IN SEARCH OF TREASURE WITH THE VINTAGE-LOVING DESIGNER
Story by Odessa Paloma Parker
Photos courtesy of Mandula
Hajnalka Mandula crafts modern pieces with a nod to the past. Her attention to detail, the way she cuts, manipulates and seemingly divines new presentations of her chosen fabrics, leads to the creation of heartfelt pieces that will become wardrobe favourites in no time. There are no hard and fast rules to wearing a Mandula piece, and the shift between men’s and women’s wear, street chic to timelessly cool is fluid. She opened her flagship store in Vancouver in 2006 (1898 Main Street), and hasn’t slowed down since.
What’s your first “fashion” memory?
I have a couple of memories that really stand out that must have been the first clue [to] how much I loved clothes. I was around five, or six, when my best friend and I climbed up to an old house’s attic and found a treasure chest full of old clothes. I still remember the beautiful fragile texture on this long dress I put on and dragged around the dusty wooden floors. The other memory is much later, in my early teens, when I could sew already. I stitched up these men’s trouser-inspired pants for myself. I remember the legs were as wide as the fabric width would allow me to cut them. They were black and had a little hidden pocket by the waist, just like the ones I found in my grandfather’s closet. They were really different from anything I’d ever seen and definitely not my mother’s favourite, but when I wore them the next day all my girlfriends wanted to have a pair of those.
How do you begin working on a collection?
I’m always thinking of a new idea, a new design. It’s continuously evolving. I love old textures, whether it be an old garment, or a corroded building. I grab onto an idea and take it from there.
How long does it typically take to create one of your pieces?
It really varies. Sometimes it takes months to perfect a piece, sometimes it’s just a few hours.
Your practice for creating your pieces is quite interesting – can you take us through your thought/design process for a piece?
I was always drawn to old menswear. I loved pieces from my grandfather’s closet when I was growing up in Hungary. Everything had a beautiful, natural feel and an impeccable quality to it. I loved the way even the buttonholes were hand-stitched. Everything was so immaculately perfect. My grandmother had lots of dark, mostly black pieces in her closet and till this day I love to work with black the most. I use fabrics that are very different in texture and I combine them into a piece. Mixing heavy hand-woven hemp from 120 years ago, with very fragile cotton gauze, for example. I also love to manipulate fabrics, boil them, burn and tear them, experiment with their natural qualities. I drape a lot of my pieces, mostly on myself. I believe that even when you layer a lot of fabrics together it should still be very flattering, comfortable and look great on the body.
How would you describe the Mandula customer?
Well-travelled, energetic, stunning group of people.
Some of your pieces are one-of-a-kind. Why do you create them in that way?
Some pieces cannot be recreated, either because of the amount of hand-made detail they have, or they incorporate one-of-a-kind, very old found objects.
How do you spend your non-designing time?
Entertaining my little two-year-old daughter.
What’s one place you can always count on to go for inspiration?
It really doesn’t matter, as long as it’s solitary.
Who are some of your style icons and inspirations?
Grandparents and their parents and grandparents.
If you weren’t designing clothing, what would you be doing?
Spending my time on a sunny beach, or a farm with horses and fruit trees with my family, but I would still be on the lookout for a cool piece of lost treasure!
