DJ. Photographer. Events manager. Marcelo Burlon wears many hats. But he’s best known globally for building a fashion empire out of T-shirts and turning it into a fully-fledged streerwear brand. Famous for his used of geometric graphic prints in gold, mixed with Patagonian symbols, the Milanese designer recently created a capsule collection for Harvey Nichols Dubai.
He was in the city for the launch and spoke to The Directory about his inspirations, his aspirations and why he loves Dubai...
Hey Marcelo, welcome back to Dubai.
Thanks for having me guys! I’ve been here many times and I really love the city’s unique atmosphere. I love the fact that here you can find people from various countries and that all of them are able to sit together and share views, ideas and have cultural exchange.
Tell us a little about the capsule collection you’ve created for Harvey Nichols Dubai?
The graphic idea behind this capsule comes from our spring-summer 2017 collection and we decided to work on it to recreate the mood and the aesthetic of this city. Once we choose the gold colour as the main element of the capsule, we managed to translate every inspiration into graphics which could have also a dialog with the heavy metal samurai theme of the collection. At the end we presented a full outfit including a T-shirt, an hoodie and a pair of shorts.
You’ve successfully harnessed the power of social media to grow your label. Give us a little insight into how you did that.
Everything started with Pusha T wearing one of the first ‘Wings’ T-shirt in Miami. He posted a picture and I reposted it on my Instagram profile. We went from like 5,000 followers, to hundreds of thousands. At this point the struggle is to make sure that you don’t get lost in the hype, that’s when quality gets very low.
The streetwear market is booming. Why do you think that is?
Streetwear is the new wave. In the last years it became luxury streetwear and we started selling next to the big houses, it’s like a revolution. We really have to compete with the big brands, it’s not just about the image and what it looks like, the product must be high quality as well.
You started with t-shirts but now have a full collection including accessories. How else would you like to grow the label?
Every season there is something new, and numbers are growing very quick so I guess we’ll find out with time. I always like to do different things, and I like to explore others territories. By the way I can’t say I have a precise project: I simply follow my desires.
Go get yours
The Marcelo Burlon capsule collection starts at Dh1,050, now available at Harvey Nichols Dubai. Call 04-4098888.
