Last Monday, Alex and I got to meet up with Sandra Schmidt of Mangelware, in her flat/atelier near Taborstraße. She was born in Germany and did her studies in Halle, but is living and working in Vienna since 2006. After climbing up what seemed like a thousand stairs, she welcomed us in her atelier in the top floor of a residential building from where we could look over the surrounding rooftops. On a white sofa in between clothes, sewing machines and more clothes, we started talking to the very likeable designer.
AW:How did the MQ VIENNA FASHION WEEK come to your attention?
M: Well, there is really no way of not knowing about it if you're a fashion designer in Vienna.
AW: What do you expect of the MQ VIENNA FASHION WEEK?
M: It's a great opportunity for me, because I have never shown anywhere in autumn, so I will also be represented in the showroom. I hope to find prospective austrian buyers.
AW: What will you be showing at the MQ VIENNA FASHION WEEK?
M: For the show, I'll be showing Summer 2010.
AW: What inspired you for your Summer 2010 Collection?
M: It's called Wakey Wakey! It's a very relaxes, sort of laid back collection, with colors ranging from greys to light blues and also yellow accents.
AW: Who would you say is your target audience?
M: I realized that a lot of people who work in a creative job wear my clothes. They really understand my fashion. I'd say people from 20 upwards wear Mangelware.
AW: How did you come to live and work in Vienna?
M: That sort of happened accidentally, because I received a scholarship at the Museumsquartier in 2006, and have consequently been living and working in Vienna since 2006. I was thinking about going to London or Berlin, but Vienna was a great choice, since it's a little bit easier here to start a label than it is in London for example.
AW: Do you think Vienna can compete on a level like Paris or Milan?
M: I don't think Austria will be equal to France one day, in terms of fashion. But that's not a bad thing. I think it'll be sort of like the Netherlands or Belgium, you know? Something special.
AW: What do you think about the Austrian style, if there is such a thing?
M: Well... I think what's popular here is very conceptual fashion. There's a variety of things from recycling, over Haute Couture to Avant Garde.
But obviously you don't see that on the streets. Austrians aren't too keen on experimenting, which might have something to do with Austria being a very wealthy country. People don't have to look for things on flea markets and piece things together. Some do, but that's more like a hobby, they don't HAVE to.
AW: How did you come up with the name Mangelware?
M: That was actually the name of a project I did back when I studied. We would make clothes out of the so called "Mangeltücher". People liked the name, so I kept it. I knew that at least for some time it would be a small label - in a niche, sort of, so I thought that was a fitting name. Sometimes people misunderstand it for "Mängelware", but I like that. It sort of makes it more personal, because every item of clothing is not exactly the same. (Those that are made in mass production are, of course, exactly the same, but those which incorporate handmade details, aren't)
AW: Do you have any favourite designers?
M: I like Nicolas Ghesquière of Balenciaga, but also Yohji Yamamoto and Junya Watanabe.
AW: What is beauty for you?
M: Well, first of all beauty is very subjective. I think beauty has a lot to do with the context in which it stands. I don't know if beauty really exists out of context.
AW: Do you know something absolutely beautiful?
M: People. If you get to talk to people, you sometimes start to realize how beautiful they are. The way they talk, the way they move, their body - if it's all in the right balance. That's extremely interesting to me.
Magelware at the MQ VIENNA FASHIONWEEK
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