Olivia Mutte claims that her hands show more talent than her speaking skills. However, the fashion design impresses us with her clever way with words: "I'm not looking for the grandiose, but sincerity". Her portfolio, while showing a great mastery of images, also proves a deep love of words.
The Dal-Hae collection, the culmination of three years' study at ESMOD Lyon, shows an aptitude for nuance that blossoms in an interplay of transparency, the science of contrast and the balance of proportions. A look with a message, a harmony charged with meaning, strengthened by the virtuosity of the pencil stroke. By casting light into darkness, uniting in the essence of shadow and radiance, Olivia Mutte's designs attest to the poetic and reconciling power of clothing. More than a theme: a quest!
Planetesmod: What made you want to work in fashion?
Olivia Mutte: My attraction to fashion came quite late in life, although, like most people, I've always enjoyed styling myself every day. I'm a creative soul and from an early age I liked to dabble in everything: particularly drawing, which still does and always has struck a chord with me. I've been playing piano since I was 7, I paint, take photographs, my hands are more skilled than my words.
Today, this attraction is expressed through fashion above all thanks to my parents who encouraged me in this direction, after a timid suggestion on my part. They were the ones that pushed me and gave me confidence, and today I can look back on three wonderful years, more fulfilled than ever.
How would you define your final year collection?
Above all, my collection is a spiritual message that invites a certain humility and simplicity. I'm not looking for the grandiose, but sincerity. It's the Yin and the Yang, the very heart of this painting that reminds us of the smallness of man in the face of the inescapable contrasts in life. Good and bad, darkness and light, no one can escape them. I've dealt with it with a spirit of acceptance, by choosing the eclipse, which by its very existence proves the beauty of this symbiosis of antipodes. The Eclipse embraces both the star of the day and the star of the night, that luminous halo that stands out against an obscured surface. Like the Eclipse, this collection plays with subtlety, with shiny materials that capture and reflect the light, nuanced with others that are rougher and matte. Transparency and curves in the denim. Light survives despite the darkness. This exchange is galvanised by the roundness of volumes, the absence of visible accessories and the overall simplicity.
What's next for you?
For now, everything is very uncertain. I'd like to refocus on fashion illustration, the very beginnings of design, the more spontaneous and free aspect that it offers.
Photo credit: Camille Ginon
