Munisa
Standout designer at Tel-Aviv fashion week Noy Munis pushes boundaries with her deeply modern approach to design. Alongside her collection the designer published 3D modelled animations of sea-creature-alien-humanoids distorting to industrial techno, concretising her digitally minded collection in the online space. Munisa proposes a full sensory highjack that could be likened to an acid trip. We want more.
Your inspiration videos feel like a trip on acid that took a dark turn! Is that the sort of mood you wanted to create with “Exceeding Expectations?
I took it straight out of my brain. I wanted to create an atmosphere coming from a strong and powerful emotional response through figures that broadcast utopian vibes.
Why this collection name? What does exceeding expectations mean to you?
This collection is a milestone in a journey filled with personal experiences that I went through, It's very personal to me. It is mostly coming from the feeling that I always feel exceeded in every frame I am in, it is a sum up of each time I meet different forms of lack of acceptance. The name "exceeding expectations" Feels like a natural fit for me. I learned to live in peace with the feeling of difference and to navigate it to higher places. Especially here in Israel, I do not always fit the expectations of society. When I go around Europe I feel more free and liberated.
The colour palette is very Akira meets Keith Haring and Jackson Pollock! Why are these colours so important to the collection and to yourself as the designer?
Achieving that final outcome requires making a lot of attempts until I reach the perfect result that sets the right tones for me! I find myself drawn towards surprising color combinations and always love to explore the meeting points between black, white and red with other bold colors. It challenges me! I always try to balance the colorful noise with black and shades of grey, silver and white.
What did you want to convey through your collection?
This collection shows a story that starts from quite a dark place where I've been in my life. The process that I went through to get myself out of there and build the woman I am today required a lot of faith, inner strength, not giving up and striving to be define a strong personality. I want to show everyone who is feeling unusual a path where they can take their experiences and celebrate it, making their alienated presence their a source of power. Exceeding Expectations is mainly also dedicated to anyone who ever had to deal with Cyberbullying.If I could reach teenagers or anyone and pass them this message through this collection, for me, that's all.
Fashion has been labeled as one of the biggest contributors to climate change. Do you see anything in the fashion industry changing in terms of reducing its impact to climate change?
I see that the awareness of the issue has expanded and many brands are starting to embrace at least one or more green methods. Leading new names are establishing their names around ideas of sustainability, recycled fabrics, the use of seaweed instead of cotton. I’m happy for that and curious to see where this issue will grow from here.
How have you seen a change within your creative process from this collection to previous ones? Was it a gradual process?
Of course I noticed a change, and it was gradual. If I look at the first dress I designed 8 years ago I can see the entire evolution. The more tools I got, technical knowledge and experience, the bigger my dreams got which had an immidiate effect on my designs,which grown along. As a starting designer, I feel like the vision is the most important And significant thing. I always chose to be true to that, to myself, meaning creating really from within. Any great tool that I earn gives the execution of my vision a more polished look with every project. I can say with all my heart that this is the most complete and explicit project I have created, I am proud of what I present.
What inspired “Exceeding Expectations“?
The initial inspiration for me is from a trip to Paris where I went to see the “Fashion Freak Show" of the legendary Jean Paul Gaultier. Among the guests of this show, were two men at a height of 7+ feet. For me, it was a sight I had not seen before in reality, it was very special for me. At the same time, it also made me sad how they were entertaining to the crowd. This got me thinking and I started researching about the history of the freak show discovering the many people who were born phisically different and had to go through this same experience. I found a deep personal connection to it and understood the many connections it has with our modern times. I knew I wanted to feature in this collection something that would be difficult to digest on the one hand but on the other hand, will transmit power that will arouse, effect and attract people to it. That led to the birth of my figures, one by one, which express my own interpretation for the fascination of the odd and strange.
The more it went on the deeper I kept diving. I enriched these characters with elements of distortion that also became prints in each of them.
The silhouettes are very pronounced in your latest collection. What do they represent?
From the idea of physical abnormality, I developed various deformed silhouettes. I took regular clothing details and silhouettes and distorted them harmoniously with the graphic prints. Because the fact that society does not know how to accept the difference yet, and there are still dark places, I wanted to make the distortions appear digestible. Beauty is a matter of perspective is a rigorous and playful term I reflect this collection with.
Where would you like to be in 10 years time? Do you have any inspiration or ideas for your next collection?
I aspire to have an international brand named MUNISA and present in fashion week’s calendar, it will exhibit in places dedicated to visual arts and fashion, while collaborating with artists and designers of all kind. I would be glad to experience theater and costumes making for it’s an integral part of my world. I would also want my career path to come across names I personally appreciate like Brooke Candy, Lady Gaga, Grimes and Violet Chachki. I am interested in breaking through fashion’s glass celling and experience the most far limits of the human mind. Regarding my next project, as a matter of fact, I haven't started working on it but I do plan to. My ideas for that never end, they just keep coming so I believe it will come alive real soon. Stay tuned.
interview BELLA SPRATLEY
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