MARGARITA SAPLALA INTERVIEW
Interview · Print & textile design · Brooklyn
Margarita Saplala A designer who paints her memories of Manila into prints, from her own label to the studio she runs today, Print Patisserie.
I'm in love with the playful, feminine collection, full of original artwork and print, by Brooklyn-based designer Margarita Saplala.
Margarita was born in Manila, in the Philippines, and moved to Chicago with her family when she was two. She went on to study fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After freelancing in New York for big names including Banana Republic, Gap, Guess and Halston, she decided to start her own line.
It was 17 years before she went back to Manila. Since then she has returned regularly, to see family and to learn about the culture, and those trips are all over her prints.
"You see a lot of beautiful embroidery, colourful tribal costumes, and Manila is just bustling with colour."
"I've always loved colour," she says, "and I mix my memories with new topics that interest me."
The magic hour
Spring/Summer 2012
This collection is inspired by the magic hour: that moment of the day when the sun has set but there is still light in the sky. The yellow fades, and pinks, oranges and blues spread across the horizon.
Margarita mixed abstract elements of that light with island kitsch to make a modern take on tiki dresses and Hawaiian blouses. The silhouettes are as airy as the prints.
- Pineapples, blown up until they take on the texture of reptile skin
- Bananas, rearranged into florals
- The horizon, repeated until it becomes hazy, free-flowing stripes
Greatest inspirations or influences?
My influences come from different places. One of my biggest inspirations is the forms and colours of nature. I also love looking at cultures like Southeast Asia and Africa. Their play with pattern and colour is a constant interest to me.
Some influential designers are Cristóbal Balenciaga and Madeleine Vionnet, for their ingenuity in how a garment is cut and constructed.
Fashion icons?
I love women who bring out their strength and individuality through their sense of style.
- Bianca Jagger
- Chloë Sevigny
- Kate Moss
Favourite websites, blogs and publications?
I really enjoy street style blogs. Seeing people's personalities in what they choose to wear can sometimes be more interesting than what's on the runway.
I love film, and especially the new breed of fashion films. For magazines, I read the ones that keep me updated on what's going on in fashion, as well as the ones that feature fashion and photography that's a little offbeat.
- Jak & Jil
- SHOWstudio
- Dazed & Confused
- Elle
- Vogue
Her reading list, as of 2011.
Fifteen years on: Print Patisserie
The prints turned out to be the heart of it all. Margarita's eponymous label, for women who love print and colour but never play it sweet, was carried by Barneys New York, by the Japanese retailers Beams and Tomorrowland, and by specialty boutiques across the US.
In 2019 she founded Print Patisserie, a surface design studio that creates exclusive, art-driven prints for fashion and interior brands around the world. She now leads a global team of artists, and every design is sold to a single client, so no two brands ever share a print.
The idea behind the studio is the same one you can see in those magic-hour prints: hand-painted art should be something people can wear and live in.
- Age 2Moves from Manila to Chicago with her family.
- ChicagoStudies fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
- New YorkDesigns for Banana Republic, Gap, Guess, Halston and Anthropologie.
- Mid-2000sLaunches her own label, later carried by Barneys New York, Beams and Tomorrowland.
- 2019Founds Print Patisserie, an exclusive surface design studio.
Quick answers
Who is Margarita Saplala?
A Manila-born, Brooklyn-based fashion and surface designer who studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, designed for Banana Republic, Gap, Guess, Halston and Anthropologie, ran her own print-led label carried by Barneys New York, Beams and Tomorrowland, and founded Print Patisserie in 2019.
What is Print Patisserie?
Her surface design studio, creating exclusive, hand-painted, art-driven prints for fashion and interior brands, private-label companies and fabric manufacturers. Each design is sold to one client only.
What inspired her Spring/Summer 2012 collection?
The magic hour after sunset, mixed with island kitsch: reptile-textured pineapples, banana florals and hazy horizon stripes on tiki dresses and Hawaiian blouses.
