MÏAU Originals

[ Design & Lifestyle ]

Fashion Intelligence para marcas de moda avanzadas.

Launching a fashion brand means defining a lifestyle.

We call Fashion Intelligence a way of building a fashion brand in which strategy and instinct work at the same time: understanding the audience with the same precision with which a pattern is drawn, and designing the image with the same intent with which a collection is decided.

A men's fashion brand, born with an instinct of its own

MÏAU was born in 2016 with a simple and unusual ambition: that men's swimwear should have a personality of its own, far from the beach uniform and from predictable luxury. To achieve it, its CEO needed more than a logo; he needed a partner who would build the brand with him from the first decision and stay at his side through every collection.

We built MÏAU around one idea: swimwear as the expression of an instinct, not of a season.

We began with the name and with understanding who we wanted to dress, and from there shaped an identity of bold prints and unapologetic colour that extends naturally to every garment we design. Over time our role widened to include defining the collections, choosing who wears them on camera, and directing the shoots where the brand comes to life.

A collection of unique prints and patterns.

Every season begins with a book. It sets the patterns, the prints and the details that will define the collection, and it is the reference that follows each garment until it leaves the factory: we design it, and then make sure that what reaches the hanger is exactly what was on the page.

Life in patterns

Club opened the way with a clean geometry that still sets the tone of the brand. Cat17 and Cat18 went back to the origin of the name, that "miau" that sounds the same in Spanish and Portuguese, and turned the cat into a print, an attitude and a wink.

Art Direction: A striking graphic world

In our first shoot, we swapped the sea for the inland Mediterranean, with pine trees and stone in the late afternoon. The camera acts more as a gaze than a showcase: it observes from a distance, slips in between a leg and a bottle, catches the model by surprise before they strike a pose. The bodies are real, and so are the situations. Swimwear is usually sold on the basis of an ideal; we prefer to sell it through a moment.

A responsible brand whose first collections were manufactured in Portugal, just a few hours’ drive from where they were designed.

We chose nearby, family-run workshops: a brand that talks about instinct cannot produce blind. The fabrics come from recycled materials, so that each collection returns to the cycle some of what others threw away. If the garment is going to last in the wardrobe, the way it is made has to be able to look itself in the eye. Producing this way costs more and takes longer, and in return it leaves something positive in the place where it is made.

More than just a digital presence. From the hanger to the screen.

The fully realised project was revealed through the website, where graphics and prints took centre stage. The site offers a glimpse into all aspects of the collection, a magazine about MÏAU people and an online shop.