Mira Mikati (Q3396)
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Mira Mikati is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Mira Mikati |
Mira Mikati is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
When things get really bad, at some point one has to convince oneself that they can’t get any worse. To that end, Mira Mikati is determined to keep looking on the bright side, come hell or high water. “If you think there’s no chance, then there isn’t,” she said during a preview. “I always believe that hope attracts hope and happiness attracts happiness. Otherwise, why get out of bed in the morning?”These days what gets Mikati going in the morning is her newfound green thumb. Learning how to garden has been on her bucket list for ages. Since she never does things by halves, she pulled on her boots and got her hands dirty out at a plant nursery in Kent. She was so thrilled with the process that she is now trying to grow her own basil, tomatoes, and flowers. Which is why her collection for spring was inspired not by a trip to some far-flung destination, as is her wont, but instead reflected what’s happening in her own backyard in London (“in the rain,” she quipped).Mikati’s sartorial garden was lush with radishes, artichokes, asparagus, carrots, mushrooms, corn, flowers, fruit, and tea (another of her obsessions). A top might be composed entirely of crocheted lemons; a sweater might sport a yuzu. Her clients have embraced her experiments in tailoring, the designer said, and this season she obliged with a suit embellished with beadings and bracelets right on the cuff or else in pinstripes reprising the colors of the rainbow. A denim jacket with produce peeking out from the breast pocket will likely be a hit, green thumb or not. For the evening, there was a mesh dress with colorful embroidery or a pajama-style top with rings of Swarovski crystals.This year Mikati marks a decade in the business, but her fans will have to wait another few months to see how that milestone translates into clothing, an artistic collaboration, or perhaps a new shop. “I want to celebrate in so many ways but have to make a choice,” she said. “You need to dream in one direction.”
29 September 2024
The Paris Olympics are right around the corner, and Mira Mikati is carrying that spirit into fall with her own twist.“Where I used to be into checks, now I’m into stripes,” the designer said during a preview, showing a low-slung tennis skirt not in white but gray, double layered with a new accessory: striped jersey underwear. “If the waist is lower, you have to have something underneath,” she noted by way of explanation. “It gives you more room to play.”Rainbow stripes was the baseline throughout this collection, whether on underthings or outerwear. Long and short coats flaunted Bayadères borrowed from the South of France, but they’ll be just at home in Palm Springs. A rainbow polo dress looked easy, although knit belts-slash-bandeaux offered another way to bring a splash of color to wardrobe staples—a new avenue to promote clothing’s longevity, the designer said.Elsewhere, Mikati played the transparency card with fluid mesh pajamas for evening and dresses with diamond cutouts intended to work as layering elements or beach cover-ups, depending on the occasion. Her signature wit was well in evidence, for example in a “Chill” knit with a little red and yellow pill in lieu of the letteri.So was her heart, on a rainbow knit with cutout details edged in colorful embroidery, and on a cropped rugby top embroidered with “All You Need Is Love.”Mikati often gets queries about a runway show, but as her 10th anniversary approaches, she says she’s looking into alternatives. “I’m not into shows; experiences are more me,” she said, adding, “I think people expect more than just a great garment; they want the emotion and lifestyle that goes with it.” Coming from a designer who once clad a bicycle in knit just for fun and still finds herself fielding requests, it’s a safe bet that whatever she ultimately decides to do will come up rainbows.
2 March 2024
As she was brainstorming her spring collection, Mira Mikati found herself scrolling through vacation photos, per usual. As one of fashion’s most dedicated travelers, there were thousands of them. Even so, a trend jumped out at her: stripes. Up they cropped in Capri, Santa Margherita, Santa Fe, and Palm Springs, where this look book was shot, at a motel named Les Cactus, run by Matthew and Solène Kurtz.This season, the designer served up stripes in breezy summer knits, in blue or yellow and white with crocheted flowers, plus maybe an embroidered straw basket or a crocheted hat to finish the look. The collection is “easy travel, easy to iron; it goes from beach to night without any effort, all day long,” said Mikati, who road-tested a few prototypes in Greece. Those helped with the wind, she noted; they’d also be perfectly suited to fall seasons like this PFW, which hovered around 80 degrees.Elsewhere, a flower bustier came to her “as something to wear to music festivals.” Paired with a cardigan, silk pajamas took the idea in a different direction. A bread pouch picked up in San Cristobal de las Casas lent its multicolored tassels to a different kind of stripe. Pants in cotton canvas were tailored inside out and extra-long to pool around the ankles. Cargos might pair with a loose shirt embroidered with love, cactus, and mushroom patches, or else a cheesecloth shirt encrusted with flowers. An orange striped marinière embroidered with a Paris Metro sign and a macaron was charming. So were a pink suit with daisy-shaped buttons in porcelain and a cardigan with mismatched bands of color. At a time when minimalism reigns supreme, a shot of color and stripes can start to feel like a holiday.
