Martine Rose on her disruptive Milan Fashion Week debut: ’you have to do what you believe in’

Yesterday, Martine Rose presented her first collection on Milanese soil, hot on the heels of Prada and just a few hundred yards away in a former industrial space which here saw colourful flyers – like those distributed for raves and parties in the 1990s – scattered across the floor. While not her first time in Italy – the Jamaican-British designer took on Pitti Uomo in Florence in 2023 – it’s a milestone and statement about the future of her London-based brand. 

‘There was a very clear choice last time we went to Italy for us to pay homage to Italian culture,’ says an upbeat Rose a week-or-so prior to the show, video calling from her London studio. ‘I think this is actually pushing against it and finding beauty in the cracks between.’ Indeed, Rose has always operated on the margins, leaning away from convention and into the outcasts, be that in kink, clubland, or street culture, inspiration points at odds with the sartorial polish of Milan. The inspiration? Digging through her old shows, she was reminded of how she turned neutral spaces into something strange, or bizarre. This could be by plastering the floors with party flyers or simply adding domestic touches to otherwise commercial spaces.

Martine Rose on her Milan debut

‘In the current landscape, which is very saturated, very product-led, very commercial, is there still a way to find fashion dynamic, interesting and relevant?’ she asks. In her attempt to answer this, she made careful use of prosthetics and wigs, adorning each of her 15 street cast Londoners – plus the rest of the lineup, who are largely Milanese – with latex noses. Jibing on the fact that this is one of the first features people notice on another person, and also the first they change when it comes to aesthetic nips and tucks, Rose’s characters both familiar and obscured, a theme which has long run through her collections. 

Where last season she put men in women’s undergarments, this time round, she took a less direct approach, placing guys in tailored pencil skirts. For her, it’s a curious, but ‘quite chic’ proposal, questioning dressing ideals. The same holds for another decision she’s made this season, whereby protective motorcycle elbow pads become ladies’ bust cups. Rather than delving into gender theory, Rose is explicit in stating that this is her asking what clothing is and what it can be. 

Does she worry it’s all going to be too much for the old-school world of Milan? No. ‘People are not stupid,’ she affirms. ‘Whilst you have to consider if it’s going to be relatable, at the same time, you just have to do what you believe in.’ It speaks to the way that Rose’s work has always and will always be a reaction to fashion’s status quo, rooted in the everyday characters she encounters in day-to-day life, tweaked for the runway. As she sees it, the very strictures that define menswear as a craft are the same reasons it’s so creatively rich. She can bend the rules or find the delicate friction between opposing things. ‘I trust that people will come with me, that people are curious enough,’ says Rose.

The show itself was unapologetically Martine. Nightlife nods? Check. Subcultural cues? Double-check. ‘When you’re young, you think that when you grow up your tastes are going to mature with you,’ she smiles. ‘This is the sort of irony.’ 

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