Mimi Prober (Q3389)
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Mimi Prober is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Mimi Prober |
Mimi Prober is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Fashion has a skewed relation to time. It’s not just the three-to-six month lead on the collections, but how this forward-focused industry applies the label “new” or “young” to any brand (no matter the age of the designer or the company) that hasn’t reached some tipping point level of recognition. Mimi Prober is a case in point. Though she’s been “dabbling into this fashion thing,” as she puts it, for a decade, she will be a new name to many people who visit “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.”Prober is included in the nostalgia section of the exhibition, and that’s the feeling that has permeated the designer’s work since she launched her ready-to-wear line, which builds on her earlier work with historical garments and textiles. For spring, Prober has happily evolved the line in a new direction, revealing other aspects of her talents and interests, but in a way that won’t alienate existing customers. This time around, if you will, her lace, petticoats, embroidery, and smocking are going on tour.Prober was thinking about time, the circle of life, and her own roots as she created the lineup, which not only marks her 10th year in fashion but the 50th anniversary of the Return of Spring. That was the name of a 1971 concert featuring the Grateful Dead, Ox, and Riders of the Purple Sage, organized by her “hippie” dad through his company Primo Productions. “As far as my philosophy, it just felt like the right time to continue that connection of family and home and meaning and the past and preservation and history, but have it be very meaningful to me and hopefully inspire others,” said Prober. “It’s very personal; it’s about my dad and his work in the music industry and how it’s inspired me.”Prober abstracted the mermaid-fairy figure from the Return of Spring concert poster and embroidered it on a winged cape. The original poster art also appears on T-shirts. “To my knowledge it is at least one of the first plant-based natural dyed screen prints for this scale,” the designer noted. Authenticity and responsibility are woven into everything that Prober does. The fabrics, she explained, “are all custom created: handwoven, handspun, hand-knit, hand-crochet.” Plus, the new bobbin laces are done by hand by a women’s guild in Kollam, India.Prober’s entry into fashion was through vintage corset dresses, and she included one as a finale look this season as a nod to her beginnings in the industry. She also introduced her first ready-to-wear corset-top.
A laced-front charmer, it features floral hand-embroidery of plant-dyed thread. Similar blooms are scattered on a romantic maxi dress.Building on the rock-and-roll theme, Prober refers to two of her botanical dyes as Purple Haze and Tangerine Dream, and the looks take their names from female musicians, Patti, Stevie, etc. The denim looks are one-offs from her Atelier line (as is the antique corset and lace finale look), and are made from reworked 1970s Levis jeans. “I want to make sure we use the authentic ones that have a meaning, and hopefully will carry it on to future generations,” said Prober. “I think the world is really overwhelming, and really scary. It seems frivolous to create things, but at the same time it’s not; it really is important.” Art, music, and, yes, humble blue jeans—these are things that carry and communicate meaning through time.
16 September 2021
Mimi Prober declined to comment on this season’s tempest in a teapot, Bode versus Stan, but like the designers behind both of those brands, she uses antique quilts and textiles in her work and has done so for some time. Her mission is “preservation and taking textile narratives to a new generation through clothing,” she said on a call. The reversible coat, made from a 19th-centuryboutis, that opens and closes her fall look book, is one example of that idea taking form.Prober designates pieces made in New York from antique textiles as “Atelier,” and a few of those are worked into the mainline collection, made largely in India using sustainable fabrics and dyes. Most pieces involve handwork in various forms, be that the weaving of the fabric, block printing, knitting, or embroidery. The designer is also a jeweler, and designed the silver button that closes a cardigan pieced together from upcycled Scottish wool sweaters. Because Prober’s aesthetic is vintage-inspired and romantic, it seems important that the distinction between craftsmanship and “crafty” be kept clear to avoid entering into twee territory. With the exception of boho-meets–Jane Austen Empire dresses, which read more girly than sophisticated, Prober managed to do that.There was more movement in terms of fabrics than garments this season. Prober introduced an 18th-century-inspired floral cotton that she had quilted and cut into a moto jacket. This sort of unexpected pairing of familiar shape with unexpected fabric is something that could be pushed further. Not in the look book, sadly, are Prober’s take on jeans, made of handwoven 19th-century denim. One pair features the season’s hand-painted botanical watercolor print, created using an ice (rather than water) dye process. Also of note are the feather-stitched patchwork pieces that have a tone-on-tone color play. Not fully visible is the V-neck slip dress, which should be a seller.Connecting the past to the present is a pillar of Prober’s work; once again she explored the bonds among people in her look books. For fall, she cast childhood friends Ava Cutrone, daughter of publicist Kelly, and Cora Corré, granddaughter of Vivienne Westwood, a designer who shares Prober’s love of craft and historical dress.What makes Prober’s work new is her serious commitment to sustainability, and her use of handwork, which results in unique pieces. It is clothing with a conscience, speaking to values and vanity—retail’s new frontier.
