Family Ties: In Conversation With Martine Rose

I sit down with Martine Rose in an east London kitchen; it’s cozy, quaint, and noisy. The washing machine spins as chatter drifts in from the front room where someone is getting their hair done. I couldn’t help but think this kitchen, with smells reminiscent of Luster’s Pink Oil Moisturizer and hot combs while tea brews on the table, makes the perfect setting for this interview. “I’m half Jamaican and half English,” Martine says to me as she sits cross-legged on the sofa. “I come from a really big extended family on both sides but I was closer to my Jamaican family…immigrant families tend to be a lot closer.”

We share stories about growing up — Martine tells me about her large family comprised of cousins, uncles and aunts who would congregate every Saturday at her Nana’s house in Brixton South London when she was younger. Like most immigrant families, her nan’s house was often the place to meet with cousins and learn new things, taste the meals that remind you of home and, in Martine’s case, begin ideas for a future she didn’t yet know she had.

“My family life translates quite literally but is also very mixed in with my influences. My references are often drawn from those early experiences.” Looking at Martine’s AW19 collection, she clearly pays homage to her roots. Printed on a decorative tea towels is a receipt of her grandma’s Ackee and Saltfish, similar to something you would find in an elderly Jamaican home. Martine opted to show outside of the busy London Fashion Week men’s schedule, she took over a small intimate space in Paris where she crafted a story of her youth.

“I had such a strong sense of family growing up and of course, the amazing thing about cousins is there different to siblings, you don’t have the same types of competitions,” she reveals, with quiet grin. “Cousins. They are your extended brothers and sisters but less annoying… my cousins felt like a real safety net.”

As noted her Instagram bio, Martine Rose is probably the best designer in the world. She’s become a quiet force in the industry, brilliantly designing collections that reach outside fashion’s comfort zone — challenging ideas of sexuality, gender and representation to create effortlessly cool pieces, coveted by only the most stylish rappers and internet kids alike.

Martine Rose was already an anomaly to the fashion world when she graduated from Middlesex University in 2002, with most of her peers coming from renowned fashion programs at London’s Central Saint Martins or Westminster. Her first stint in fashion was a t-shirt business called LMNOP which she started the year she graduated with her friend Tamara Rothstein – a learning curve for both as the brand folded shortly after in 2005. Martine then set her sights on new ventures creating her own shirting company which slowly developed into the brand we know today.

After perfecting the shirt, Martine introduced more pieces into her brand, first with tailoring then with sportswear, creating a hybrid style that married the two rather different disciplines. In Spring 2011 the wider fashion world was finally introduced to Martine’s work, showing with Fashion East for the first time. As the years went by, Martine’s work developed and created a cult following,, gaining her recognition from big institutes and receiving sponsorship from British Fashion Council ’s NEWGEN MEN awards.

Finding one’s feet in this industry can be difficult, but it’s safe to say Martine has overcome this and more by creating a brand with its own identity in this current climate of cloned fashion. However, Martine’s journey has not been an easy one. Martine admits that although her parents were supportive, they often worried about her. “I earned no money. I was still working in a bar right up until I was 33,” Martine says with a laugh. “It was really hard and at those times, they were like ‘what are you doing? I wish you were a dentist.” […] It’s stressful and scary for them watching me really struggle, and I really did struggle, so I understand why parents are like ‘get a degree and get a good job.’”

News broke last year of the abhorrent Windrush scandal which has left London in a very hostile political climate. With West Indian migrants being wrongly detained, denied legal rights and facing unlawful deportations. Many affected are British born or have been in this country for decades, unfamiliar with the lands they are being deported to.

“Fashion should reflect [the current climate] unless you’re completely tone death to the times we live in.”

With Martine’s history of shaking things up, it’s no surprise how outspoken she is about the current Windrush scandal. As a Jamaican, this is a cause that is close to her heart, but as she reminded me, could also affect any one of her older family members.

“Fashion should reflect [the current climate] unless you’re completely tone death to the times we live in,” she says. “And it picks up on those political tones, but I don’t know if it should be a leader in that. Our fucking politicians should be doing that. It’s not a designers job.”.

Martine has attended both marches outside the Jamaican embassy making sure she is supporting. She recalls the last time having to leave and how she was in tears as the protesters put a 23-year-old being held at Yarl’s Wood awaiting deportation on speakerphone — he hadn’t eaten for days, was extremely scared and didn’t know anyone in Jamaica. Another march where police officers outnumbered the participates “because of overrepresentation of police at a black event is just standard,” Martine tells me as she rolls her eyes. We look to designers to take a stand for what they believe in, Martine’s presence at the march and her new collection that celebrates her roots are not unnoticed.

