IN CONVERSATION WITH: MALTE FLAGSTAFF FROM TONSURE

AM:
It was a great show and one thing I’ve noticed is that the collection is far from the minimal aesthetic that is stereotyped to come from Scandinavian brands. 

MF:
Yes, but at the same time (this is coming from me who designed the clothes) there's a minimalist touch to it but it's not Helmut Lang or in anyway that kind of style. I draw a lot of references from wherever I go all over the world - so I’m not like a Scandi kind of designer (though I may look like one). I’m also a complete fabric nerd so like to really work with fabrics and stuff and even doing a shirt in a different kind of fabric changes everything whereas doing a shirt in white cotton poplin - then you would be considered to be super minimalist.

AM:
Margiela is one of those fashion houses that is quite different in the way that they approach their work. Galliano recently talked on how collaborative, democratic and humble the work environment is - How has your time there influenced your work style and process when working on Tonsure?

MF:
It was exactly the same as you just described - It was super collaborative, if you’re an intern and you have a great idea, the attitude is let’s bring it on, lets make it the opening look - the best ideas win at the end of the day, without the elbowing of your peers. People would go on research trips - come back and then there would be a ping pong of ideas being bounced around the room.

Sometimes we would take ideas from the womenswear sometimes they would take ideas from the menswear - it was a nice kind of collaboration with the teams being so small (2 or 3 people on the menswear at the time) working on 4 collections a year so it naturally bred that environment.

AM:
I understand that when you was younger you had a keen interest in architecture and furniture design, even considering exploring it as a profession. Has that affected your aesthetic or design approach?

MF:
I think so - I’m not saying that its industrial design style in any way because it's not at all but I think in the way that I look at certain details or apply them to the clothes I think you can sort of sense at least a profound interest in interior design and architecture.

AM:
What does fashion mean to you?

MF:
For me, at the end of the day, it’s something that people have to wear - and this is something I learned at Margiela that you have to be totally aware of. Even though you’re doing something that’s over the top or different, at the end of the day people have to feel excited about it and want to wear it.

It's work and that may sound boring - but for me, I can’t see myself doing anything else, if I see something that needs to be done at 8pm I don’t switch off for the night I stay on it and work hard. I’m not the type of person that wants to be sitting on the cloud being heralded as the ‘genius’ designer - Not at all. It's a full-time job, I do clothes and hopefully, people like it and buy it.

AM:
Nice, pretty humbled.

MF:
Yeah, you could say that.

AM:
What’s next for Tonsure?

MF:
Well more stockists. We want to try to present in London and Paris. We want to try and open a shop in Japan because half of our stockists are based there - so maybe that will be our next steps. That sounds like a lot but the main thing is to carry on as we are.  We've been going in the right direction and we have achieved big things recently.