Matty Bovan On Making “Grandma’s Box” For Kristen McMenamy

Fashion darling Matty Bovan is on the talent list that stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele allocated Kristen McMenamy to wear in the UK ModeJanuary 2022 edition. But the designer is still amazed when he sees his supermodel. “She seems to embody that kind of character and movement — she relates to and interacts with clothing in a unique and intuitive way,” she said. Mode. “Growing up, some of my first major fashion images featured Kristen, so it was great to see her in my designs.”

Carlyne – who has worked with Kristen since her early days as a model – recounts the “énergie” she brought to the set. Matty agrees: “Even from the way he sits [the dress], you can tell that he clearly gets into character and moves in it.”

The dress has been worn by another supermodel: the inimitable Erin O’Connor, who stars in the designer’s spring/summer 2022 look book, Hypercraft. True to its title, this collection explores Bovan’s expert approach to craft. “Seventies nostalgia”, “grandmother’s couch in a twisted nightmare”, “blurred static TV” and “shake rug” inform the avant-garde silhouettes and homemade finishes that are seen throughout the room.

Matty is also honing a new technique to create a knitted “grandmother’s square” consisting of Kristen’s tulle cape dress, which is handcrafted in her studio in York. The rainbow patches are made using vintage yarn she has collected over time (some are almost 15 years old). “The concept was to raise the level of crafting that I had done before and to showcase crafts on a different scale,” he said. “I feel like this is a great representation of the world of Matty Bovan.”

Like upcycling expert Nicole McLaughlin – who gave the old-fashioned look of Puma’s 26 goalkeeping gloves to the shoot-out – Bovan was a green trailblazer. “This is a very important conversation to have,” he said. “[The shoot] It’s the opposite of what fashion used to be, to the point where everyone wants to know where it’s coming from, everyone wants longevity in an item, people really want to know how things are made and what they’re made of.”