Coccodrillo presents Mariel Manuel
On the occasion of SHOW 2011, Coccodrillo is showcasing a special window display featuring shoes and artwork from the graduation collection of Swiss designer MARIEL MANUEL.
Mariel is the winner of the Coccodrillo Shoe Prize & MoMu Prize 2010 as a member of the graduating class of the Antwerp fashion academy. Prior to graduating, Mariel was invited to produce a capsule collection for the Swedish streetwear label Weekday, and also gained experience in the Los Angeles atelier of the designer Jeremy Scott - who’s humorous approach to fashion continues to inspire the young designer.
With her collection entitled “Keep your eye on the doughnut”, Mariel envisaged a twisted underwater world from the Malibu beachside to the sandy ocean floor. Aquatic symbolism ran riot, with nautical chain prints, octopus and hammerhead sharks appearing in silk applique on smock dresses or a pantsuit, and fringed silk shifts and scarves seemed a luxurious way to wear seaweed. Moulded plastic headpieces featuring crab claws and clamshells echoed various crustaceans and shellfish, as did an artfully scalloped puff-sleeve jacket. Models carried lasercut perspex ‘life-floats’ (in an homage to Baywatch) and one donned a bodysuit mimicking the highcut red swimwear of the iconic 80’s TV series.
A highlight of Mariel’s eclectic showing was the innovative ‘wave’ shoe that she designed and produced for the collection. The perspex sandal rides on the curling form of a breaking wave, with invisible straps and a dramatic heel finished with a fluff of foamy whitewash.
Following her graduation, Mariel has taken a placement at the BALENCIAGA studio in Paris, and is currently showing a silhouette from the collection as a part of the “Prologues” room for emerging designers at the Arnhem Mode Biennale in the Netherlands. She is a recipient of the Swiss Design Award for 2011.
“I love to let myself be inspired by fabrics, combinations of natural and artificial. I don’t see the point of having a cardboard mold of a body you trace over and dress up. Whether it’s men with beards painted in watercolors or powerful women with malicious eyes, each collection tells its own story and has its own character. I love the women from David Lynch’s movies and they always inspire me. I like to work with his feeling of displacement, of people that are not in the exact right setting.” – Mariel Manuel