1 October 2023
Having published a book, Colorful World, last season, Mira Mikati is already racking up new experiences that could, in theory, become the start of a new one.For her last birthday, she stayed up all night to catch the northern lights in Lapland. Shortly thereafter, “like the universe was calling,” the designer seized a chance to visit the North Pole, heading straight to the airport, un-researched and unprepared, for Svalbard, Norway, some hours later.“It’s not as colorful, but it has a different magic,” Mikati said over tea on a recent morning in Paris. “In Lapland, you have the greens and blues and purples, while a cruise to the North Pole lets you walk on ice floes.” Yes, there were polar bears, but sadly they are all too skinny these days, she reported.Blue skies, unremitting sun and a fresh perspective on the urgency of caring for the Earth converged in a collection inspired, the designer said, by white—most charmingly on a sweater with a detachable polar bear—and sunrise/sunset hues. Fleece overalls printed in those colors come with a matching bag. Tang orange corduroys were strewn with bright flowers. A new focus on tailoring produced a sky-blue jacket festooned with beaded mushroom, heart, flower and star appliqués. Key pieces borrowed from the menswear lexicon—a grey-green herringbone wool suit, a tailored wool coat—sprouted flowers. A fresh collaboration with Javier Calleja—who is currently headlining an exhibition in his native Malaga—resulted in a bomber that proclaims, “This is Your Lucky Day,” as well as elongated cardigans with rainbow crochet sleeves and a first foray into home wear, with a limited run of hand-crocheted cushions made in London.Other outerwear options included a trench with daisy-strewn knit pockets in front and a knit back, and skiwear with colorful pink, orange, and yellow pockets. Now that Mikati is hooked on the Arctic, she has her sights set on Antarctica, aka the Land of the Penguins. Here’s betting that some colorful stories will surface down there, too.
3 March 2023
In her first bookColorful World, just published by Rizzoli, Mira Mikati offers a round-up of 50 of the (yes) most colorful places on earth—a celebration of joy and optimism culled from her own travels and iPhone albums.As it happens, during the second pandemic lockdown the perpetually joyful designer found herself going from tourist to living like a local in Antigua and Barbuda. Reconnecting with simple living—not to mention those sea views—became her inspiration for spring. That, and a Coachella-dressing session with the Beirut-born, Paris-raised Anglo-American singer Mika, whose taste for vibrant clothing easily rivals Mikati’s own. She even took some of Mika’s cues and transposed them for women.Not surprisingly, palm trees sprouted on shorts and shirts, and prints reprised the flowers and fruits— papaya, coconut—found in a tropical paradise. Sunrise/sunset hues tinged pieces designed for effortlessness, as well as hoodies and knits for after dark. The Mikati rainbow returned in orangey hues on dungarees and cords. And there was a concession to tailoring because, as Mikati noted, “even though it’s an island and you’re barefoot and effortlessly dressed, sometimes you want to take it up a notch, or prepare yourself intellectually for going back to city life.”Overall, the collection was pared down, with minimal embroidery save for on a denim jacket with palm trees, or pants festooned with flowers. In real life, Mikati is partial to buying men’s suiting and having it tailored to her body, so it’s saying a lot that she ventured into a butterfly bra. By her own admission, she never would have done it in the past. For those who, like her, are more comfortable with coverage, there was a jumpsuit with a sheer back. For evening—or maybe even an island wedding—one dress was strewn with naïve flowers, butterflies and whatever else came to mind. Here and there, ceramic flower buttons brought a delicate touch. So, for that matter, did bob hats, some form of which everyone should be wearing these days, island or not.
