Author: Amanda Edwards
Arriving at the end of spring with its trends in full swing, one can’t help but reminisce over last autumn’s Fashion Art Toronto week and the talented designers who offered a glimpse of what’s being seen this season. Charming items like faux moss-covered handbags and butterfly wing collars were among audience favourites; both of which happen to be part of MACEL Studio’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection, Secret Garden. Following their debut runway show last November, StyleCircle had the chance to meet the minds behind MACEL: Eunice Chow, Chiaki Manabe, Aoi Takeda, and Leona Abdyli.
SC: Hey, congrats on the show! What was your inspiration for starting the brand?
MS: We were working, all of us, in the same shop and it was not giving. It was that kind of pressure where there was no job for fashion like we wanted in Toronto, so we said f*** it, let’s do our own thing. Everyone was on board, like yeah, we’re going to work together, we work great together and then we quit.
I already had an idea of The Secret Garden theme and everyone vibed with that and we all had our own interpretations of what that theme meant. Lots of dragonfly inspiration and magic mushrooms. We had a lot of fun with printing and on top of that, you don’t really get to work with a lot of people in fashion so it’s been nice sharing this experience.
SC: With the theme, a lot of looks were very playful and whimsical, is that something you expect to continue exploring in future collections?
MS: I hope so, I just think that everyone deserves a pair of wings.
SC: Do you think that in an ideal fashion society or like a utopia, you’d want people to dress like what was shown on the runway tonight, wings and all?
MS: I like when people have their own style, that’s why every piece from our collection is different, but at the same time they work together, but also mix with each other. We were trying to make individual items to sell for someone with their own style so they can wear it how they want. That’s how I picture the world of fashion, just everyone being who they want to be, and enjoying pieces from us.
MS: Working with other designers is pretty hard, to be honest, but with us, there were just sparks. We get to mix all our designs together until it becomes cohesive and works. In a way, fate brought us together.
MS: I’m so proud. We’ve been working on this since July/July [2023] and all those meetings, idea exchanges, so much back and forth – and fabric shopping, oh my God. It made me really happy when the crowd got up and started clapping for us in the end. I did not expect that, coming in I just kept reminding myself to have low expectations. Now I can’t wait to start planning for what’s next.
Until then, please make sure to check out their Secret Garden collection and keep up-to-date with MACEL on Instagram.
