Behind the Collection: Martin Grant

Designer Martin Grant is something of a quiet triumph. A Melbourne native, he learned to sew from his grandmother before first apprenticing with a young designer at 15. By 18 he had started his own label, and was a part of the cultural ferment of early-'80s Melbourne that produced the goverment-sponsored Fashion Design Council parades, and many of what have since become Australia's top designers. Worn out with by the fashion scene by 21, Grant closed shop and returned to school to study fine arts, eventually settling on sculpture, which allowed him to explore 3D form-making with a different material arsenal.

Often you'll do one thing that just feels right. And then you can push an idea from a jacket into a dress, a coat, a skirt, so it has that thread. But it really is kind of scary sometimes—it's like walking in the dark.
—Martin Grant

Is it true that you rarely work from drawings or do a lot of upfront planning, but prefer to build your patterns around the dummy as you go? Tell us about the creative process…
It always starts with the fabrics, for me. I don't work with themes, for example. I work very instinctively. I start by checking out all the companies, to see what I'm attracted to that season. I start editing down the fabrics—which is what I'm doing now—until that gives me a story. Then I go out and spend a week going to museums, bookshops, etc. I pick out a few things, things that attract me whether it's a painting, a color, or a certain mood, and I'll just sort of surround myself with the fabrics, with these few elements, and then begin working on the dummy. How the fabric falls determines so much. It's not trying to make something fit, it's actually going with the fabric. I start by draping it on the dummy, then doing toiles in a basic calico, and then you draw on that, you cut it, you pin it, you get the volume that you want, and then you flatten it out, recut it in the fabric. But I've always usually determined the style with just the fabric itself on the dummy. Often you'll do one thing that just feels right. And then you can push an idea from a jacket into a dress, a coat, a skirt, so it has that thread. But it really is kind of scary sometimes—it's like walking in the dark.

Often you'll do one thing that just feels right. And then you can push an idea from a jacket into a dress, a coat, a skirt, so it has that thread. But it really is kind of scary sometimes—it's like walking in the dark.
—Martin Grant

What sort of aesthetic or approach would you say unites the collections since your relaunch in '96, or even before?
It's always really about finding a certain volume, a certain silhouette. I do try to remain true to myself, if you like. I try not to look at anything else that's going on. I tend not to buy fashion magazines, I don't follow the shows—I look at them afterward, but I don't submerge myself in the fashion world, because I think it's important to have your own voice and just follow what you're best at, and what comes out of what you're doing. But it's always about what's the most flattering thing for women, I strive for a perfection in the clothing and the finishing of the clothing once it actually gets to a certain style. I suggest something, I provide what I can provide, and hope that it's going to work.