Manu Atelier has collaborated with Harley Weir for its highly exciting AW21 campaign, titled 'The RE-FORM and RE-VOLT – of the female body language.
It also marks the first time the label, known for its impeccable bags and shoes, has ventured into clothes. They were all handmade for this campaign, upcycled from hand braided crochet and off-cut leather pieces, in partnership with sustainable designer Lou de Betoly.
The campaign itself was inspired by German feminist photographer Marianne Wex and her photographic project ‘Let’s Take Back our Space’, ditching society's constraints and embracing the female body and its individuality through movement and dynamic postures.
As for the collection (which you can shop here), it is all about strong shapes, bold colours and textured fabrics, such as the brand's iconic cylinder bag re-imagined in an eco-friendly crochet and the brand's new non-leather boots.
Co-founders and sisters Beste and Merve Manastir say, 'We both love Marianne Wex's study "let's take back our space". Here, the imagery is as strong as the idea; it outlines the woman freer than the meaning of free that man defines. And this was one of our major starting points. The fact that "a woman being stereotyped and/or criticised by the way she sits, walks, talks, dresses; plus being told from the early ages to not do any of these "like a man"; by the shape and/or form of her body, by her emotions, reactions, etc. etc. without any filter. As we all believe a woman could be anything and do anything in the way she wants to do so; we would be extremely happy to execute this idea by focusing on the body movements.'
