Catching a sight of Mart on a Berlin weekend is like experiencing a 4-D editorial. With shaved eyebrows, a radically asymmetrical bob plus undercut combination — above her neck in the back, her poker-straight, dark brown hair reaches down to her chest in the front — and full-face make-up that’s Queen of Hearts meets Marilyn Manson, Mart makes her presence unmissable. Born just a year before the fall of the USSR in central Poland, Mart spend her childhood searching for the clothes other people didn’t have. “Even as kid, sameness frustrated me,” she says. She recalls making frequent trips to the nearest major city, Lodz, to fill her closet with difference.
Mart showed a propensity for creativity from a young age in the form of fashion illustrations. “I would watch fashion shows and draw the looks from the runway,” she explains. Despite her inherent talent, the lack of artistic influence in her life led her to take a “safer” creative route when planning for her professional life. “Fashion design in Poland was something still very abstract at that time. People weren’t aware you could really have a profession in this field. Studying normal subjects made up some of the most boring years of my life,” Mart laments. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in product design, she felt a stronger pull toward fashion than ever before — and realised that her obsession with alternative beauty and aesthetics could best be exercised in the realm she had always loved the most. Having dyed her hair electric blue, Mart packed up her bags and moved to Warsaw to complete an intensive fashion training programme at MSKPU (the International School of Costume and Fashion Design). Mart says that her “artistic awareness really grew” during her studies, particularly in terms of developing a concept (she admits to skipping the occasional pattern-making class). She left the academy confident in her talent, ability and vision.
In pursuit of an internship and big city life, Mart felt Berlin was the next logical step. She worked closely with Malaysian designer Pearly Wong, assisting with everything from fashion shows to storefront management. But, being in the background only fuelled Mart’s compulsion to create. Discovering the city’s nightlife was for Mart the ultimate creative coming of age. Just days after arriving in the city, she recalls queuing in the rain for hours, before entering Berghain. Like an alien finally landing on its planet, Mart discovered a community of techno fiends that were as libertarian in their dress as they were about substance consumption. For Mart, the infamous night club became a never-ending well of inspiration.
Her technical skills developed rapidly when she started making her own outfits for Sunday dance sessions. Even while working for Wong, Mart found ultimate satisfaction in plotting and manifesting the club looks that anywhere else would be outlandish. Naturally, she soon became a fixture in the scene and was often barraged with compliments and inquiries about her weekly couture. Now, almost four years after first entering the club, Mart spends most of her time making bespoke pieces for Berlin’s most daring dancers. Even though her attention these days is allocated almost entirely to the sewing machine, Mart still saves a bit of magic for the dance floor. “Every time I go to Berghain I see so many beautiful people,” she enthuses. “This is my drive to make things. I need this playground; it really gives me something”.
Mart’s approach toward her clothing design is very project based. “I make unique clothes for unique people,” she says with confidence. One of her most recent endeavours was designing looks for a “techno — friends of hers were married in Berlin club Watergate in transparent red kimonos, complete with their names on the back. “I like the mod and minimalistic style of Berlin, but I need something more exciting, like an element of romance”. Most of Mart’s clothes, designed both for herself and others, maintain just that: staple punk, goth and cyber ensembles are spiced up with ruffles, lacings, and other Victorian flourishes. Maison Margiela, Thome Browne and Charles Jeffrey are all avant-gardists she holds in the high regard and their influence is palpable. Like any responsible contemporary designer, Mart is an avid up-cycler and does her best to create as little waste as possible in her work. In fact, some of her favourite pieces are the products of the “extras” bin, which she sees as a challenge to create “something” out of “nothing” — her latest triumph is her bed spread, she tells us. When asked about a striking metallic dress hanging in her closet, meanwhile, Mart replies matter of factly, “One week I decided I wanted to look like a disco ball”.
There’s joy and humour and courage in her dedication to total aesthetic liberty (although she admits to toning down her look for job interviews, or the occasional visit to her grandmother). “I do really like the idea of provoking heterosexual society,” she explains. The underside of Berlin remains her greatest influence, but Mart has her sights set on another fashion destination in the long term, a place where she feels her looks in the street and the club needn’t be different. “Japanese fashion is always something I’ve dreamed of being a part of. I’ve always envisioned Tokyo as a place where I could just go crazy with my look and wear whatever I want all the time, and still be comfortable.”
Photography by Maansi Jain.