Charles & Ron Interview
Charles & Ron Interview
Beauty and love can be seen in one’s honor of where they come from. That very beauty is unmistakable in the love you witness from Fashion designers Charles and Ron. Based in Malta and representing as it’s leading fashion house the designing pair envision a Love Affair that each of their clients will experience in being a part of their fashion brand. When asked what this means to them, “It is very important for us to pull people into our world, we love our island and our culture. We try to push people to see things of beauty within art and history. To fall in love with the heritage and the island.”
While 2020 hasn’t been an ideal year for most, maybe “leading in love” is why Charles and Ron made it a year to remember. When asked about their favorite memory of the year they explained, “While we could’ve sat in doom and gloom, because that would’ve been the easy way to handle it we chose to do the opposite. How could we work harder, invent even more things, launch even more products. It gave us courage.” With a resilience like that you have no choice but to get recognized. How about a feature in Forbes? Yes, you read that correctly. The prestigious Forbes magazine highlighted their “Gayle” bag in November within their style and beauty section. Proclaimed as a must have accessory for the holiday alongside some of the great brands of Alexander Wang, Michael Kors, and Mark Cross. “We heard that it might happen but seeing is believing. When we saw it in print it was real.”
The year also donned another passion project for Charles, their first ever Eau de Parfum. Noted via their campaign ad and website as, “A Classic floral chypre inspired by the designers’ love for the Maltese archipelago. A warm, powerful, sensual and confident scent. Feeling the love yet? The accomplishment list kept going on and on, next entering a denim launch with soulful recording artist Brooke as the cover model. “Brooke is a very good friend, we started working with her on a business level now we consider her a good friend. She was the perfect choice to represent us.” To that list you can also add Cafe owner as well. The designing duo took over LOFT Cafe as it closed indefinitely after a temporary shut down due to covid restrictions. The cafe now instead has the beautiful and iconic Charles and Ron logo above it.
The Fall/Winter 2020 collection “Hands of Time” a celebration of the traditional maltese clock, would be the last collection pre-covid we would have the honor to view in a formal runway show. Fast forward to the SS21 “Dawra Misterjuża” collection was born.
Inspired from the works of Malta’s first recognised female poet, Mary Meilak, and named after her 1947 poem “Dawra Misterjuża” (“A Mysterious Journey”) this collection is the epitome of her fantastical view of the world around her.
“The process of a new collection always starts off sitting down with our team to develop ideas and mood boards.” Ron explains. “Then Charles and I will start to eliminate certain ideas and move into the direction for what we will create next. This theme was definitely new and when the pandemic started I think that made us want even more to go into a fantasy world with bright colors and looking at the positive side of things that the world has to offer.”
When asked about why they chose Mary and her work, “She was one of the very few women recognized here in poetry. It made it even more interesting. She was in a world of her own with her stories. It is important this year to dream a little and keep your fantasies alive.”
While post show Charles and Ron always review their collections for changes, “Hands of time” being the last live show was so eloquently relevant to its fruition and moving forward to spring they are still telling stories through fashion that speak to where we are at this very moment.
A trip to Malta sounds good right now, right? Whether you go in person or fly there on the visual dreams we laid out in this article we highly suggest you experience the humans, the heart and the brand that is Charles and Ron.