4 October 2022
When it comes to traveling and color, Mira Mikati always goes all out. To wit, for this season’s look book she opted out of conventional modes in favor of her fantasy vehicle, a hot air balloon—hence the slogan “Sky’s the Limit,” and a smattering of comparatively discreet logos on pullovers and cardigans.Over tea on the Rue Saint-Honoré, the designer said that, despite the onslaught of dismal news, she’s trying to stay positive and keep producing uplifting collections.Many years of unforgettable travel adventures, many of which will be chronicled in her upcoming book,Colourful World, were the inspiration for a line-up she calls a “traveling collection”—a wardrobe adaptable enough for various climes, informed by a lifetime of memories in colorful places from Cape Town to Peru by way of Santa Barbara, where these images were shot.For the first time, Mikati’s focused on being as gender-neutral as possible, working multicolored checks and stripes for girls and guys alike. She’s also amping up her commitment to sustainable or recycled fabrics—most of the knitwear, jersey or denim pieces in these looks fit that bill. All coats, for example, are done in mindfully sourced fabrics, like deadstock or recycled wool.The craftiest pieces were the standouts here: a deadstock denim jacket embroidered with palm trees and set against sunset hues features the wordsLand of Happiness. Produced in a limited run of only about 120, that piece will likely speak to her base. A pink wool overcoat with a palm tree embroidered in back will be produced in only 100 examples. Elsewhere, remainder yarns are knitted into a “newfangled rainbow” on a sweatsuit-like ensemble.Flowers with different-colored petals are another leitmotif, appearing quilted on a parka, or naively on T-shirts or a day coat. For evening, they return on a fully sequined openwork top, paired here with green leather shorts. Alternatively, a fully hand-sequined bomber messagesShineon the back. As with the fringed blanket coat (an idea sparked by a recent flight from New York to L.A.) Mikati’s base will probably give that one a lot of mileage.
7 March 2022
Like so many designers, Mira Mikati has had to pivot in ways she never dreamed possible: COVID times forced her to put her brand-new London boutique on hold and get up to speed online. But if it put the breaks on travel, it didn’t stop her from putting together a book, titledColorful World, a collection of personal photos chronicling 50 favorite travel destinations, from Paris, Provence, and Argentina to Tokyo, Sicily, and South Africa. Winnowing the list to just 50 was hard, she said, so by the time it’s published by Rizzoli next season, she’ll probably be onto volume two.Mikati is an optimist at heart; she dreams big, and she’s got energy to burn. At the moment, artist Javier Calleja has carte blanche to draw on the walls of her London boutique in time for the Frieze Art Fair (he also lent his characters’ pie-eyes to some of Mikati’s knits). Come spring, artist Gabriela Noelle—whom Mikati met in Miami—will layer in whimsical flowers, reprised here in prints, on Lucite brooches, and as a funky little chain-mail dress with acrylic flowers, handmade in a limited edition. Another major new development for Mikati is menswear, a category she decided to embrace because men were already co-opting her pieces. She brought it to fruition with a little modeling help from her husband.The designer described her spring mood as “quite mystic” and, true to character, the clothes brim with lucky talismans like ladybugs, clovers, and references to the tarot. Little words and messages, such asOpen your mindandDisconnect to reconnect,crop up in hand-embroidery and hand-painting in a lineup that spans Op Art checks large and small, maxiskirts, flower sweaters that nod to skating and surfing, and an “after-pool, after-surf” grouping of terry pieces that go heavy on the psychedelia.While this lookbook was shot at Bonita Domes and Pool, Joshua Tree, California, living in London made Mikati realize that she had to bend to meteorological reality and incorporate some outerwear; for example, a bio-cotton coat in orange and teal plaid. She upcycles where she can, working raincoat fabric into a skirt with a large black and white flower, and transforming scrap yarn into sweaters with trailing threads. Fully 90% of her wool is earth friendly, she said, and the studio is embracing denim, whether recycled or washed without dyes. Her next goal: a butterfly badge from Positive Luxury.“I’m trying to evolve wherever possible,” the designer offered.
“What we’ve all just lived through forces you to ask questions. Dreams can be unrealistic, but there’s no harm in trying things you’ve never tried before.” Some of Mikati’s flights of fancy are way out there, indeed, but they’re also endearing (a skateboard sheathed in knit, anyone?). It will be fun to watch how they connect.
