IMAGES Ali Baba
Growing up in the small town of Volzhsky in southwestern Russia, Luna Baba didn’t start out her fashion career with swimwear in mind.
“It started when I tried surfing for the first time on a holiday in Bali while at university,” says the Russian-born, London-bred and California-based designer. “I could find either a hundred wholly practical wetsuits that were ridiculously ugly, or one or two cute or pretty ones that were just as ridiculously uncomfortable to wear. At that point, it seemed to me there was a pretty caving gap in the market for a combination of function and style, and so began the dream.”
Baba got to work on her label mew swim, designing her dreamy, ultrathin neoprene bikinis and wetsuits while finishing her degree in London before relocating to her LA-based studio, where she carefully constructs her garments in small batches.
“My designs are heavily drawn from my emotions and experiences, especially as distilled through the many feminine characters in my life,” Baba explains. “Each season tells a new story as I bring new and topical concepts to the cutting table.” Such concepts have included ‘burnt’, ‘melting’ and ‘bambi’, each one experimenting with the form, print and details of swim garments while still ensuring exceptional comfort.
Below, Luna Baba shares how sirens, silly swans and trusting her stubornness has inspired mew swim, available to purchase at APOC STORE.
How would you describe your label / aesthetic in your own words?
Womanhood, fragility, beauty and pain. MEW is inspired by feminine experiences, joys and struggles.
What’s one piece you’ve made that you feel summarises your label, and why?
My precious Bambi deer print. I’ve always enjoyed anthropomorphic appearances in folk tales: sirens, mermaids – half-human, half-animal. Bambi is fragile, delicate and beautiful, the other half is the wearer. Some want to preserve that fragility in their style, some seek to destroy it. I personally like to preserve it but I’m fully aware of those who don’t. The original print had so much emotion in it, hand-painted by me in wax and watercolour, and today it’s become a MEW staple piece.
Every season I choose a subject to obsess over – some would likely call it inspiration but I think I get obsessed instead… this season, it’s going to be swans.
Can you describe your design process? How has working with neoprene influenced your creative process?
Every season I choose a subject to obsess over – some would likely call it inspiration but I think I get obsessed instead. Last season, it was oysters.
This season, it’s going to be swans. Sure, they’re known for their companionship and devotion to each other – and then there’s the Swan Lake lore – it’s all so funny to me in the sense that it attributes so much gracefulness to the bird. Have you seen them exit the water? How they wobble about on their short little legs? Love that. There is humour in all that drama.
What barriers or challenges, if any, have you experienced in accessing the industry?
Financing – a lot of my friends started their own brands straight after graduating and I couldn’t. I had done a bunch of different jobs in fashion by the time I was able to launch MEW. I’m grateful for that experience, but I do occasionally catch myself wondering what it would be like now if I’d had the money to start back then.
What changes would you like to see, if any, in the fashion industry right now, and how is your brand contributing to this?
It’s a tough one – the fashion industry is dominated by the corporate vortex. Creativity is plentiful but it’s swallowed unrelentingly by that giant beast. It’s absolutely suffocating when the multibillion dollar guild clearly has a smaller creative’s work on their moodboard.
I think if you’re a smaller creative experiencing that, my advice would be to just keep creating. Don’t get too hung up on the injustice or you will burn yourself out instead of investing your energy into your next creations. At the end of the day we have to think about the legends: McQueen, Gaultier, Galliano, Westwood – they were copied over and over for decades; did it ruin them? All grievances considered, they kept their heads down and pressed on. That’s how I prefer to think personally. At the end of the day, my brand is my creative outlet and it’s hard work. If I’m worrying constantly about what’s on my heels, I’m not going to be doing that work, and to me that’s what matters.
The fashion industry is dominated by the corporate vortex. Creativity is plentiful but it’s swallowed unrelentingly by that giant beast. It’s absolutely suffocating when the multibillion dollar guild clearly has a smaller creative’s work on their moodboard.
What’s the best and worst advice you’ve ever been given about fashion or design?
Best advice is to produce small quantities as you’re starting up. Do not overproduce, no matter how bombastically revolutionary you think your design is. Production houses will try to trick you into increasing quantities for lower prices per unit: don’t bite that bait! You’ll lose all those savings tenfold in storage fees, believe me.
Worst advice? I can’t think of any. I’m very stubborn and didn’t tend to listen to people when their opinion didn’t align with mine. Very stubborn, sometimes to my own detriment.
What artist, album or podcast are you blasting on repeat while you’re working in your studio/space?
I actually like to watch anime if I’m working alone, but when I’m working with my team, I tend to blast epic fast-paced breakcore. I like electronic music.
What’s your weirdest or wildest fashion obsession right now?
Thigh-high boots – specifically, Prada’s Fall 2009 tall fisherman boots. You have no idea: I’ve searched the deepest darkest corners of the web for those but no luck still. If anyone at Prada reads this, please, help a girl out.
What fictional character would LOVE your label?
Sirens that lay on rocks and sing songs to lure in mariners and kill them.
And who IRL would you love to see wearing your designs?
Bella Hadid would look stunning in MEW.
What are your plans for the future?
I would love to have my own fashion show art performance. I want one so bad but besides finances it takes a lot of organising and planning. My schedule is still a little chaotic at the moment, but hopefully soon!
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