Maria Grachvogel (Q3293)
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Maria Grachvogel is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Maria Grachvogel |
Maria Grachvogel is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Unlike most designers, Maria Grachvogel never starts off with a reference—no 18th-century painters or 1960s starlets for her. Instead, she begins with a paintbrush, and for Fall this painting ritual happened in her Captiva Island home in Florida, as she watched the early morning sun hit the water. The resulting shimmery, translucent picture, which she called "Cyber Goddess," was then digitized and became the print story for her collection, appearing in two color ways. Grachvogel also played with geometric shapes: A gown (as worn last week by Emma Thompson on the BAFTA red carpet) had a grid of diamond-shaped inserts in the back; a geometric folded panel appeared on the neckline of a satin-backed crepe dress; a triangular "optical illusion" cutout on the waist of a gown was subtle and effective.Grachvogel's techniques could be called demi-couture. Case in point, a dress was cut from one piece of fabric, then wrapped around the body like a spiral. The spirit behind it was precise fit: Whether a size 2 or 12, it wouldn't matter; this was a flatter-all piece. Grachvogel's dresses were body-skimming but not body-con, sensual but holding back a bit of mystery. Some of the work involved in the collection was painstaking: For the "Cyber Goddess" dress, the print had to be regraded to fit each size. Asked how long it took, Grachvogel said, "I stopped counting the hours put into each dress years ago."Grachvogel is as obsessed with fit and function as she is with painterly prints. She doesn't want her clients fussing or having to adjust clothes, and in her world your outfit has to take you from day to night, "looking gorgeous and glam throughout." That came through in a gently draped jumpsuit with a comfortable elasticized waist. Then there was an ivory bonded stretch dress (with plenty of cotton for breathability), with a yellow triangular hem detail. Grachvogel's black cape blouse and high-waist trouser look (a variation of her best-selling "magic pants") were equally suited for work or dinner at Claridge's. The designer is a red-carpet veteran, and there were a couple of gowns, too, including one with an intricate lace overlay on the bodice that melted into a print from the hip down.Grachvogel turns out high-quality collections year after year with little fanfare. Despite this, she has been rewarded with a loyal international following and some celebrity love (Victoria Beckham, Angelina Jolie, and Yasmin Le Bon, among others) that she tends not to trumpet.
This year marks the designer's twentieth anniversary: With this kind of craftsmanship, she should have twenty more years to come.
18 February 2014
This season, London catwalks have turned into a giant English garden—petals, buds, and green grass everywhere. Was this fashion week or the Chelsea Flower Show? There was so much in bloom that Maria Grachvogel's Spring collection, with its sedate palette and spartan embellishments, came as something of a relief. The only note of botany was opening model Chloe Nørgaard's bright green hair. That detail, Grachvogel said, was too good to resist.The bulk of the collection was more muted. There were trapeze-shaped, gossamer-light dresses and sensible daywear, like the kimono-sleeve trouser suit in Egyptian ramie cotton. The prints, for which Grachvogel is known, were more serene, too: hand-painted plays on inkblots. "I really love the idea of dropping ink and letting it free-flow in water and seeing what emerges; it is always totally unexpected," she said. There was a touch of a garden, but more like a haunting Japanese bamboo landscape than an English one. It was enough to stir longtime fan Emma Thompson, who clapped along enthusiastically from the front row.It also looks like Grachvogel has been working as hard on silhouette as on print. The result of her explorations included a soundly engineered dress with a cross-panel neck detail. Similarly, a meticulously tailored jumpsuit showed the time she has spent on the drawing board. Her collection is the better for it.
16 September 2013
For a designer with no formal training, Maria Grachvogel has lasted a pretty long time in the industry—over 20 years. This longevity has a lot to do with her artistic side: Grachvogel hand-paints many of her prints, which turned out to be her strong suit in today's outing. The press notes for her Fall collection proclaimed it to be "pared down." If that meant the opening passage of solid-colored looks, one shade from head to toe, then yes, it was. The pieces were pretty, but in some cases, reminiscent of the work of other designers.Less pared down, and better for it, were the prints—motifs meant to suggest falling leaves and, according to the designer, the ubiquity of death in nature. That chilling thought aside, a salt-and-pepper dégradé print on a woven jacquard trouser suit was a winner, and the haunting tree of life print on a billowing gown suggested the de Gournay panoramic wallpaper that adorns the best houses in the world.Grachvogel is known for prints—those and her seamless, pocketless "Magic Pants"—and over the course of 20 years in business, she's nailed them. What's lacking is a design signature in cut and drape to match. Not that her celebrity clientele is complaining: Muse and friend Yasmin Le Bon sat in front row, as did the pop-ette Mollie King.
18 February 2013