4 October 2021
Despite everything, Mira Mikati has managed to squeeze in a bit of travel, and if the splashy, offbeat location for this look book hadn’t already existed, she might well have gone ahead and created it herself. “I wanted to be anywhere but home, glamping, camping, being in the wilderness, partying, and getting back to a world where social distancing is a thing of the past,” she said from her showroom in London.That’s how she wound up on a three-hour road trip from L.A. to Salvation Mountain, a desert hideaway made by a dreamer, the late Leonard Knight. “It was a world away, like a different dimension,” offered Mikati, who took advantage of the fact that her daughter is in L.A. to make the trek.Mikati describes her collection as a scrapbook of wilderness adventures filled with arts and crafts accents and techniques, and in this land of love and rainbows her clothes fit right in. It features more coats than she’s ever tackled before, in colors like bottle green and pink for a windowpane check, a bright plaid on a fringed blanket wrap with knitted sleeves, or fuchsia on a tailored floor-grazer decorated with a few hand-crocheted flowers. The final look is festooned with “a party of finger puppets”; a reversible piece with a fleece lining, it took up an entire suitcase all on its own.Vibrant knits were essentially made from found materials: Stripes color a poncho with braided fringe, and sweaters were variously paired with jeans or a denim jumpsuit embroidered with flowers, hearts, and fungi, an inspiration lifted from the 2019 documentaryFantastic Funghi. Mushrooms also cropped up with ladybugs on a Fair Isle sweater and a tartan hoodie.A collaboration forged over Instagram and Zoom with the Málaga-based artist Javier Calleja resulted in a full-fledged capsule. There are characters informed by manga including a likeness of the designer (but blonde), and a smattering of catchphrases that ring true to the Mikati world, for example “We can be heroes, just for one day.” And here’s betting those fuzzy red monsters with the big eyes will be catnip to the designer’s base.
10 March 2021
Staying put is not exactly Mira Mikati’s style, but doing so these past six months opened up new avenues she had never explored before. It started with her own (thankfully mild) case of COVID, and was crystallized by daily walks through London that pushed her in new directions. “I became Forrest Gump,” she said during a Zoom showroom tour. “I discovered London in an entirely different way. Going to the park became my obsession; running used to bore me, and now I need to get outside and train.”Newfound passions are the through line in a spring collection titled “Health Is Happiness,” starring racket prints on pajama tops, boxing attire (including a colorful pair of gloves), and a cascade of florals. Overstock from a collaboration with Superga that dropped mid-lockdown has been re-dyed in sunset colors and embellished with embroidery and hand-beading. As she mulled over how to better streamline things, Mikati roped in her kids, who assisted with homemade tie-dyes on jean shorts and sweats, or helped to fulfill online orders at her new Happy House boutique in London. “It got me thinking about the way we’ve been doing things,” Mikati observed.Dropping fewer things more often, she mused, might be the way of the future. Which is also why this collection is her most sustainable to date. Producing less, upcycling, and sourcing organic materials were echoed in a “Save Your Planet” motif. She’s also made a push into organic cotton for about 90% of the collection, and formed a partnership with DabsMyla for pieces like a varsity jacket and patches with which customers can personalize clothes and hats (skateboards, surfboards, and wetsuits are also part of the mix). Hand-painted sunglasses by La Petite Lunette Rouge round out the offer.Showing off tag lines like “Love Yourself,” “Dance,” “Be Your Best Self,” “Peace and Love,” and “Sunshine for Your Soul,” Mikati said that she has never taken as much time to do things as she has in the past few months. “I learned to go at my own pace without stressing or going crazy,” she offered. When a photographer bailed before the shoot, she reorganized everything overnight. “Six months ago I would have been devastated; now I feel empowered and I realize how chilled I am,” she said. But while the world has changed, she’s still an optimist. “It’s only a matter of time before there are double the weddings, parties, and glamour,” she noted.
