MYRTO STAMOU

...translating strong and bold imagery into artistic and elegant garments

With a Gold Award winning collection at Graduate Fashion Week 2009 and citations in Vogue, Elle and i-D magazine, Myrto Stamou has made a confident first step into the fashion industry. Growing up in Greece, her love for fashion flowed from an appreciation for the aesthetics and artistic sensitivity of traditional Greek design. Draping, pleating and delicate fabric manipulations all feature strongly in her work, which takes its inspiration from a variety of strong and bold images that she translates into artistic and elegant garments for the female body. Her Spring Summer 2010 collection is designed to encompass the powerful emotions within surrealist, yet sensual imagery in a delicate and wearable way. Drawing her main inspiration from Hans Bellmer's sculpture "The Spinning Top", she uses soft, delicate silk jersey juxtaposed with the toughness of handcrafted leather which she manipulates and treats as a blank canvas for her imaginative designs. The first few months after Graduate Fashion Week 2009 have been an exciting time for Myrto Stamou with her winning collection being featured in high-profile media and catwalk shows. She also enjoyed the opportunity to design a S/S 2010 capsule collection for an ethical fashion website. Myrto Stamou is currently working with up-and-coming English designer Hannah Marshall, acquiring invaluable experience and knowledge for a promising future.

Nothing inspires me like…
Art. If I wasn’t a designer, I would definitely like to work as an artist. The way I see fashion is strongly affected by my love for art. Naum Gabo, Dali, Hans Bellmer have given me the strongest inspiration for my work.

I hope…
Aesthetics and style can become a more vital part of everyone’s lives. Trying to make the world around you more beautiful is like celebrating life!

Cultural influences…
Have defined my view of the world since I was a child. Being born in Greece filled me with a passion for Grecian aesthetics and delicate fabric manipulations.

I got where I am...
Mainly because I love what I’m doing and I never stop working to make it better. Being passionate and dedicated, I have managed to start making my dreams come true.

Fashion can sometimes...
Seem a bit vain. Many things in life may be vain, but I guess these are the things that make it more interesting.

If I could…
I would spend my life travelling all around the world, exploring remote places and different cultures and discovering new ways of conceiving fashion.

Pain comes from…
Continuous disasters and disappointments. This is usually when I become more creative than ever. Creativity surprisingly gets better with a bit of desperation some times!

I’m a perfectionist…
Mainly because I think that there is no reason for doing something, if I am not doing my best to make it perfect. Especially when it’s about something that I love and feel passionate about.

The earliest memory...
I have is me spending most of my free time drawing on every surface I find in my room. I always felt that I needed to express whatever is in my mind with my pencil and colours. I couldn’t be happier about still being able to do this.

My future is…
Quite unpredictable, just like everyone else’s future. That is what I keep telling myself when I think that I can plan everything to the last detail. Unfortunately, I’m rarely convinced…

I love getting older...
Because I see my aesthetics changing and becoming more mature as I do. My design identity and vision evolve through the years, and this is one of my goals, to not be stable and to always find something new to say.

Creativity comes from…
My need to make things that make my world more attractive with a further goal of making other people’s world more attractive, too.

My dreams…
Never stop reinventing themselves. The closer I get to them, the more distant they become. It’s a way of keeping me motivated and excited.

I like making...
Mistakes. It reminds me that there are many ways of doing the same thing and that the wrong way may be more interesting than the right one.

Studios make me…
Feel that I’m in an ideal world where everything translates into creativity, inspiration and new ideas.

MYRTO STAMOU ON NJAL