A brand, a story, an experience: these words are added in a somewhat routine way to millions of advertising stories. Everything looks the same in the know-how department of luxury advertising megastores. Old eyes, accustomed to the neon lights of caves, tense up a little when the sun’s rays shine. Behind the gilded obelisk of marketing, lies a gentle hope. That of making people forget the derisory price of clothes, and selling them under the promise of an experience. No, it’s not a garment we’re buying, but the experience of belonging. Only the symbol counts: the climax of this theory would be the reduction of clothing to a logo. Has symbol culture replaced material culture? Is clothing now just a shadow of its former self, chosen for the presence of a brand rather than its sheer presence?
In the face of these pessimistic thoughts, all you have to do is take a sip of sunshine. Atelier Mimiidazzles, and will blind those who still think that fashion is nothing-or at least a frivolous grimoire. Marta Rios works in the shadows, but with a sunny approach that puts the garment at the heart of the design. Colorful, full of tulle and velvet, the pieces in this second collection have the ability to stop. To stop the gaze and suspend for a moment the ambient frenzy to imagine a story where the garment, in its simplicity, is enough. Pieces that occupy space, that are like multidimensional projections of a garment reduced to the unidimentionality of an idyllic symbol of capitalist society. Through her gestures, Marta Rios restores matter to clothing and offers food for thought. Her creative process is in itself a way of reading a history of couture in a global world made up of local traditions. 
Handmade products, the reinvestment of time, travel to different cultures and countries, but also an understanding of the fashion industry and the recycling of fabric scraps: these were the points discussed as the rain pounded the earth behind the windows.
L’atelier Mode, Atelier Monde
Orange Mimii (0- 10 hours)
Everything is handmade: the heart of the collections. Each color symbolizes the time required to make the garment. A way of signifying the life behind the garment, but above all a concrete symbol of the time spent making it. At Mimii, a hand is involved at every stage: the hand of someone who breathes, who thinks, who sometimes makes mistakes. “Even the labels are hand-stitched (…) you can only find this in 70s ready-to-wear thrift shops”. Marta Rios’ hands have brushed the fabrics of the world”.My family is Spanish, I went to high school in Luxembourg, and I went to the Istituto Marangoni in Paris. I’ve lived in China and India. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in one city for more than 4 years. . Travel can be seen in the clothes : “These faces are symbols of joy in China, these are drawings made by children in India”. Scottish tartan mingles with the colors of African flags, and small blue bags pierced with white like a sky where clouds fade away, remind us that no matter what the window, the sky is the same for everyone. And yet France loves to remake fashion history from its Hausmanian windows.
Mimii yellow ( 20-40 Hours)
The myth of the European couturier is perpetuated in a history that reduces other ways of constructing clothes to exoticism, the relics of traditional societies. The achievement of modern Europe is to have created the desire for change. It‘ s a feat that she’s washing her hands of today, by reinvesting the long-awaited time of luxury, to distinguish herself from fast-fashion. Marta recalls the Lesage workshops, where she spent a lot of time manipulating beads and needles. “ I learned a lot(…) It instills patience and rigor”. While handmade is at the heart of Atelier Mimii, haute-couture ellistism is off the beaten track. “You can run in these dresses (…) they’re not livid finery. Clothes should be comfortable, and suitable for all the activities, all the adventures that can happen in a day! “ The pieces in the collection embrace the best of couture, leaving gloom on the sidewalk. A sort of Yellow Washing of couture.
“I never wear black. I like it when someone smiles at me on the street. Just a smile. Maybe it makes people smile, just for a moment.”-Marta Rios
Mimii Red (80-150 hours)
“In China, these faces are emblems of joy, and that’s what I want to evoke with my clothes: joy. (…) This dress is one of my favorites, with embroidery on the inside sleeves, and of course the yellow that breaks the horizon (…) it’s my favourite. favorite color “. Talking about travel doesn’t have to be reduced to slides of landscapes: understanding people and the way they live nourishes much more than an idyllic postcard image. ” These symbols crystallize a philosophy dear to this country. The cultural relationship with clothing is different in China (…) I used to choose the fabric for my clothes (…) It’s not like here (…) you choose the fabric, it doesn’t cost anything, and someone makes the garment for you.” A way of not using more fabric than you need. necessary. “I’m Spanish and I get my fabrics there (…) I choose and pay attention to quantity. I hate wasting, so fabric scraps become bags”. Eco-responsible fiber: no. Just a natural gesture, a sincere gesture made by a person seasoned by many voyages, and a culture that makes you blush.
Mimii Blue (40-80 hours)
Between March and May 2010 Marina Abramovic spent 700 hours sitting on a chair. A performance entitled “The artist is present”. Marta is in a way the Marina Abramovic of clothing. Except that it’s not her we’d be putting on a chair, but one of these dresses, to say “no, fashion isn’t reduced to symbols. It is present.”
Marta lives for openings, film screenings and exhibitions. Unconsciously, she reincorporates this into her creations. “A lot of feedback mentions the theatricality of the pieces. (…) Yes, why not, everyone has their own interpretation. On stage, the actor is present, the garment is alive. At Atelier Mimii, the actor becomes a garment. Spectacular. Without even being worn, the pieces are already full of life. A life where dreams are part of reality. In fact, the conversation begins with David Hockney . “His paintings exude such power, and his work with photography, this desire to recompose reality using a process that defies reality, fascinates me. The collection is reminiscent of Henry Matisse: yet it’s different.. “Yes, I draw a lot, each piece comes from the drawing of a character.” Marta draws faces full of stories. They have that restless look of Otto Dix’s paintings, but the colors and multiplicity of stories force the eye to recompose space. “David Hockney understood that painting was only one dimension, so he looked for a way to telescope all the angles of view of a single object into one plate. This gives a ‘magical’ relief to his work”.
Mimii green (10-20 hours)
Fashion: a social phenomenon that constructs cultural myths and participates in collective imaginations, in other words, a culture that can be read on the cusp of ideas often enthroned as European. At Atelier Mimii, the boundaries between space and time have disappeared. Whether Matisse is next to Otto Dix in a gradation of bleached velvet, dreams are Blue Velvet, which constitutes the very present garment – one that can be touched, felt and laid on the skin.
Maria has synthesized her travels, both real and imagined, and condensed her boundless curiosity into a collection that telescopes continents and eras. Pink cheeks, glitter in the spirit – who is Mimii? “It’s the affectionate name my uncle gives me when I visit him in Spain. It’s mimii”. Solar affection is undoubtedly what best nourishes his collections. Beyond the “travel and art” experience, there ‘s the human touch. Take a sip of sunshine.
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