Mimii is the designer blending avant-garde art with sustainable fashion

Enter a fairy tale world of extravagant colour, texture and pure imagination – this is the incomparable vision of Mimii. Creating intricately crafted voluminous quilted dresses, embroidered separates and handmade accessories, the Spanish designer finds inspiration from the world of fine art.  David Hockney, Jackson Pollock and Henri Matisse are some of her favourite painters, and her most cherished hours have been spent browsing the Victorian portraits at Madrid’s Prado museum.

Previously a costumer designer for Conservatoire de Luxembourg, Mimii incorporates cultural history, fine art and contemporary surrealism to bring a sense of drama and narrative to her work. Set in a Parisian art gallery, her debut presentation was playful and perfectly fitting, with the designer’s own hand drawn illustrations decorating the floor, and the models body painting each other in vibrant hues.

“For us, dressing up every morning involves humour, irony, happiness and absurdity” she says, “Mimii originated from a nickname that was given to situations to describe happiness and joy.”

Every one of Mimii’s distinctive quilted pieces is painstakingly crafted. Once the fabric has been chosen and quilted, the designer incorporates 3D shapes and handmade embroideries which can take up to 100 hours to create. Leftover fabric is kept and reused to make matching bags and accessories.

“Each piece embodies a specific colour, volume, weight and texture that is directly correlated to a detail of a painting, the light of an installation or the hat of a woman sitting next to us at a café” she says.

Born to Spanish parents, the designer grew up in Switzerland before moving to South East Asia and eventually settling in Europe. Her latest collection is a nod to her Spanish roots, incorporating motifs from traditional flamenco dress including ruffles, polka dots and voluminous silhouettes. Each piece is produced in limited quantities and made by hand in the Spanish town of Valladolid where she resides for part of the year.

For Mimii clothing is a form of wearable art –“ it represents a state of mind, a woman can be whoever she wants, whenever she wants by simply changing her clothes”.

Find out more about Mimii and follow @ateliermimii on Instagram