10 March 2021
A year ago the idea of a lawn party might have seemed quaint; in these days of social distancing, it’s a viable way to gather, and Mimi Prober has got you covered. Her spring collection is full of romantic Edwardian-meets-bohemian–style dresses made for happily wafting through a summer day. (Or even a rainy one, as Chloë Sevigny demonstrated when she made her first new-mother appearance in one of Prober’s “modern heirloom”dresses.)Prober is a designer who aims to evolve rather than dramatically change season by season; much of the newness here, she says, “comes from new color techniques and natural dyes and little details.” Spring’s soft yellow and pink hues were created using pomegranate and avocado pits, respectively. Of particular note was a handworked smock dress with dramatic embroidered sleeves. It’s not difficult to imagine her silk pantsuit or pretty slip dress slipping easily into any wardrobe. Paired with a tee or a feminine blouse, drop-crotch pants deliver an easy-as-Sunday-morning vibe.Natural indigo was used for the shibori pieces, which loosely fit with the psychedelic mood that is popping up. On the other end of the spectrum were items that speak to comfort and serenity, like delicate neckpieces made from vintage materials, including 19th-century lace. “I feel like in a lot of ways that [method] feels more relevant now than before, which is strange because that’s how I started, just piecing together antique textiles,” says Prober. “But I am feeling inspired to continue to do that, and I’m also working on offering that kind of experience online.” The designer introduced an e-commerce storefront this week.For the lookbook, Prober’s focus shifted from the link between past and present to connections among people. “We’re in this strange time where family is, I think, so important; community is so important,” says the designer, who cast Ava Cutrone along with Nina Clemente and Liyah James and their daughters. “Everybody is connected,” she muses, and the pandemic has “really had everyone stop and think about what’s important and how we’re going to move forward in a more positive direction. My hope is it will never go back to the normal that we were living before. I hope it gets much, much better.” Prober makes dresses to dream about as we work our way toward a new world.
19 September 2020
Mimi Prober is no longer Staten Island’sbest-kept fashion secret. This month the designer will be shipping her spring collection not only to local supporter If Boutique, but also making her debut with a number of e-tailers, including MatchesFashion.com and Browns. The world, it seems, has finally caught up with this most conscientious, sustainable designer.Preservation and inclusion (i.e., accessibility) are the main tenets of Prober’s work. She offers unique pieces, like the tapestry coat and quilt jacket in the lookbook, through her atelier line. These are made using historical textiles that date from the early 18th century to the 1920s and sewn with antique silk embroidery thread. Contemporary materials come from local fiber farms and wind- and solar-powered mills. “I try to have a good team of strong women,” says Prober, who partners with female-owned businesses when possible. The discovery of a certified sustainable and organic factory in India, with generous workers’ benefits, enabled the designer to expand her ready-to-wear offering, which she sees as an extension of her atelier work. The clothes she says, “are more inclusive but have still that antique influence.”For fall, there’s a series of natural-dyed indigo pieces inspired by 19th-century workwear made of handwoven, hand-spun organic cotton. The same material is used for a fitted Victorian-style jacket and a hand-quilted moto jacket that roars with rusticity rather than a rebel yell. The hero pieces are the neo-Edwardian dresses and separates. Prober only works with all natural fibers; this season, she elaborated on some of them with botanical and rust dying for a bohemian vibe. Solid or softly colored, hand-embroidered or tucked, everything on the racks has an heirloom quality. “I feel people are looking for more meaning, something that speaks to them, something that has a reasoning behind it, a story,” she states.So is it a historical narrative that Prober is spinning? The short answer is no. Though each piece comes with a story that’s calligraphed and printed on handmade, botanical dyed paper, Prober says, “It’s not about living in the past, but more appreciating again a slower way of life. For me it’s about not losing the craft, not losing the people who make the things.”
6 February 2020