15 October 2020
The neighbors may take umbrage, but Mira Mikati really knows how to throw a party. For her fall presentation that included hay brought in from a stable-owner friend, a mechanical bull minus the moving parts (because those were too unwieldy to wrangle up the stairs), and a musical act sourced on Instagram. All in good fun, as usual.Mikati’s fall inspiration surfaced at her kids’ urging: The family had vacationed out West, in Utah, Sonoma, and Santa Fe a couple years back, but unlike other adventures the designer had never funneled that particular one into a collection. “They were listening to Lil Nas X’s“Old Town Road,”and wanted something disco, rock, and Western at the same time, where everyone is in a good mood,” the designer explained. “I literally changed everything right then.”If anyone can do a sendup of a sendup, it’s Mikati. Fall’s “Rhinestone Rodeo” fringed blanket coat—one of the collection’s standouts—appears filtered through Mikati’s colorful prism. Dresses, popovers, and oversized jackets similarly feature sheriff’s stars, cacti, and crayon-like embroideries of a trio on horseback, riding into the sunset. Elsewhere, bandana prints were worked into a fringed, patchwork jacket. Disco-fabulous pieces include, for the first time, ombré faux-fur jackets, a sparkly pink Lurex ensemble, multicolored metallic fringe on a white jacket and Swarovski-studded pajamas (“those are always my eveningwear,” Mikati said.) Embroidery specialist Jackie Villevoye of Jupe by Jackie co-designed a capsule collection featuring outerwear and scarves in New Zealand mohair.Mikati has also been traveling east for the Hello Tokyo pop-up at Isetan, featuring a collaboration with the hot French bag brand L/Uniform. Back home, her new store is set to (finally) open any minute now, which means that these pieces and other collaborations—such as one on “happiness” with Chinatown Market—will be spreading fun in London, too.
5 March 2020
Mira Mikati is an adventure traveler, so it came as little surprise that a recent trip to South Africa circled back as a safari-themed collection. “I’ve done many, but I didn’t just want to do brown and earth—I wanted it to be more colorful,” she said during a conversation in her showroom, an apartment in a perpetual state of renovation with an unbeatable view over the Seine and the Eiffel Tower.Anyway, Mikati is not one to stick to the beaten path. For Spring her kaleidoscopic safari includes many multicolored patches of elephants and monkeys; purple hippos; and painted giraffes—and also some very pretty naive prints inspired by South African textiles. And because she can never resist piling on another beaded bracelet, she also incorporated beads into her clothing (“I thought, Why not feel better?”), taking inspiration from artisanal ones she admired in KwaZulu-Natal. “The mood board was bursting with colors,” she said.So were clothes that wended their way from safari to jungle flora, stripes, and rescaled checks. A bright blue suede jacket with wings of beaded fringe will probably be the highest-ticket item in a lineup that was full-on fun. Her base will probably thrill to the ribbed sweaters tricked out with argyle beading, the mesh tops, or a rainbow macramé top. They will probably also snap up the first line of handbags featuring her “little monsters.”Those customers will be even more excited to learn that, after four years in the business and as many pop-ups, Mikati is gearing up to open her very own shop on Walton Street in London’s Chelsea district, where luxury-minded neighbors include Chanel and Isabel Marant. When it opens in November or so, the space will follow Mikati’s philosophy of showrooms and life with an ever-evolving roster of artist collaborations, much in the spirit of a curtain of handwoven ribbons the artist Megan Geckler set up for the Paris presentation. There will be non-fashion items she loves too, such as a juice bar or maybe things she picks up in her travels, like Japanese candy. “It’s a little dollhouse townhouse, but I put all my dreams in it because I think we can represent the world,” the designer said. And thus a whole new adventure begins.
8 October 2019
If some of Mira Mikati’s Fall pieces read “Come with me” and “Escape” and “Let’s go to the end of the world,” it’s because the designer did travel recently to the other side of the world from her London base—to Peru, her dream destination, where she and her husband renewed their wedding vows, complete with a traditional shamanic ceremony.That joyful occasion, and folkloric inspirations, was the springboard for a characteristically upbeat and colorful collection that also conveyed, the designer allowed, a noticeably spiritual dimension. Her starting point: a blue-and-white-check robe coat with a hand-painted, embroidered, and patched scarf inspired by a native community in Lake Titicaca. There, husbands-to-be weave pledges to their brides into a “promise belt,” which they then wear every day for the rest of their lives.Elsewhere, the designer wove together memories from her trip, turning a rainbow into a sequined pajama ensemble or print lamé overalls, transposing hand embroideries with trailing ends of yarn onto hand-knitted sweaters and turning brightly hued, fringed blankets into coats with contrasting sleeves. The overall effect was fun and freewheeling—two traits Mikati’s base loves—as sunny as a cascade of feel-good emojis.“I wanted it to be about art and positive romantic messages,” the designer said, standing amid a work-in-progress space overlooking the Seine. The apartment, a gut renovation stripped to its rafters, was being freshly embellished with graffiti by a London street artist and anyone else who cared to join in. “I like it so much now, I may never change it,” the designer mused. Or it might just become her next springboard.
