Phillips, a fancy auction house in London’s posh Mayfair, has never experienced anything quite like it.
In its gallery, where famous artworks usually take pride of place, sits a children’s bouncy castle, with adults happily jumping about inside.
Emblazoned with slogans, cartoons, childish scribbles and pop-culture motifs, the entrance to the castle is labelled “Mira’s Happy House”.
The author of this delightful folly is Mira Mikati, a Lebanese designer who launched her first collection of tailored separates decorated with these cartoon graphics a couple of years ago.
She says she wanted her eponymous collection to scream positivity, happiness and fun, hence the bouncy castle at the launch of her latest collection. Her clothes are very grown-up, but the cheerful use of emojis, smiley faces, cartoon graphics and pop art sets them apart. Moschino, more extreme under Jeremy Scott’s direction, is perhaps the only other brand to tap into that same irreverent style in such an upbeat, positive way.
It is perhaps understandable, then, that stars such as Rihanna and Beyoncé connect with Mikati’s playful mood and have become fans, as have fashion stylists and bloggers – and social media has given an added boost to the profile of the collection.
Street-style photographers regularly snap stars wearing designer Mikati bomber jackets which, despite the popularity of the brand’s winter coats, remain her signature item, and a particular favourite with customers across the region.
“Dubai, Kuwait, together with Beirut, have become such a fashion-forward market,” Mikati says. “I find the customers there go for the special and the strong pieces – they have no fear.” The look she has created is very much a reflection of her own personality.
“I am quite a positive person who likes to enjoy life, and tends to push negative thoughts away as much I can,” she says.
The idea for the label emerged from her experience as buyer and co-founder of leading fashion-concept store Plum, in Beirut, which stocks such avant garde brands as Vetements and Marques’Almeida.
Born in Beirut, Mikati’s family moved to Paris during the war, when she was 6 years old. She returned to Beirut a year before opening Plum in 2007.
In 2012, she was asked to design a capsule collection for Parisian label Façonnable, which proved to be such a sell-out success that she was encouraged to launch her own label.
“I began designing because I felt the industry lacked something,” she says. “Everything looked the same to me. I wanted to create things that I couldn’t find, something with a positive message. I wanted to wear things that evoked a sense of fun and happiness.”
Mikati has collaborated with contemporary artists including Takashi Murakami, Darcel and KAWS, the American artist and animator renowned for designing the quirky KAWS toys.
“I greatly believe in collaborations because they have the ability to merge two minds and two universes into one piece,” she adds.
Mikati’s children are also a major influence on her work and her Peter Pan-like desire to never grow up.
However, living in London with her husband and children, running a fashion label from Paris and managing a boutique in Beirut (where her family and friends live), which she visits every six weeks, requires a lot of energy.
“I am constantly in a race against time: it’s my worst enemy,” she says, making a face very much like one of the smiley motifs on her clothes.
• Mira Mikati is stocked by Plum, Beirut; Sauce, Dubai; Saks Fifth Avenue, Bahrain; Alothman and Harvey Nichols, Kuwait; and online at Net-a-Porter and Moda Operandi.
artslife@thenational.ae
