Industry Insiders: Malan Breton, Couture Connoisseur

Who would have imagined that Malan Breton, a former contestant on season 3 of Project Runway, would come so far as a distinguished designer? Perhaps not even Malan himself. The 36-year-old fashion aficionado has taken his theatrical roots and tied (or shall we say, sewn) them into his collections, bringing a wistful and exquisite approach to his designs. A Malan Breton show exhibits live orchestra and ballet performances, a welcome change from the DJ-pumping, techno-blasting, glitter-flying shows-on-steroids of today. By stitching classiness and weaving sophistication into his designs, Malan makes couture that fits real women (and now men too)!

How did you get your foot in the door as a designer?
I used to be the voiceovers for ESPN Extreme Sports. My contract was ending with them and I called my agent and said, “I’m not acting anymore, I don’t want to be a performer anymore and I have this passion for design.” I had this passion since I was a little boy and I put it to the side because it’s a very different world from being a performer. I decided to take all the money I had left from my contracts to my line, and it just happened. I was very lucky because I had a very close friend in the industry that told me who to contact and how to get things going and how to develop the line. I literally sat in my apartment for three months and learned how to sew on a sewing machine.

So you have no formal training?
No, never trained at all.

How have your designs evolved since your first collection?
The more I learned about fabrics and construction, the more the collections evolved. I really taught myself everything. Each season, as I did another collection, I learned more about it, plus, I did a lot of research as well. I always found undergarments for women incredibly beautiful, so I researched at great length lingerie and corsetry and things like that.

What is the theme of your latest collection?
The theme of the latest collection went back to my childhood. My mother was a ballet dancer and kind of pushed me into it. After ballet, I ended up doing Broadway shows. This collection is me going back to my roots because I never really explored that in a collection. It used to always be about this kind of Hollywood drama concept, which I love and think is beautiful. There were always Asian influences there and different elements of my life, but never the part where I really came from.

What designers do you look up to?
I look up to a lot of the old-school designers like Balenciaga and Dior. They were people that innovated fashion. Even Adrian, the costume designer from MGM, because he basically invented the bias cut dress. It’s pretty amazing what they did and where we’ve taken it. Fashion always evolves a little bit because of new fabrics and new prints and textures and even the shapes of people’s bodies. How exciting would it have been to be the first person to wear a heavily shouldered blazer? Then, 80 years later models, are on the catwalk with these big shoulder pads.

What big names have you designed for?
I’ve worked with Martha Plimpton, Katrina Boden, Nikki Blonsky, and a lot of celebrities. I’ve dressed some old-school performers like La La Brooks, who was a famous singer.