12 March 2019
“It’s a fairy tale that starts well and finishes well,” Mira Mikati mused during a showroom visit this week.Once upon a time, in a very happy place, the Frog Prince and the White Rabbit bounded into groves of flowers on skirts and jackets and dresses and jumpsuits, mixing it up with Mikati’s signature Happy Monsters. Naive appliqués on cady, tulle, denim, and eco-leather reprised favorite childhood phrases and characters, spreading sunshine all over the place both literally and figuratively. On one blue halter dress:All dreams come true.On a raincoat: trompe l’oeil topstitching, buttons, and pockets sketched in Magic Marker hues. Even sneakers got into the act.The designer also made her first foray into eveningwear. “People were always asking me what Mira Mikati looks like after dark,” the designer explained. Cue an organza slip dress with posies, butterflies, mushrooms, and a ladybug for good measure, and a brightly crosshatched skirt. Or, if you want to play it both ways, a top with a sweatshirt front and embroidered tulle back.Mikati’s sartorial sense of humor is charming. At a time when the world is getting curiouser and curiouser, it feels like a shot of good medicine.
4 October 2018
“They’re a gang of racer gals—the fastest girls around,” said Mira Mikati with no trace of sarcasm. “They’re unstoppable.” Three years into her label, the London-based designer remains committed to cartoon colors and comic lettering. She has established her niche of arts and crafts sportswear. She’s managed to reinvent cheeky slogans from one season to the next, i.e., “Burn fat not fuel.” But most of all, she hasn’t wavered in her view of women being whomever they want to be—whether chronically “late” or “adrenaline seekers,” as branded here.Whereas the lookbook images depict a garage that oozes throwback cool, Mikati’s Paris presentation revolved around models letting loose in bumper cars brought over from England. One of them wore a boilersuit covered in thematic patches; another sported a Mikati-fied helmet—one of her cutesy “monsters” knitted in red, its teeth framing the forehead. The designer herself donned the collection’s most elevated piece, a great pair of leather patchwork dungarees with perforated panels resembling sports jerseys.On surrounding racks, meanwhile, were hand-looped color-blocked sweaters; a new range of denim withM-emblazoned pockets; and outerwear that was spared all of the messaging while still punctuated with color. The overall look was unmistakably tomboy yet reflective of girls at least old enough to have their driver’s license. “I think they’re stronger, less like children,” Mikati confirmed. “They’ve had time to grow up, but they’ve stayed fun.” She revealed that the theme emerged when her two teenagers wanted to go skydiving, and the family finally did so in New Zealand two weeks ago. But adrenaline junkies need pieces for evening, too, hence a tuxedo-style sequined jumpsuit. It was an example of Mikati’s Peter Pan narrative executed with greater finesse. That said, those who come along on her ride do so knowing she drives a shtick shift.
