“I’d come to uni with trousers made from sponges from B&M, and they’d look at me, like, what the fuck is this?”
As Malon fashion prepares for Manchester Fashion week, we spoke exclusively with the designer, Mariusz Malon, about his background, his creative journey and the vision behind his brand.
Where did your passion for art and creativity begin, and how did your early experiences shape your journey into fashion?
I was brought up in Ireland, in Donegal, which is a tiny, old village. We moved there because my parents immigrated from Poland. I came to Ireland with no English, and was brought up there. I always found security in the art room, because I got bullied a lot and if you’re an immigrant and gay there was a lot to pick on and I always loved to draw and I think I have drawings from when I was three of me designing dresses, and then I was ten, I was designing for Lady Gaga in my head, and it’s just spiralled.
Did you always know a career in fashion was what you wanted to pursue, or was it something you discovered along the way?
In school, there was this competition I entered and it’s basically a recycling kind of fashion competition. We make things from scrap and recycled materials. I entered when I was 14, and I think I won most promising young designer.
I entered again the following year. Then I won my whole region area being the best designer from that region, and then I didn’t give up, because I was [thought] I need that overall winner. So, I entered again when I was 17 [and] won the overall competition. I think from that, I realised I love this attention, and bringing what’s in my head to a body.
What brought you to Manchester and how did that continue your journey into fashion?
I moved to Manchester for uni and I stuck out like a sore thumb because everyone was making wearable stuff and dresses and jeans and coats.
I always got in trouble, because I was making things that were not wearable and I didn’t have money either. So, I’d come to uni with, like, trousers made from sponges from B&M, and they’d look at me, like, what the fuck is this? And then my final collection, I made, stuff from, like, NOS Canisters, ’cause I lived in Fallowfield.
I basically find beauty and things no one else finds beauty [in]. I will not walk past a bin or scrapyard without having a look, because I know I’ll find something.
Your designs often feature really distinctive and unusual textures. Can you tell me a bit about your approach to sourcing and creating your own materials?
I like fabrics that are woven because you can distress them, you can burn them, and, like, manipulate them more. The thing is, I actually make a lot of my materials from scratch. So, if you see anything textured, that wasn’t like that [originally] I made it like that.
That also brings back my past [of] not having money in uni. I couldn’t afford fancy fabrics, so I would buy [the] cheapest fabric you can get, or materials that aren’t fabric, and I would make them cool and interesting.
So, a lot of the fabrics that I use are either made to be cool, or I love distressing, so, it’s either distressed or coated in something, or sprayed, or glazed, burnt, melted. So, I usually look for materials that I know I can manipulate, if that makes sense. If I see something, just, there’s no hope for it, I will either try and burn it or bleach it. Honestly, the things I do to make a fabric interesting is insane.
Seeing your designs worn by someone as influential as Doja Cat must have been a huge moment. What was that experience like for you?
The [moss] dress originally was meant to be for Ariana Grande. It was for a ram beauty campaign with Wicked. She tried it on, and it was downing her, ’cause that dress was made for my collection in London, so they just borrowed it.
The stylist had it, and he messaged me Doja Cat wants to wear it in a few hours and I [thought] why are you asking me? Of course, take the dress (…) and she wore it a few hours later.
I’m gonna send the collection again to Doja Cats stylists, but also Megan Thee Stallion stylists are really eager to see what I’m making. So I’m hoping Megan’s gonna do the next one.
You mentioned you grew up in Donegal, do you ever draw inspiration from there?
It’s a nice little place and that’s what this collection’s actually based [on]. It’s based off a mountain near where I was from.
I used to go there during COVID. And it’s just full of greenery and abandoned places, and I have this obsession with death like, skulls, and decay, and rust. I see beauty of things, people don’t see beauty in.
The whole collection is about little memories that I have, that have been brought to life and my obsessions. I’m obsessed with moths.
Yeah, so I feel obsessed with moths since ever, I always felt they were more interesting than butterflies. So, this collection has a lot of moth elements, and I don’t want to spoil too much, but I’ve used materials that have never been used in fashion. This collection is 12 individual, massive looks.
We can not wait to see what you have in store. How has the preparation for Manchester Fashion week been going?
Let’s say I found some things I did not want to find when I was making some outfits. I was hand sewing something, I was like, what is that? We were cleaning materials for one of the looks, and they were covered in maggots, hundreds of spiders, and we found a dead bird inside while we were cleaning.
And it took us four days, me and my flatmate every single night, cleaning these materials and it stank. Also, I created a world war one gas in the house. I basically mixed Zoflora with bleach and I gassed us out, so we had to evacuate the area.
When I do my shows, I spend like a week on my collections. This time, I actually had just a bit over a month. Now, imagine what I can do (…) I was really excited to have time.
Beyond the Runway
Malon will be sharing his collection at Manchester Fashion week on the 9th September and we can not wait to see what he has in store. Understanding the story behind his designs is an inspiration towards finding the beauty in everything around us. Malon made a point to not share the details of the specific materials he has crafted these pieces out of but said, “no one’s actually gonna know what it’s made from till I say what it’s made from.” And we think that’s a very exciting approach!
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