June 18, 2021 |
Roland Mouret is a designer doing things on his own terms. Through the pandemic, Mouret’s namesake label has pivoted, producing less, and therefore, reducing waste, by releasing his collections in limited-edition drops.
Being in the business for close to two decades now – Mouret officially launched his brand in 2006 – the designer knows what his customer wants. He’s got a sustainability strategy in place, and has even launched a tutorial series of Roland Mouret designs that can be made from home. It’s also worth noting that Mayfair landlord Grosvenor has recently bought a stake in the brand, and through the pandemic, Mouret became the first independent British brand within Luxury Stores at Amazon, where he sells his collections in smaller quantities – all part of the brand’s commitment to sustainability and slower-paced fashion,
Now Mouret has his sights on another exciting endeavor: film. Coinciding with the launch of his AW21 collection, Mouret has commissioned three female directors – Netti Hurley, Charlie Max and Constance Maillet – to create three short films around the collective experience of women. Each director explores the concept of legacy passed from woman to woman, a sentiment woven into the seams of the collection, with Mouret looking to Gloria Steinem, Jackie Kennedy and Dorothy Pitman-Hughes for inspiration.
“The three female creators were selected from the UK, US and France. I love seeing how each woman has developed the brief through her own lens, bringing together their different perspectives on the experience of being a woman today and the impact other women have had on their experience,” said Mouret.
Celebrating all facets of the female identity, challenging gender norms in the process, we caught up with the directors to delve deeper into each of their films.
Netti Hurley
How has your experience been working with Roland Mouret?
“Amazing. The brief was very open and I felt that we had the opportunity to create a film freely and honestly.”
How do you use your work to express themes around the female experience?
“Challenging perspectives – creating films that empower women or challenge our experience as women.”
Can you tell us a little bit about the film you have created in collaboration with Roland Mouret?
“It’s a simple story following a woman on her journey to a job interview. Below this narrative, I wanted to symbolically show the challenges we face regarding our identity as women. The long journey to the interview represents womanhood and all its challenges. Her determination in what she wants to achieve is confronted by the many other identities of womanhood – adolescence, contentment, beauty, maturity, motherhood. Each journey and expression of being a woman is unique – how do we feel knowing we can’t or don’t want to adopt them all?”
To you, why is it vital that directors keep documenting and celebrating the female experience?
“Each time you embark on a project something else appears and feels important. And sadly I think it’s essential to keep documenting and celebrating the female experience in order to maintain women’s rights, as well as pushing them forward.”
Constance Maillet
How has your experience been working with Roland Mouret?
“Working with Roland is always an amazing journey. His vision is insightful, he makes you see things through a different lens. We talked about legacy for a long time and what it means for both of us, and then he gave me creative freedom to go off and shoot freely. Nowadays, it’s a rarity to work like this.”
How do you use your work to express themes around the female experience?
“I was born as a woman. Everything I see, everything I live, is from my experience as a woman. Like every artist, my work reflects my own experiences. I never begin the process thinking ‘What stories do women want to hear?’ I’m only a woman among women, observing my own kind.”
Can you tell us a little bit about the film you have created in collaboration with Roland Mouret?
“When Roland first spoke to me about his legacy project, I immediately thought of my friend Manon Azem and her brother Jules Azem. Their grandparents were born in Palestine, their father born in Israel. When they go back to Israel, even if their family is really open-minded, they don’t share the same experiences because she is a woman, because he is a man. Yet they look the same as each other. In this film, I really wanted the spectator to not be able to differentiate between them, so they can be equal for the first time.”
To you, why is it vital that directors keep documenting and celebrating the female experience?
“For a long time, directors were only white men. It’s changing, not very fast, but it’s changing. The goal of art is to show difference and embrace different points of view. We need female directors talking about the female experience, we need transgender directors talking about the transgender experience, we need Black directors talking about the Black experience. Difference is vital, for every one of us.”
Charlie Max
How has your experience been working with Roland Mouret?
“It was amazing how open they were to incorporating both nudity and food in this project. That’s not always the case with people I work with, so I was grateful to be working with a brand that was so open and receptive. Working with Roland Mouret reminded me that I only want to work with brands that support and encourage my vision and operate with a sense of integrity. If you take a look at some of their other work, like The Women in Mouret project and this current project I’m a part of with them, it is a clear representation of their supportive and feminist ethic.”
How do you use your work to express themes around the female experience?
“I am passionate about connecting women to their most authentic selves and passionate about connecting all of us to the divine feminine that resides in every human, regardless of gender. Creating spaces where women feel confident and comfortable enough to relate to this part of themselves is integral to any work I put out into the world. This is where nudity and food come into play. I believe these two things to be womens’ biggest asset in their self-love journey. This is why I mostly work in a nude capacity– because of its ability to be liberating.”
Can you tell us a little bit about the film you have created in collaboration with Roland Mouret?
“Feminine energy is inherently powerful. With this film, we want to showcase how to tap into this power that we all inherently possess: by nurturing our minds & bodies. This film celebrates the richness and sustenance of our feminine power. The divine feminine is cultivated by nourishing ourselves through conscious consumption. Eating and consuming food mindfully, paired with the sacred practice of nudity, creates an alchemic celebration of our most natural self. It accesses our inherent authentic feminine power. We are our best selves when we are connected to our most natural selves: loving our naked bodies, and filling them with natural ingredients.
“It was so powerful to be on a set with everyone being in the nude, it was so meaningful and freeing. Everyone was able to be vulnerable and comfortable with each other in our bodies. It’s so important to me to continue creating spaces where people can experience this connection to themselves. Whether it is with the people I am collaborating with or people that are viewing my work: It is my life’s calling to create experiences that connect people to their most pure self.”
To you, why is it vital that directors keep documenting and celebrating the female experience?
“First of all, if you are an artist or creator, it is in your best interest to understand everything that is in touch with the divine feminine. That often includes exploration of the female experience. More importantly, it is essential to document the female experience because of the future of the world we live in. If we continue to uplift the feminine, we continue to uplift the world as a whole because everything starts with the female experience — Everything is created through the female experience.”
Explore the films here.