4 March 2018
Because Mira Mikati is partial to playful, immersive installations in which guests can indulge in novelty snacks such as cotton candy, her presentations have a tendency to feel more like blowout birthday parties for privileged kids. To articulate this season’s Venice Beach, California, circa 1970s vision, Mikati had a striped skate ramp custom-built and set against a cartoonish sunset. The six skater girls she cast through social media were left to their own devices, landing their tricks while outfitted in retro track pants, a workwear jumpsuit, and even a cardigan covered in shiny paillettes. On a day scheduled with heavyweights, Mikati won the prize for most lighthearted.The designer weaved this spirit throughout the sporty collection, making conversation pieces in more ways than one. This time, her familiar thought bubbles and dialogue doodles included Wake + Surf; Busy Skating; Think Less/Love More; Muscle Beach; California Dreamin’; and Venice. She said her family enjoys vacationing in Venice, so the inspiration came naturally and, compared to previous seasons, took shape with improved focus. Among the highlights: beach scenes and vintage cars artfully embroidered on the backs of blousons with extra threads left adrift, and functional snaps like M&M’s that could only be described as sweet. Her versions of windbreakers and parkas seemed like obvious festival gear, while the items loosely festooned with rickrack trim registered as casually festive, no special occasion required. Mikati was wearing the rainbow knitted flip-flops seen in the photos; they’re like chiller sisters to Gucci’s soaring platforms.When Mikati launched her label a few years back, she framed her cute musings as comic relief that women could inject into their wardrobe, but that niche might have proved limiting. Even after removing the skate ramp, this collection seemed aimed toward younger customers who would be open to her messaging and appreciative of her details. Pausing from her flips and grabs, London skateboarder Stefani Nurding agreed that Mikati’s vision felt on point, saying, “I think she’s nailed it. She’s got the vibe.” In other words, Mikati is well positioned to ride the millennial wave.
2 October 2017
Protesting dental surgeons! They were the reason squads of gendarmes in riot gear had gathered near Mira Mikati’s presentation, which happened to be located a few hundred yards from the Elysée Palace, the French president’s residence. The disruptive and surely exaggerated response (worst case scenario: threatening violence with their scalpels?) had absurdist comedy written all over it, yet there was something nearly as quirky about arriving at the designer’s simulated summer camp in the heart of Paris. Chez Kamp Mira, tents had been set up around a faux campfire for stylish scouts. Among the clothes they’d packed: quilted coats large enough to be sleeping bags with “Forever or Never” projecting from their backs; hand-knit sweaters and fun fur cardigans in crayon hues; and khaki separates embroidered with badges, medals, and colorful service ribbons. If the decorations were dreamed up with 100 percent humor—the award for “cute boys seeker” [sic], good for a smile—the uniform aspect of several shirts made them relatable for day-to-day dressing. On the flip side, who’s to say an emerald sequin sweatshirt dress bearing the words “Marshmallow Lover” didn’t offer a bit of guilt-free escapist fun.Occasionally, the scout theme graduated up to military-inspired pieces, which were likely Mikati’s way to maintain a level of polish and tailoring. One blazer stood out for its too-long knit sleeves, and this arts-and-crafts idea could have been pushed further to showcase how the brand is developing its creative spirit beyond the recurring cartoon-y monsters. But at least this theme was conducive to the doodles and scribbled sayings that have become a quick signature. At camp, everyone preserves their memories this way. And Mikati, meanwhile, returns to real life having earned the badge for creativity.
7 March 2017
Mira Mikatiwas having her photo taken as this reviewer arrived, which wouldn’t be noteworthy except for the fact that she was posing with her face and arms through the holes of a board tacked with one of her latest lively poplin shirts and flared skirts. Guests soon followed suit, ostensibly trying on outfits that, as usual, expressed Mikati’s unique smile-inducing style (one tee boasted an embroidered vacation scene and a text bubble reading, “So, so busy”). To reach the rest of the collection meant heading through a pattern of low-hanging, fluffy clouds.While the London-based designer’s cheekily childlike approach may have channeled Peter Pan in the past, today she conjured him up as her imaginary crush. She treated a white leather Perfecto like a blank school notebook, scrawling youthful doodles by hand: “PP” inside an arrowed heart or quotes that reminded her of J.M. Barrie’s boy who wouldn’t grow up.But instead of letting Peter take us to Neverland, Mikati proposed her own animated fantasyland, where toucans appear in fuse beads or sequins and embroidered chimps play guitar on classic blue-striped shirts. As with previous efforts, the fine execution of these playful designs is what elevates them beyond actual kids’ clothes. More mature dressers will be persuaded by a green khaki safari jacket featuring her signature embroidered “monsters” in a tropical scene; compared to the silver spangled blouson, it was positively tame.A subtler side to the designer emerged on a pair of lightly worn jeans stitched with inspirational quotes (“What if I fall . . . What if you fly”). As her brand grows, Mikati could use a bit more of this light touch to balance out her intense color and imagery. But she returned to feisty form with her new limited-edition collaboration with artist Jack Pierson: A typographical collage printed on the back of a cotton blouson that readTeenage Runaway.
