THE BRILLIANCE! HTTP://WWW.THEBRILLIANCE.COM/   Interview! We caught up with Maestro Knows, aka Levi Maestro this time around. A bit of a cultural ambassador in the making. We cover his show, the internet, his focus on positivity, breakfast, and more. I'm betting this will be a classic "before they were huge" interview for us. A good read for sure. Internet, internet, internet, posts, Flickr lifestyle, and whatever else we want. THE BRILLIANCE!!! We're still really internet!

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Interview! > Milan of Perplex & Lola! Milan, the creator of the fresh women's line Perplex & Lola, took some time to connect with us to cover such topics such as building a young and successful women's clothing label, production issues, working crazy hours, and Nucleus burgers. Milan is defiantly someone to watch in the next few years. Act like you know. THE BRILLIANCE! > Milan... What going on man? How's life lately? MILAN! > I feel sleepy :), my daughter is 10 months old and she does not sleep through the night yet plus I had to arrive early to do the interview 'cause at 9 am in the office the madness begins .... TB! > If this interview had a sound track ... Who would it be by? M! > As we speak, I'm listening to a homemade compilation with various artists. (Nineties pop hits, Chiks on Speed and some more recent electro-victim minimalist tracks) The credit goes to Nat (www.masterofnographics.com ) she put it together. TB! > Perplex&Lola... What does the actual name mean? Where did it come from? M! > It's all about word play: Perplex represents the mixture of genres (that often contradict one another), the social and political references. It's also the introvert side in all of us. Lola is like the muse, she is the opposite side: the fun, the crazy, the extrovert party girl. TB! > For those who don't know yet, tell them about your label Perplex&Lola. M! > If you don't know it yet the storyline is very important to us. For our first collection, I drew upon my personal experience as a teenager in Bulgaria, during the transition from communism to the wild-wild East-type of free economy that it is today. In the spirit of keeping it fresh for the Fall line instead of going to the past we went to the future; where a big corporation called Nucleus Labs dominates the world by shoving genetically modified products of down our throats. Pretty grim: we're all hanging out in Nucleus Plaza shopping mall and eating Nucleus burgers : TB! > How long has the label been around? Both in your mind/sketch-pads and available to the public... M! > I started building the name a few years a go. I had this psycho site: Pixellab (my graphic design portfolio) on which I used to spend crazy amounts of time updating and especially pretending that I have a line called Perplex&Lola. It kinda worked because I got noticed by Jason Young (Sowear/Virginthreads) and I made him a promise that I will have a line for his site sooner or later. At this time, I just came back from Japan where I showcased my collection at the Onward New Designer Grand Prix. This got me in the local press. One client and an article it's all it took to convince a hole bunch of friends and family to open personal credit lines in exchange of ownership in the company. Three of us were going to work in the company, me, Jimmy and Erik. Once the name was registered we got a place, made it look nice and got to work on designing the line. In September 2004 we launched our first collection: Spring 05 "Young pioneers". We did our best to sell the collection which had only 12 styles. At the beginning, everything was a team effort: we had zero structure. Now we have assigned responsibilities between the 3 of us and that makes things a lot more organized. Jimmy makes sure that the books balance and especially that the customers are happy. Erik is busy promoting the brand as well as putting the creative force behind the brand's image. I'm coming up with the theme at the beginning of the season, designing the line accordingly and following up production. TB! > Your line has a strong look; I would describe it as youthful but not in an immature way. It has a very new and refreshing feel to it... I've said before, its like a the new/better Diesel. Where does your inspiration come from? M! > Thanks, it's a big compliment. I dig Diesel a lot, especially when they were calling themselves "Only The Brave". I think Perplex&lola has the same feel because behind the clothes and the marketing campaigns there is an idea and not a trend cut out from a magazine. TB! > How are things going right now in terms of how the label is being accepted by buyers and the end customer? What the overall response right now? How is its growth? M! > In general, the retailers were amazed by the quality and the image that we have. Basically, the province of Quebec is well covered due to the excellent work of our agent; the rest of Canada is to be developed (few stores only). We haven't been to any of the major tradeshows yet due mostly to financial restrictions. Starting Sping 2006, we're definitely planning to take the line on the road, mostly in Western Canada and the States. The media exposure will help a lot on that level: the fashion press is supporting us big time and it will not be long till the buzz gets across the country and beyond. Aside from an appearance in Sportswear Intl. (Mar/Apr issue), so far the online stores (www.virginthreads.com , and www.paper-doll.com ) have been our only international exposure and it's nice to see that girls all over the world are buying the clothes. People really do dig the clothes they're buying them too -- we're very happy about that. It's a weird but very rewarding feeling to see one of our pieces on someone in the street; it's still new to