Moto Guo
Born on the 14th of November, 1991, Moto Guo is Malaysian-based founder and artistic director who studied fashion design at Raffles College of Higher Education (Kuala Lumpur). He graduated in 2013 with awards for 'Best Academician' and 'Best Collection' in the class. The Motoguo label was officially launched in 2015.
Moto Guo's work is done by using stories that are set in a different world, provoking emotion by showing themes of happiness, love, sexuality , death and pain. In total he has 10 collections so far and has done work for popular magazines such as: Harper's Bazaar China, ELLE Man China, Modern Weekly, DAZED China, Marie Claire China etc.
He draws his ideas from his own experiences and adds ironic elements in his collections.
Due to his work being inspired through his experiences, he keeps the consistency of this 'nerdy' look throughout all of his campaigns and look books, "I thought why not come out with something that reflects me - a nerdy, geeky boy wearing a pair of glasses."- Moto G. I personally like the quirky style by using vibrant tertiary colours and different patterns such as plaid and a variety of shapes that range from circles to squares. It's kind of all over the place but he's not afraid to experiment whether its colour, texture or pattern... even the disproportional size of clothing on his models!
As for his audience, I believe it is mostly the press and magazines who want his work, but also the younger generation and his clothing is up for sale.
Overall, for an up-coming designer he has great potential and I hope he experiments with different patterns or widens the concept of his nerdy style.
'Picnic In The Society' SS17 - Scandal
"Motoguo is an eponymous label that challenges peculiarity in the most romantic, cynical and ingenious manner since 2015."
* SS17 Milan Fashion Week, Styling: Moto Guo & Kinder Eng, Sponsorship: CNMI.
Due to my theme being non-conformity and trends, I came across interesting articles/critics of his work.
In 2016-17, Moto released a fashion show called 'Picnic In The Society' to display his new collection of menswear, however female models attended too. This caused a lot of controversy in the skin positivity movement. From first glance It looks like motoguo is trying to normalize acne in the fashion industry, which is a huge plus and something that acne sufferers should applaud right? No.
If we look closely, we don't actually know if the models have acne or if it's just makeup, but one thing is for sure, they have definitely enhanced the acne with makeup as the models look sickly and pale. Some may find it offensive especially people who actually have to suffer with real acne, mild or severe. Acne is not another 'cute' trend or something to profit off from. It's a life long thing to endure and to get past.
Another thing that stands out, is the clothing. The theme is based on adolescent's going to a picnic having no care in the world as they "...need not to be interested with their judgemental murmurings nor with their seemingly disapproving gaze..."- Motoguo. The campaign wants the audience to see the life of teenagers enjoying their time being young and not having to react to other people's negative comments on their appearance. Even if the message is right...the whole campaign has been executed terribly. The clothing is child-like and somewhat nerdy looking due to his personal choice of style. He uses plaid fabric, light colour palettes, the style of short-shorts, cute tops ,blazers and woolly sweaters. This further pushes the negative stereotype of having acne by using the theme of 'nerdy' teenagers which has always been looked down upon in media, T.V shows and books. I understand that his whole style is based off him and his experiences, but adding acne as an accessory was unnecessary especially since he never gave a comment about the use of it, which angered people more.
Many critics reacted to this show, and I think most of us agree that not only did it put down people who struggle with acne, but enforce the idea that they are unhygienic and unkept which is not the reality of acne. This is what the online fashion website The Cut proceeded to tweet:
In my opinion, the fashion show brought ignorance to light and myth-spreading when it comes to acne. Which is something that needs to change.
With this information, I am going to find ways of portraying acne in a beautiful way through art, and learn from the mistakes of Moto Guo. His work is still inspirational, however he needed a different approach and sympathy towards others.
Scott, E., 2020. What It's Really Like To Have Acne As An Adult. [online] Metro. Available at: <https://metro.co.uk/2016/06/23/in-response-to-moto-guos-acne-covered-fashion-week-show-what-its-really-like-to-have-adult-acne-5961630/> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
Cliff, M., 2020. Models Descend The Runway With Acne At Moto Guo Show. [online] Mail Online. Available at: <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3650512/Models-covered-ACNE-catwalk-bizarre-Moto-Guo-Milan-Men-s-Fashion-Week.html#:~:text=Moto%20Guo%2C%20who%20is%20the%20founder%20and%20artistic,did%20not%20win%20the%20seal%20of%20approval%20> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
Pérez, L., 2020. Motoguo | The Wes Anderson Of Fashion | HIGHXTAR.. [online] HIGHXTAR. Available at: <https://highxtar.com/motoguo-the-wes-anderson-of-fashion/?lang=en> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
Motoguo. 2020. Picnic In The Society - Motoguo. [online] Available at: <https://motoguo.com/collection/ss17-picnic-at-the-society/> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
Motoguo. 2020. Press - Motoguo. [online] Available at: <https://motoguo.com/press/> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
STREETHING. 2020. Streething - STREET: Interview With Malaysian Fashion Designer, Moto Guo. [online] Available at: <http://streething.com/?p=20322> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
Youtube.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHxn1jzXMxI> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
En-gb.facebook.com. 2020. Moto Guo. [online] Available at: <https://en-gb.facebook.com/motoguo> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
Motoguo. 2020. The Rite Of Spring - Motoguo. [online] Available at: <https://motoguo.com/collection/fw18-the-rite-of-spring/> [Accessed 22 December 2020].
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