5 October 2016
First, let’s get this out of the way: Those who would shy away from wearing, say, a letterman’s jacket emblazoned with “Play More” in crayon-style print might do well to remember that they have actually no idea what their carefully curated Russian or Japanese branded streetwear might read. Now that we’ve cleared that hurdle, let’s get back to the matter at hand:Mira Mikati’s playful, sunny Fall collection, which she showed in a cavernous space in Paris filled mostly by a bouncy castle. Models leapt and fell, and leapt and fell, wearing colorfully hand-painted black leather jackets and sleeveless coatdresses with large-scale flower embroideries, cropped knits with skateboard and butterfly appliqués, and another coat with a single demand, “Smile,” on its back. It was hard not to comply.The collection is about a return to innocence and to having fun, explained Mikati, citing this as a sort of escape from the terror of recent world events. She’s on to something; it’s hard to worry about politics or recent devastations when you’ve removed your shoes to bound around a bouncy castle, as many presentationgoers were lured to do. If some of Mikati’s wares looked like her three children (aged 4 to 13) had gotten to them first, crayons outstretched, well, all the better. “Off Duty,” screamed one garment, “Have Fun,” another. Really, what more excuse do you need?
22 March 2016
Mira Mikati set the bar high at her debut last season, thanks, in part, to a cameo collaboration with artist Darcel Disappoints (Craig Redman). For her follow-up, she recruited Kaws (Brian Donnelly). The three special-edition, multicolored varsity jackets they did together favor Mikati’s buoyant vibe more than the grayscale angst of Kaws’s Companion character. Zoom out to the full collection and there’s no escaping the fact that fun is her driving force—and, for Spring, a fantasy road trip across America. At a presentation space filled with cactus balloons and bold city signage, she showed off how workmanship and a personalized touch elevated her ideas beyond the realm of camp. “Do not disturb me” appeared laser cut and outlined in embroidery on the back of a cotton linen car coat, rather than simply printed. A comic cityscape pattern inspired by a coloring book featured crayon contributions from her children.If drawing from Santa Fe and New York in equal measure risks a disparate representation of styling souvenirs (from bohemian suede and a crochet poncho to a shrunken blazer and sleeveless trench), the predominance of white—right down to the sneakers—balanced all of the layering like a gallery backdrop. Indeed, the progression of the narrative—from “Wake up” for Fall to “Sleep all day” for Spring—suggests an outward expression of Mikati’s inner dialogue. But as much as the text sounds refreshingly unfiltered, design is a creative exercise in filtering, and to her credit, she creates clothes, not wearable art. Of course, at the rate she’s going, she might just convince the likes of Murakami or Space Invader to join in on the fun. She’s certainly sparked the desire to collect.
22 October 2015
Mira Mikati made her eponymous fashion brand debut with a varsity jacket covered in patches—but not just any patches. These ones were dreamed up by Darcel Disappoints, the beloved illustrator (né Craig Redmond) known for his one-eyed, egg-shaped caricature, a cosmopolitan curmudgeon. Fashion people are well familiar with his alter ego, mostly because he created 150 Darcel-esque portraits of industry icons as part of Colette's 15th anniversary in 2012. So it was no surprise to see the store's front woman, Sarah Andelman, among the influencers already sporting the varsity jacket during PFW. Still, Mikati, who has been designing the Ç x Façonnable line, knew she could not sustain a collection on the buzz of a special-edition jacket. So she used his graphics as inspiration for clothes emblazoned with an animated, optimistic world of her own creation.While it's tempting to describe the collection as supercute, this would be unjustly grouping it in the same infantilized category as onesies and bunny slippers. Here, your tailored coat might look like blue-ruled paper with graphics resembling high school doodles, and your slim Prince of Wales checked suit comes stitched with daisies, some petals cut out like peepholes. The "monster" cartoon heads embroidered on knit turtlenecks and unstructured cady skirts or hand-printed on a rain parka are irresistible in their eccentricity. But then you notice vents in the sweater or raw-edged denim and you realize that this is more than stylish schtick. Mikati will arrive at the moment when she must decide whether to keep these graphics a running theme or reinvent each season; all those googly eyes and "Laugh!" lettering may lose their charm sooner than later. For now, her clothes do not disappoint. "If I wear something and someone smiles," she says, "I feel the support."
26 March 2015