who What Wear predicts this winter is going to be all about flares than jeggings and skinnies.
I look at people in the streets, and that is more of an influence to me than what I see in magazines. However, I do read a lot of blogs lately. Our work is based on the idea of leggings, but we carry boot-cut leggings and baggy styles, as well.
Why did you decide to have the production take place in the UK?
I source the majority of fabrics from Italy and France because, even though they are pricy, I thought having them made in the UK will give the label a very European status. Plus, I can control the production much better. A lot of designers are coming back to the UK to produce.
Following former Herve Leger executive Patrick Couderc’s comments, what do you think on people expressing there are limitations in who can wear skintight garments of clothing?
It’s all about feeling confident in your own skin, and being honest with yourself. Sometimes wearing baggier clothes will actually make you look bigger. The most important is knowing your size, and what suits you. However, I do have a problem when seeing cheap materials used in leggings that make them tight and see-through no matter what size you are – unacceptable! At MLML we do NOT support that.
What are you currently working on and what are your future plans?
At the moment, I am working on the Spring/Summer 2016 collection, which will show at Super Trade Show in Milan from September 26 to 28. I am pretty excited, because for my spring line I’ve designed and added a printed sport capsule collection. Hopefully, people will like it. My goal is to make MLML known as the ultimate leg-wear specialist.
mylovemyleggings.com
Images © My Love My Leggings
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