MARTINE ROSE IS CONSTANTLY DISSOLVING BOUNDARIES – HIGHSNOBIETY
Mon 10 Jul
WORDS TAYLER WILLSON
I’m speaking to Martine Rose via Zoom. The British-Jamaican designer is in her London home, it’s some three weeks before the FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand, and not long after the release of her tailored collection with Nike — one of Rose’s most experimental collaborations to date, as well as a first in the world of tailoring for the latter brand.
And Rose has just informed me that she knows next to nothing about women’s football. I’m sitting here, frozen, staring at my notes, where a slew of questions on the state of women’s football are suddenly looking pretty useless.
Thankfully, Rose is an outstanding interviewee. She’s laid back and easygoing, despite her exalted stature in the fashion industry, where she’s been a staple since her eponymous brand launched in 2007 and collections referencing everything from rave to hip-hop to punk have garnered her many awards.
Our conversation slips effortlessly into a chinwag about the intersection of fashion and culture (of which football is inextricable), and how Rose’s collaboration with Nike is designed not only to look good, but to help “dissolve boundaries” and “level equity” between men’s and women’s football.
How? Why? I’ll let Rose do the rest of the talking. Despite what she told me, her knowledge on all the above proved unparalleled, and by the end of our chat I’d forgotten all about my original questions.
Football culture is culture. It's as much as fashion and art. It has that power.
Martine Rose
How did this collaboration come about?
When I first started with Nike, I didn't know much about women's football. But what we uncovered was really shocking and inspiring in equal measure: shocking because of the disparities between men and women's football, and inspiring because, in spite of this, women have continued to blaze a trail and hurdle all obstacles that have been in their way. It's been an incredible personal and creative journey.
What was the inspiration behind the collection?
We did this huge body of research with one of my teams, and one of the things that was really striking was the disparity between men and women's football. There were these classic images of the men's football teams stepping off their private jets with whichever designer was dressing them that year. They would be immaculately dressed with their Gucci shoes and Gucci tailored suits, looking amazing. Then in stark contrast to that, you'd see the women's teams in their trackies, posing outside a coach. It highlighted, in one image, the difference between men's and women's football. Our aim with this collection was to have a conversation about why it's even gendered.
At some time, hopefully we won't even be speaking about gender in football and that we wanted to highlight the contrast; to make the women look and feel amazing, like the men's [team], but further the conversation, to clothes are clothes. I'm less keen on this idea of gender free. I think that clothes are clothes,and both boys and girls can wear clothes, and that's it.