They are colorful and pastel, the collections by Marina Hoermanseder, which the Viennese designer adorns with straps and buckles. With the latter, Hoermanseder has now also given the Rado classic Captain Cook a new look. In this interview, she reveals why the 35-year-old is so fascinated by leather craftsmanship and what treasures lie dormant in her closet.
FACES: You studied at various fashion schools. How important are these in order to be successful as a designer later on?
Marina Hoermanseder: A good education is important. However, training can only provide you with tools that you then have to use yourself. Inspiration and creativity is something you can’t learn. It is not so much a question of where or how renowned a school is where you study.
F: Leather, straps and buckles are your trademarks. What fascinates you about this material and this hardwear?
MH: I’ve always been fascinated by the craftsmanship of leather, the processing steps from the tanned piece of leather to the edge grinding, dyeing, the whole fulling process. The fact that you can work leather by hand and give it a completely new shape – that’s what fascinates me the most.
F: You are currently launching your new label Hoermanseder. What can we expect here?
MH: A new version of my brand that appeals to a younger target group. More wearable, edgier, cooler, but just as pop, funky and approachable as Marina Hoermanseder.
F: Your latest coup is a watch with Rado. How did this collaboration come about?
MH: It has always been my dream to do my own watch collaboration and design my own watch. In my opinion, watch straps are predestined to be adorned with leather buckles. However, I have been waiting for the perfect partner to make it happen. There was no question of cooperating with a jewelry watch manufacturer. I wanted to learn about genuine Swiss watchmaking and the art of watchmaking.
F: What inspired the look of this model?
MH: I wanted to give the timeless Captain Cook a new look with my pastel-colored buckles. It should be very feminine because the model is actually very tall. The idea was to have an object that could also be used as a bracelet, because a watch can be so much more than just a timepiece.
F: What do you think of Instagram?
MH: Instagram is the most important social media platform for me. To create brand awareness and promote products, to position myself and to be in direct contact with my customers and my community and to bring the person behind the Marina Hoermanseder label closer to a broad mass of people.
“A watch can be so much more than just a timepiece.”
F: What do you look at on Instagram, and what channel do you follow that you’re ashamed of?
MH: The newsfeed always displays the content that the algorithm considers interesting for you. I mainly watch dog and fun videos, and that’s actually what I consume the most, animal videos and funny stories. But of course I’m always on the lookout for inspiration. I look at a lot of outfit blogs, a lot of fashion feeds and those of magazines. I am a person who is rarely ashamed of anything. I would have no problem disclosing my list of social media accounts I follow and TV shows I watch.
F: You’ve recently become a mother. What is exactly as you imagined and what is completely different from what you expected?
MH: It’s true when everyone says that time goes by far too quickly and children grow up so fast. I didn’t expect it to be so easy and that our Lotti would join us in our lives, that everything would fit together and work so well.
F: What are the biggest challenges you are currently facing?
MH: When you say ‘bringing everything under one hat’, I’m currently wearing a lot of hats. (laughs) Entrepreneur, designer, mother, partner, friend, daughter… The biggest challenge at the moment is to do justice to all departments with my workload – but I’m happy to face it.
F: How did you get to where you are today?
MH: With a lot of diligence and zeal.
F: Looking back, what would you do differently?
MH: I would trust more that everything will be fine.
F: Which of your achievements are you particularly proud of?
MH: To every single one. A cooperation like the one with Rado is like an accolade for me. The fact that such partners place so much trust in me and always somehow place their brand identity in my hands shows me that I have done a lot of things right.
F: What would you like to be able to do?
MH: Talking to dogs.
F: What’s going wrong in the fashion industry?
MH : At the moment, I have the feeling that the craft and profession of a designer is being watered down a bit. Due to the abundance of design collaborations, you get the feeling that anyone can be a designer. That destroys the craft we have learned. Cutting, drawing and technical details are all part of the design process.
F: How do you envision the fashion industry in ten years?
MH: I’m curious to see what it will be like in ten years’ time. I think the established couture labels will continue to exist and I hope that they will continue to focus on real couture and craftsmanship. Countless new brands will come and go. In my opinion, the clientele, the customers and the market will also change. We are moving more in the direction of sustainability and investing heavily in this area. Slow fashion will become an issue, everything will slow down.
F: What does your closet look like, and what are your best-kept treasures?
MH: My closet is colorful and mixed up, there’s a bit of everything. My best-kept treasures are definitely the sequin dresses and skirts, which I wear far too rarely, but which I am always happy to discover in my closet.
F: Are you feeling positive about the future, and what gives you hope?
MH: I always look positively to the future. Everything that is happening at the moment gives me hope that things will continue just as positively, beautifully and successfully – but I will continue to work hard for this and not just hope.
F: What do you do when you need to blow off steam?
MH: I go to the dog run. I am only a dog owner there. They only talk to each other about the dogs and not about any everyday problems.
F: What is your favorite place?
MH: My favorite place is with my family, and that is in no way geographically bound.
F: What do you reward yourself with?
MH: With sweets and trash TV.
F: What saying are you sick of hearing?
MH: ‘Children or career.
Click here for the interview with the Munich original, photographer and model Simon Lohmeyer
