In how many colours do you write Eliana Murargy? Possibly an easier task than drawing her dreams. Born in Brussels but raised around the world, the Mozambican fashion designer currently lives in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, and it is from there that she intends to dress the world in her lines.
Is it a cliché to think that all fashion designers and consultants grow up wanting to dress their dolls? In Eliana Murargy’s case, that was the dream. She began drawing sketches at the age of 12 and, from an early age, was fortunate to have a family that supported her in making that wish come true, as she fell in love first with the Fine Arts and then with fashion. These are her own words, in praise of the encouragement that both her parents and her siblings gave her to follow her dreams.
Getting into New York Fashion Week was gratifying, but I want to achieve much more. At the moment I am relaunching the brand in a new direction, and I hope to share it soon
Eliana’s creations are a reflection of herself: striking, elegant and incredibly minimalist. “My source of inspiration has always been my mother (Frances Rodrigues), her style and the way she dressed,” the designer tells us. It was the sum of her mother’s simplicity and elegance that ended up guiding Murargy: the fashion designer and consultant builds her work on a very monochrome colour palette, while the lines are very straight and sober in their alignment. It is no accident that black is her favourite colour: “I like to be comfortable, without too many colours. I combine (the style) with accessories,” shares Murargy.
Asked what she enjoys most in the whole creative process, Eliana singles out the drawing itself and the moment when she looks at the finished pieces. “For me, the best part is at the end of the show, when you see all the pieces together and you see that all the work is there, all together on a catwalk. It is like a magical moment,” she says.
In practice, research is a structural part of the creative’s work: “I always do a lot of research on the annual trends, but the DNA of Eliana Murargy remains: simplicity, elegance, comfort. We just keep innovating with different fabrics, and we always try to choose organic and sustainable materials,” she adds.
True to herself, and after presenting her work during New York Fashion Week, we thought that Eliana might already have come very close to reaching the high point of her career; however, the designer’s determination tells us otherwise: “I haven’t got there yet. Getting into New York Fashion Week was gratifying, but I want to achieve much more. At the moment I am relaunching the brand in a new direction, and I hope to share it soon,” she confides.