“I find it a very strange time at the moment. Politically and creatively, [it’s] a very crazy, shifting landscape. We are in a very weird time in fashion. I feel personally like [we’re experiencing] the death of the avant-garde,” she sighs. The commercial potential of fashion has become more than noticed and it’s a time of great mediocrity. There are no real ideas. I don’t want to sound too pessimistic – it’s just everyone is finding their feet in this new landscape and world.”

And Martine is right, we are sitting in a weird time in fashion and style. The two aren’t necessarily merging. Brands are very concentrated on churning out the popular trends and less invested at looking at their own individuality. With clone collections heading down runways season after season, Martine’s take on fashion is a breath of fresh, creative air.

Socially, the younger generation is leading today’s fashion trends with a new push for brands to be more inclusive, aware and globally sustainable. However, Martine doesn’t design with trends in mind. “I only really know how to do what I do. I’ve never been a commercial person anyway because I think that will come. You don’t have to worry about being commercial. If you care about what you do, it will come.” One of Martine’s talents has always been understanding youth culture. Even if she isn’t directly designing for younger people she never excludes them, which is a very rare find.. “I find [that] young people, in general, are inspiring,” she beams.

Martine has a second child now and has worked out the formula to balancing motherhood and owning her own label,though she admits she couldn’t do it without her amazing support system. I wanted to know if having a child changed the way she felt about working in the fashion industry. “I give less of a shit. My children have really given me a confidence I think because naturally the focus come off yourself and you have another priority I give much less of shit about how I come across to other people. You know obviously I still care but that insecurity has gone slightly.”

“My life has changed. When I had Valentine – Martine’s oldest child – I was living in a squat in Hackney, still really struggling. I was going to move into a bedsit in Catford when she was 3 months old [when] I got the call from Balenciaga and that changed everything. You think your life is going to get harder with kids, but really, my kids [helped] my career take off. It was a total head fuck.”

This call was one that was going to change Martine’s idea of how she managed her own brand. As she was about to step into the giant Parisian fashion house Balenciaga to start her consultancy. Demna Gvasalia, Balenciaga’s creative director, had been a fan of Martine’s work for a few years now, and being a great creative mind,he knew he needed Martine’s originality on board. “I just finished my last season. It was amazing. I love the team, I love Demna. I mean, I really used to sit there and not believe I was getting paid for it because I loved it so much. It was my first job, so it was a massive learning curve but it was so interesting and exciting to be a part of. [It’s been] 3-years already, and I [still] can’t speak highly enough of the team.

Anyone that has followed the development of Martine’s career knows she’s taken a lot of creative risks that have paid off. The ongoing theme of taking an archetypal man and turning him fashion can be seen in each collection. We’ve seen bus drivers, football fans and club culture be reinvented and turned into high fashion. This vision is inspired by her childhood and seeing the men in her family take up different roles; most notably her father who was a black panther.

“[When] I think about the men in my family, they definitely 100% inspired a lot of the looks. [Coming] from a Jamaican family, style was very important.. Jamaicans laugh at the notion of fashion, but having style is very important – it’s inherent. It’s not something you can buy. It’s the way you put things together. That’s absolutely an attitude that [has] inspired me.”

Martine has fought against the fashion system since her first collection. For Spring 2017 her collection was inspired by second-hand clothing, for AW16 she showed her collection as a short film installation, and her Spring 2018 used a climbing wall as a backdrop.

For SS19 Martine showed in a small cul-de-sac in Chalk Farm called St. Leonard’s Square. Residents were invited to attend the show alongside fashion “elite” – something that breaks all fashion hierarchy codes – but the scene and feeling was nothing but beautiful, reminding us all that fashion is for everyone. Described by Martine as a love letter to London, SS19 was about revisiting her youth — bringing back her signature oversized “dad jackets” and reinventing them with ‘90s-inspired leopard print and leather.

Martine still goes to her Nan’s house often on Saturdays. Her family are all extremely close. She shows me her family WhatsApp with about 30 participants – aunts, uncles and cousins. She laughs as she shows me pictures of her uncle who is currently in Jamaica for a holiday; it’s his 70th birthday and he hasn’t been back since he was 10. He’s doing that typical cute thing older relatives do and is documenting every little bit of the trip. It makes you feel like you’re right there with them. Martine tells me her little cousins wear her pieces. Her 12-year-old cousin, Aaliyah, is pretty obsessed and she always gives her hoodies. I think of how proud her family must be, but before I have a chance to ask, Martine answers the question in my head as if she’s read it on my face.

“My dad used to whisper to me as a baby, ‘you’re going to be the first black Prime Minister.’ Both of my parents have been extremely supportive of anything I have done. I’m not the first black Prime Minister, but I think he’s just as proud to be honest.”