12/04/2022
By wizewebsite
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Underwear with a touch of graffiti and street art. It was a sensitive job, says designer Ptáčková<

Lidovky.cz: You have created a collection of original underwear for the new Czech brand Madlove Body. Which is more important for you - functionality or what the laundry looks like? Neither should be at the expense of the other, this is especially true for linen. Functionality and appearance should correlate. All the more work means that the designer does not neglect either.

Lidovky.cz: You are starting a campaign on Hithit. Why is there something special waiting for people there? We want to involve the audience in the establishment of the brand and therefore the pre-sale will come as a great start. We enjoy the whole communication around it and we believe that thanks to the help of people without whom the brand would not have been possible, we can successfully start it all. In addition, customers will find products there that will not be in regular sales.

Designer Petra Ptáčková

Lidovky.cz: What materials are crucial in the collection? Most women's underwear is made of ultra-soft micromodal knit. However, a fine cotton fabric with a proportion of elastane is crucial for the brand's identity for better flexibility, which carries, through the author's illustrations, different manuscripts of the team members. It's such a hand patchwork, where I tried to capture the differences of each illustrator. It's about the attitudes of different people, where a girl from the East, along with a reference to stories and subjects, has a completely different style next to the boy who grew up on graffiti and street art.

Lidovky.cz: Many, not only Czech, brands are embarking on the path of so-called sustainability. Did you think about that when creating the new collection? Today, in my opinion, it is no longer a question of choice, but an automatic part of the process from identity creation, through specific product designs, where materials and processing are chosen, to logistics. But what sustainability in fashion actually means is another matter, and the answer would be one full conversation. Sometimes a small brand cannot achieve all sustainable principles, but it is more flexible in how to produce things locally and from local sources. But the whole thing requires more control over production, which also means more knowledge about everything that happens and how to do it differently. We try to approach the whole project in a sustainable way, but with common sense, so that it is financially affordable for us. Especially when the whole thing is newborn.

We have production supervision and we can take care of a lot of things. We knit key rings and bracelets from cuttings of materials - waste that is generated during production. These are done for us, for example, by retired people or girls who have two jobs, but are in difficult financial situations and any hundred will help them. This helps me to be in a good mood and so we try to squeeze positive energy into our collection.

Spodní prádlo s nádechem graffiti a street artu. Byla to citlivá práce, říká návrhářka Ptáčková

Lidovky.cz: How different is the design of underwear from everything else? From the first moment. As a designer, you have to perceive the real wearer much more and experience everyday situations with him. Then, somewhere in the back, a creative voice comes on. It's about inner feelings and moments when you're more with yourself. In line with such a substantial mood line, still putting some relief and humor into your underwear is quite a challenge. It's actually a very sensitive job.

Petra Ptáčková

Born in Prague, she graduated from technical high school with a focus on clothing. She then went to Paris, where she attended the prestigious Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. She founded her brand in high school, presenting her collections in showrooms at the Paris Fashion Week, fashion festivals in Maastricht, Kiev, Amsterdam, Madrid and Prague. Her work has attracted attention to, for example, the Italian, Spanish and British editions of Vogue or Elle and Glamor magazines, and her models sell boutiques in Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo. She also worked in film, commercials and made a living as a stuntwoman.

Lidovky.cz: The current situation in the company affects everyone - how did it affect you both professionally and personally? I try to entertain the work and I'm lucky - I can do what I do. Not always, but often, I manage to drive away the grief of separation from my, otherwise very dynamic, way of life. I calmed down, reconsidered how I wanted and did not want the projects to work, after about 10 years I had time to get out of the circle and see from a distance what everything is in my mega mix of activities.

Specifically, I'm not in such a hurry in fashion. I deviated from the creation of entire collections, where one bounces along the way during the "marathon". Instead, I learn to take a deep breath and design my work more focused in one place. Thanks to that, I am then able to give the projects the required care and also work on nice projects like this.

In my personal life, for the first time in a few years, I would like to have more of my personal life, and the time and energy spent in this way is surprisingly very positively reflected at work. One suddenly learns to say no to projects.

Lidovky.cz: I like to travel quite a lot. How do you tolerate the current limitations? It's hard for me to describe, but my last 13 years of life are based on travel. What's more, for me it's not sightseeing, mountain climbing, surfing and going home again. It was often a situation where I started to build a new life from scratch, to create my environment, and that is a bond forever. And even though I don't live in those places at the moment, I need to go back there. I think how you manage all the difficult situations in the beginning, that you already have something somewhere and you go somewhere to start again, shapes you and makes you who you are. An open head and a desire to learn are important. But as I said, I also see positives at the moment. For me, it's calm, the opportunity to focus on work and perceive things more and finish them.

Lidovky.cz: You are not only designing clothes, you are also a stuntwoman and dancer. What are you doing more now? In parallel with fashion, I am still developing my knitting skills, which I studied in Italy under the legendary Miss Deanna Ferretti. This opened the door to Italian manufactories and their know-how. Knitwear definitely changed my life and view of fashion and changes it further.

Increasing work with new technologies forces me to learn new things, and that charges me with energy and excitement. And without it, my work on projects I spend long hours and weekends wouldn't make sense. Thanks to the pandemic, I am finally stuck at home in the Czech Republic and it is great. I have my studio and I am working on a project that goes beyond fashion into the interior, using just those new technologies. This fulfills my dreams of stepping out of the fashion world into other fields as well.

Of course, such a dynamically built daily program requires physical activity, especially if you have been playing sports since childhood. But I don't actively do stunt work, because it requires more time and self-care, and I'd rather have a beer in peace. In addition, every time the weather changes, I'm sometimes glad that I don't have to go down some stairs.

Lidovky.cz: You once said that your fashion is too far for the Czechs. Do you still think so, or are we braver? I move and people move. I think that today I can better find the necessary balance, at the same time the others go with my head more open. I still lack my own opinion - not to blindly copy fashion trends, because it is worn by someone on the instagram, but to get to know myself more and perceive why I am wearing this and how it resonates with me.

It's definitely more about working with yourself and less about looking at others, because others still don't know how you feel. And the need to work with underwear is very different. You need to cuddle more with such a product. But the distance in my work is still, maybe only more advanced. I enjoy it more and more when people sit it and see that they will wear it. Suddenly, there is also a certain euphoria hidden in it, connecting your product to someone's life and stories. It's indescribable.

Lidovky.cz: But you are reaping huge success in the world, already during your studies you presented the collection on piers in Spain, Britain or Germany. What do you plan to do next year? This year, I want to kick my brand more, which is currently a multi-storey house that covers various projects. This is where the next collaboration in the fashion sector comes from, as well as the aforementioned overlap in interior design.