MMM, An Exhibition of Fine Art Fashion!

After doing loads of research on Marina L Makaron and reading many interviews I have to admit I am no fashion expert. I do not want to follow in the footsteps of the experts and do another cookie cutter interview. I would like to take a different approach and see it from the art side. Her clothing and accessory line is functional art at i'ts absolute finest! This stuff walks, talks and commands attention with stunning colors and patterns. If you wear MMM you become an exhibition of fine art fashion!

Marina L Makaron

Please give us a bit of history on yourself.

I was born in Moscow, Russia where I grew up. During my childhood my family traveled quite a bit since back then my father was in the army. When I was 12 I came to America but soon left to finish high school since Russian school education is stronger. After high school I came back to the USA where I graduated Drexel University with Magan Cum Laude. Then left to the UK for masters at London School of Economics and back to Russia for the second masters degree at Moscow School Of Economics. My higher education was focused on marketing, international business and media. While in school I traveled and worked in the field of study which helped me understand and develop what today is my brand.

After following your work as well as you personally on twitter and Facebook for about a year now, I see you are very driven. Where do you find this drive to press on and make your brand successful?

Just like creativity, drive has been in my blood, therefore I can not take responsibility for it. My father is a colonel who spend 20 years in the military, so I grew up in a military family where order, endurance and to thrive was a way of life. When I take on a task I do not think that there is an option to fail or not finish, I focus on how high or fast I will achieve it.

I myself have always been blown away by your creativity with color and patterns. Some of my recent work has even partially been inspired by it as well. I noticed that you did not go to design school, but studied business. Where does this almost divine instinct for color come from?

Thank you Ron, the clock that you have created is fantastic! I can not give a source of the "divine instinct" I guess its something I was born with and have to be thankful to my parents for. My father has an impeccable taste and my mom is an artist (she paints, sews, makes wall pieces out of corks, etc) so creativity is something I grew up with. Also, when I was little I was left with my grandma who spent her time raising me on fairy tales, which undoubtedly contributed to the light within my designs.

I am aware that you pride yourself on high quality products and not "fast food fashion". Your silk is of the highest quality, and made with secret old fashioned Russian methods. I know full well that making silk is an art in itself. Please talk about you're attention to detail and the level of craftsmanship that goes into each piece.

Production platforms is what differs each designer. I carefully test and choose people and materials before working with them. I strongly believe that there is no need to stay within the barriers of the box (regardless of how trite that may sound) yet while getting all creative I focus on quality and safety.

You told me when we first started talking that you originally wanted to start with furniture. I hear now you have plans to start a home decor line, what might we expect? Will you be bringing your vibrant colors and flashy style into this venture as well?

First I will focus on carcass free furniture like tear drop seats. And of course I am incorporating my designs in the furniture since that is what I am as a brand.

Now to get away from everything above, I know that you are quite the world traveler. I have enjoyed seeing pictures of you from various trips and adventures. Tell us one of the most memorable or funny stories from your travels.

I have traveled quite alot. It has been in our family tradition plus living in Russia made it easier to visit places. Yet it is difficult to select a single story, I guess I will go with Dubai only because it is a very diverse world filled with oxymoron's. First of all, the visual space is beyond description. Everything is of world record proportions. Tallest building, biggest indoor skiing, biggest outdoor light show and so on. Facilities are clean, organized , and nothing like the stereotypically depicted Arab world. Abundance of food and alcohol, royal attendance, its a dream. Yet you understand that all of this is in the desert where oxygen levels are half of what you are accustomed to and temperatures are of cooking caliber. However, while being a business woman and a leader it was quite difficult to take the back seat since in that culture women are still viewed as submissive. So it was a mixture of head spinning all access heaven and a confusing restricting regime.

To close this out tell us what Art is and means to you and how that pertains to your work.

To me Art is a frozen in time flash of emotions, feelings and perception of the world taken through the personal filter. It is vital to my work since I base my designs on color and shape combinations, which clearly are influenced by my inner state at a particular moment. I believe Art is a way to share your soul with the world.

I think this is my favorite so far.

Above are pictures from the Miami Beach International Fashion Show 2011

A favorite picture of mine from an earlier industrial photo shoot

One of my favortite pictures of Marina in her travels. This really shows the excitement for life that she has!

Please visit MMM and find her on Facebook and Twitter as well.

If you want more info about silk and how it is produced check out this blog post from Tania at Passport to Design.