The Story of a Story: Melanin
Iron soldiers, cunning merchants and chaotic creatures. Sounds like characters out of a fictional novel? They might be, but they are more than that — they are the inspiration behind the aspiring Bulgarian brand Melanin.
Melanin is a “collaborative, conceptual clothing brand”, as Creative Coordinator Kostadin Buhchev describes it. According to their official website, they create “avantgarde clothing, based on a fictional story.” Each of their collection items carries a unique story, which is extended into a fictional universe, the characters of which come to life through street fashion.
Buhchev says that their inspiration comes from many places — movies, books, video games. However, what drives them is not the story itself, but rather the conclusions they get out of it. “The thing that has stuck with us is the value we get from these stories, […] the things that make us good people.” Their Creative Experimentalist Bish Rel adds: “It’s our baby. It’s our vision of how it should be, of how clothing should be.”
The main drive of the brand is to create items that correspond to their ideals of fashion and storytelling and also promote the idea of collaboration. “I want people to have the attitude of working together”, says Buhchev about the brand’s plans to expand their presence through the inclusion of videographers, illustrators, photographers, etc. into their work. They believe that through forming a creative community, artists from all across the country can exchange ideas and make projects come to life.
One of their last events was precisely that — an interactive installation featuring 66 works from more than 20 Bulgarian artists, as well as a launch of their newest collection WASTELAND. Throughout the event people could go to different parts of the venue and explore a photography and a drawing room. In the first room, people could find the decor of the movie the brand produced for the launch of their collection and play around with the different lights and props. In the drawing room, people could draw on pieces of fabric, which would later be turned into masks.
Their emphasis on collaborative work is one of their main targets — they want to expand the story behind the clothing and include artists that can help them do that. This is why they came up with their last event, which was a story contest — they challenged people to continue the story of their clothing (which story can be seen on their official website). Buhchev says that they would be more than happy to have a creative writer on their team.“We wanted to take a deep breath, have a step back and tell the story from the beginning, but with more details,” he says.
Buhchev believes that listening to what people think and allowing them to have a say in the way the brand develops is one of their priorities. This is why they are not planning on launching a new collection of clothing, but rather focusing on smaller pieces like accessories and everyday clothing. “We have a lot of things pulling us in different directions. We want to focus on what’s most important to us, what we see what our audience would want to see.”
In the future, the brand plans on contacting more artists and creating walk-in gallery projects where creative people in different fields can come together and exchange ideas and experience. Buhchev also mentions Melanin’s plans to make clothes more available and to figure out how they want to allocate their time and efforts in the most efficient way, so that their pieces speak to the public and respond to it.
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Teodora Zlateva is a Journalism and Mass Communications Major at the American University in Bulgaria. She believes that people should seek inspiration in the little things.