me. TB! > What boutiques and stores are carrying your pieces right now? M! > When it comes to distribution, we try to stay focused on building our clientele around the medium-high end of the street wear market. It's a tricky approach because the financial pressure is always present. It's damn hard to say no to the temptation of going into higher-volume business when you know that you can really use the cash. We are confident tough that this is the way to go if we're to build a solid brand reputation. If you pass by Montreal visit these stores: Influence -U, Un Autre Monde, EXTC, Haus, Fly and Blue Marine. TB! > Do you work with an agent or do you approach the boutiques yourself? How does all that work? M! > In the beginning we were doing it ourselves: we'd go door to door with our samples and our catalogue, it was pretty rough. People were looking at us as if we were Martians. As I mentioned earlier, now we have a sales agent for the province of Quebec (JODABE SALES AGENCY) and things are running much smoother. We were lucky to find an agent who believes in the brand's potential as much as we do. I hope that we will be able to find the right reps to take the line across Canada, the US and Europe. TB! > Seems like clothing labels come and go quite often... A lot of 'flash-in-the-pan' type labels. I feel like Perplex&Lola is different, and honestly, I can't quite explain why... Why do you feel you're different? M! > I don't know either! I guess is because the creative people at Perplex&lola are truly free. I know first hand through my previous experience in the industry how hard it is to come up with new ideas when you're stuck in the logic of only making the numbers ($$$). With Perplex&Lola I'm trying to find that fine line where I can do what I like and still make those numbers. I started this thing out of my love for design, and I'm lucky to have partners that share the same vision. TB! > Let's talk about the actual manufacturing of your pieces... I know this can be an incredibly difficult part of starting a smaller line and keeping it profitable. How has this process been for you? M! > Still Very hard! It's extremely difficult to find suppliers that will do low minimums especially in complicated garments like ours. It's definitely the hardest part in starting a line it involves money, good contacts, trust..... There's a huge difference between making few pieces in your basement and producing a whole bunch of styles. Believe me, it's a little miracle that we are able to pull it off. TB! > Of each design available to the public... How many pieces are actually produced? Do you produce to meet demand or do you keep your runs limited? M! > At this we average about 150 pieces per style. The ideal situation for us would be to have 3 deliveries within a season. In other words we want to be able to offer a big variety of styles but in small quantities. TB! > From designing, to sampling, manufacturing, sales, marketing, etc... How much of your time in is devoted to Perplex&Lola? Would you call it your full time job? M! > It's more than a full time job. I work in the design department a minimum of 10 hours a day 6-7 days a week; and I don't mind that I have to meet with clients and press all the time +++ update the site, help on the shoots etc... It's sick! The funny part is that I have not had a regular salary for more than 1 year now. Gotta love it man! TB! > What about your training and education? You went to design school UQAM... How much has schooling and formal design education affected the label in terms of what you feel 'good design' is? Would you say your training was crucial? M! > I love school. I wouldn't say that I had to absolutely have had university degree in fashion because most of my knowledge in design comes from working in the trade. The thing is that in school I had the luxury of making only what I liked and not in my jobs. Sometimes I feel like Perplex&lola is just another school project of mine: TB! > 3-5 years from now... Where will Perlpex&Lola be? Where will you be? M! > Perplex&lola will be a major kick-ass public company and I'll be making an attempt to direct movies like Tom Ford....hehehe TB! > How about other brands / labels that are doing their thing right now... Who's stuff do you love right now? Who inspires you? M! > My all time favorite designer is Martin Margiella and I also like the conceptual work of Rei Kawakubo. As far as the Montreal fashion scene goes, check out www.valeriedumaine.com TB! > Who is wack right now? Be honest here, the people want to hear it! M! > I'm stuck here...I feel kinda in peace with the world right now...maybe it has something to do with the next collection on which I'm working. Awaken people! Love is indispensable! : TB! > If you could wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be? M! > A pair of baggy jeans and a Castro shirt....it's what I always wear anyways. TB! > That's all I've got for right now... Any final words? Shout outs? Anything random here is good, let them have it. M! > Man, I have to thank a lot of people: my partners and my parents for starters. All the people who worked (for free) on the all the projects we did: DA UNION, Blais&Bilinski (www.blaisbilinski.com), Ultraviolet, Au Ca, Karine, Valerie, Milko, LX Static, Emeut a Tokyo, Organik. And everybody else who's supporting us: Le Voir, UKULA, Tim Yap, Jason Yang, Nightlife, STRUT, Josh Spear and many others.... TB! > What are your thoughts on THE BRILLIANCE? M! > Since I discovered the site I'm on it every day...I'm not just saying that. What can I say, you guys do brilliant blogging! TB! > Thanks for your time Milan, keep doing your thing! M! > Thank you and right back at you! End. > Website: http://www.perplexandlola.com/

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