Roland Mouret’s decision to create flattering clothes didn’t come “from heaven”, but rather after women complained to him.
The designer is famed for creating the Galaxy dress, which hugs curves and suits women with all different types of figure. He realised women were unhappy with a lot of the fashion on offer after hearing their feedback about collections over the years.
“'It was not a verse coming from heaven. It was women complaining! It was them saying, ‘You designer, you don't like women.’ It is quite harsh but then I realise it is about women, it's not about five minutes on a catwalk,” he explained.
“So then I say, ‘OK, what is the problem? OK, women have bra.’ You have to design your clothes for women who wear bra and what you believe is going to become a restriction has to become a freedom. A woman is going to have bra for the rest of her life but for her partner it has to look like [she is wearing it] for the first time. And you have to think like that.”
Roland says the Galaxy dress helped women look shapely, although that doesn’t mean curvy models will make it on the runway. He believes the fashion industry is still a long way from seeing that happen.
“Put a curvy woman on the catwalk and they say, ‘She's fat!’ But when you have that line, you can dress a model, you can dress size 16, 18, 20. The notion of the curve - that was the power of that dress,” he told British newspaper The Telegraph.
“There is a strong sense of femininity in my clothes, I have been recognised for that, but I still work my dress like uniform, a uniform for glamour. You wear my dresses like a T-shirt.”
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