Marques ‘ Almeida Does Menswear
Championed by Lulu Kennedy through the Fashion East platform, burgeoning British label Marques ‘ Almeida has made remarkable strides since launching in April 2011. Portuguese couple Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida met on their first day at school while undertaking their BA. They would go on to individually work at Preen and Vivienne Westwood, honing their skills, before realizing that working together was the next natural step.
Four collections later, Marques ‘ Almeida has cemented its place in the fashion landscape as a label to take notice of. With its distressed denim framed in streamlined silhouettes, the brand has developed a signature aesthetic that evokes a sense of raw youthfulness. The clothes are in some ways an homage to grunge, but modernized through cleaner shapes and treatments. “As incredibly inspiring as the grunge era was for us, we want our clothes go through a modern transformation so it’s fresh and new,” Marques says. “It’s almost a minimalist way to work with grunge. Our inspiration comes from the ’90s but also this current time, so hopefully it feels relatable, interesting, and not dated.”
Praised by publications such as Vogue Paris, Elle UK, and i-D, Marques ‘ Almeida would go on to win the NEWGEN award from the British Fashion Council. Girls and boys alike gravitated towards the easiness of the garments—so it was little wonder when one of their main stockists, Opening Ceremony, prompted them to create a menswear line. “We have a very close relationship with our private clients and our stockists and started hearing from both that there were a lot of guys trying to buy our clothes and mostly from Opening Ceremony,” says Almeida. “So naturally, they set the challenge for us to launch a capsule men’s collection exclusively for them.”
“We’d always wanted to do it because our clients were asking for it,” he continues. “But we’re still reluctant to call it a menswear line. It is a continuation of the Marques ‘ Almeida aesthetic that now guys can wear too.” Evidently, the capsule men’s collection stays true to their signature style, merging the rawness of the textiles with minimalist shapes. “We envision lots of girls when we design our womenswear,” says Marques. “We think a lot about the type of girl we’re designing for. And for boys it’s the same thing. It was about designing for those boys that express the Marques ‘ Almeida attitude.”
THE MARQUES ‘ ALMEIDA MENSWEAR LINE DEBUTS AS PART OF A FASHION EAST INSTALLATION DURING THE UPCOMING LONDON COLLECTIONS: MEN TOMORROW, JUNE 18. THE COLLECTION WILL BE AVAILABLE AT OPENING CEREMONY IN AUGUST.
