THE BRAND

MISBHV stands for gender-neutral garments and uniqueness in part for their manufacturing techniques and cultural background. Maczek named her brand after a record store she used to visit when she was eighteen, and she uses polish history and weave it into the fabric of the garments throughout every collection. These collections often lead to references from the communist, pre-1989 era of the country‘s past. They also only use top quality European sources for their fabrics, for example their leather jackets are made from Italian lamb and their coats are made of Portuguese wool. In the last years, they went up to 70 plus stockists and a thriving online platform. MISBHV stands to this day for a nightlife tale of progressivism and pride with heavy leather and denim, techno-graphics, and monograms.

THE DESIGNER

Maczek and Wirski both grew up in Krakow, which is the second-largest city of Poland. They both were involved in the club scene at an early age. Wirski became a DJ at the age of 17, released his first record, and started touring the world. Their inspiration always came from the intersection of still image and music. Both of them studied law in Warsaw and don’t have a formal design education. But this is what makes MISBHV unique. It is the emotions, the soul, and the mood that speak to their customers, rather than the technical finesse. They produce locally since all of their factories are within a two-hour drive from their studio.

THE HISTORY

MISBHV was founded in 2013 by the Polish law student Natalia Maczek as a side project at the age of nineteen, after she went to London for a job during summer break. The initial idea was to make parody designer t-Shirts for her and her friends so they could wear those at clubs – mostly those thrown by Thomas Wirski in Warsaw, who then became co-designer of the label. Maczek began to sell the clothes online and set up a showroom at Paris Fashion Week in January 2015 to present her pieces as an official brand. One of their first big customers that was potential in MISBHV was the luxury retailer Browns, in London. In 2016 MISBHV staged their first presentation at New York Fashion Week to debut their SS2017 collection. A year before, in 2016, Rihanna wore a Matrix-black MISBHV jacket during her ANTI performance in London, consolidating their status as a counterculture label. In 2018 MISBHV had its first runway show in Warsaw - they presented their SS2019 collection in the Palace of Culture and Science. For this show, Wirski and Maczek worked with the Polish artist Roslaw Szaybo to create a series of prints from 1966 Warsaw poster art. These prints were made for shirts, pants, and outerwear.