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Finally, a petite young woman in black pants and simple crop-top with a geometric neck accent arrived, greeting guests with a smile and introducing herself simply as Miranda.
She may be an unassuming presence but Miranda Mazuki is already acknowledged as one of fashion’s rising stars. From the launch of two well-received collections within a year of its founding, and following good online sales, her brand is now found on the second floor of Galeries Lafayette next to creations by noted Indonesian designers like Mel Ahyar and Sapto Djojokartiko.
Her designs are known for their simple and clean cuts with the twist of asymmetrical and geometrical lines, creating an edgy and chic look suited for women of different age ranges and professions.
Behind Mazuki’s minimalist designs are “stories” from the 22-year-old designer herself.
“We are always trying to tell a story. We are always deeply inspired by human nature and everything imperfect because nothing in life is perfect,” Miranda said of her clothing brand.
She describes herself as a storyteller from childhood who experimented with different kinds of media to express her thoughts.
“I have always been interested in not fashion itself but, constructing, creating something, and I have been looking for the perfect medium,” she said.
In Mazuki’s first collection, “Comfortable Solitude”, launched in March 2015, the designer addressed the mixed feelings of being alone and yet comfortable with it at the same time.
The simple and practical collection is inspired by Miranda’s experience when doing internships with US top designers like Jill Stuart and Joseph Altuzarra in New York in 2013. In the Big Apple, away from her comfort zone, she felt pangs of loneliness before finding solace in the solitary space.
For her second collection,”Repression”, which was launched last November, Miranda talked about the subconscious power that limits people’s expression.
“We have been engineered to know how to feel. Sometimes, in public spaces, you feel sad, and you really want to cry. But your parents tell you: ‘You can’t cry in public, it is embarrassing.’ That’s us repressing ourselves, we don’t express our feelings,” she said.
She used smocking and loose drapery to express her thoughts on the repressive mind.
Her third collection, Rapture, was released in May. The collection is described as “[…] a medium of personal declaration that sensuality can be found in humility. This is in hope that there would be a clearer distinction between chastity and vulgarity in society”.
“We are always adding a twist to our collection. We create the concept. We try what we can do to get our message across,” Miranda said.
Despite her young age, Miranda has a diverse and stellar fashion portfolio. She graduated from one of the top US fashion schools, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, in 2012.
Apart from her internships with Stuart and Altuzarra, she also had the chance to work for other big fashion names like Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino.
“What I learned from my internship is that it was very strict. I really learned about thinking initiatives and about receiving comments or criticism,” she said.
Her almost overnight success in fashion can be attributed to her background and creativity, and her careful approach to the business. It includes always prioritizing her customers.
“We always keep our customers in mind [and] that’s is our main objective,” Miranda said.
During the launch party, Miranda mingled easily with her guests, most of them loyal customers.
“When I put on her designs, I don’t have to worry. I can go from morning until evening at ease. I don’t have to worry about whether it is going to look horrible by 4 or 5 p.m., everything is already tailored,” said Astrid Suryatenggara, the manager of an international firm in Jakarta and an active working mother.
With all the success and good response from the local market, Miranda said the next logical step for her brand would be to go global.
“But before that, we want to grow organically first. So instead of trying to reach for projects that are too far off, we want to grow internally first,” she said, declining to disclose Mazuki’s new target market outside Indonesia.
Introducing Mazuki to the international fashion scene is Miranda’s ultimate dream because, as a storyteller, it means she gets the chance to reach out to more people from different nations.
“We, as a collective team of Mazuki, always want to tell stories from our country, from our perspective. We want our stories to be heard outside Indonesia as well,” she said.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.