Designer Michelle Lai is the kind of girl who makes you feel inspired when you talk to her; she makes you want to get up and get moving. Not only in terms of your career, but also in terms of your personal life, your overall health and your spirituality. She speaks slowly and with purpose, making it clear to you that every word she chooses has been selected with careful thought and consideration. She says wonderfully inspirational things such as,
I get to incorporate my life and my lifestyle into what I do. Of course, she is talking about her line of couture vintage clutches and travel bags for her company,
Mischa. We sat down with her for a lovely chat on a glorious afternoon before Easter; what ensued was a delightful conversation about everything from vintage shopping to doing yoga in Koh Samui.
A colourful array of small accessories from Mischa.
How did you start
Mischa and what does Mischa mean?
Mischa is my nickname, my name is Michelle – and this is
before Mischa Barton, by the way.
I was the original! When I
started my brand, I mean, I started it organically; before I started the
company, I was doing it as a hobby.
I studied Japanese and art and I traveled to Japan a lot and I started
collecting vintage kimono and obi.
I had this thing about Asian mystique and, in particular, Japan. I love antique markets. Back then, clutch bags weren’t really
easy to find, so I decided to cut up one of my obis and make a clutch bag and I
wore it out and people liked it and people started asking for them. I was teaching art and English – this is the boring
part. During that time, I started
up the brand and I was doing private sales and by-appointment only. It grew from there. It was a combination of a couple of
things: I had a big investor invest a lot into the company, and at the same
time I did this – I’m really into yoga and I did this 40-day yoga programme and
after I finished that programme, at the same time I got approached by this
investor. Everything just added
up. And I quit and started Mischa
fulltime.
Michelle Lai of Mischa.
And what about the
print that you’re now so famous for?
Where did that come from?
Did you design it yourself?
Yes, I did design it myself. The brand was built on bespoke, vintage, every
piece is different, for the last 5-7 years. When I was doing the private sales in Hong Kong, London, New
York and Switzerland [I found] the nature of my lifestyle is that I travel a lot and
my friends travel a lot. All the
dinners, events and parties we go to, we also needed stuff to travel with, stuff
to use during the daytime. There’s
the Louis Vuitton bag, the Goyard, but people wanted something that was still sort of
Asian-influenced, something fun and cool, something by me. So they kept asking for it and asking
for it and so I had to make a professional decision to start a second line. It’s called the 'Travel Series'. The print is based on the Japanese
hexagon, and why I chose the hexagon is because when I decided I wanted to do a
second line, I knew that I wanted to do something that was a signature, something
that I could reproduce. I looked
at all of the old obi that I had used and I had bought and I found that
three-quarters of them had hexagon prints. I didn’t event realize it until I started to look back! Then I did research into the hexagon
print and it represents the sea tortoise shell, you can find it in a lot of
Asian symbolism for thousands of years, but specifically in Japanese art the
sea tortoise shell symbolizes longevity.
So I thought that was a really nice sentiment and a really good starting
point for my brand because I wanted it to last and not just be a fad.
An iPad case in Mischa's signature print.
Who’s your customer?
They’re professionals; they’ve been there, done that. They travel frequently. A lot of my friends and
clients are all women whom I admire.
They’re very accomplished and they hold these important positions in their company
or they're really accomplished moms and they work for a charity. I have clients that love it, they really love it; they buy it in all the different colours,
they buy it for all of their friends, all of their family. These women have character,
they have personality. I think my
brand is not really about dressing supermodels; they’re real women, they know
what they want, they know what they like.
Mischa 'Overnighter'.
What do you love most
about what you do?
Every day is different. It’s an adrenaline rush. It’s like personal boot camp, because when you’re your own
boss you really have to live the example and you’re personally accountable for
how well you do. I love it because
I do everything on my terms. You
can say it like, “I call the shots,” but I think because I’m in that situation
I’m much harder on myself than if I worked for somebody else. And I get to incorporate my life and my
lifestyle into what I do. That’s
what I love about it. I love
travel, photography, art, design, yoga, meditation, health; that has to show
itself. The flipside is: you’re
personally accountable for everything!
The flipside is: from a creative point of view, sometimes when you don’t
have inspiration you just don’t have inspiration. It’s like getting blood out of a stone. You have to remain childlike and have
wonderment and find things that are interesting.
What do you do when you hit a roadblock and you can’t find inspiration?
I travel. I don’t try; I let it go.
Mischa 'Bucket Bag'.
Where’s the most
inspirational place you’ve been to recently?
This is a very cliché answer: Paris. It’s the air, the smell,
the streets, the surroundings.
Everyone’s personal style; it’s effortless, it’s elegant. When I look at the girls I don’t think
that they’ve thought about what they’re wearing, it looks like they just put it
on and left the house and look fantastic!
Also beautiful and glamorous Bali; there’s something very
magical about that place. I think
because they’ve preserved their artisanal culture, you see beautiful sculptures
and houses so it’s a feast for the eyes when you go to Bali. I really like Koh Samui because
I’ve started this tradition that every January, after the craziness, I go by
myself and I do this yoga retreat and detox holiday. It’s not totally pleasant, but you come out feeling great. You’re in the sun, and Koh Samui is
relatively underdeveloped, there’s no mass tourism, and you feel like you're tucked away somewhere quiet and peaceful.
What does that do for
you?
It’s to clear my mind. You know, living in a modern
city like Hong Kong, traveling so much and having the very busy sales season, and going to lots of openings, lots of events - you know,
eye bags by the end of the week, your liver’s shot, you’re eating at odd hours of
the day, you’re constantly surrounded by people! Sometimes you just need to
get away. That’s important. I love yoga, but another one of my
loves is food and wine. I love
whiskey and smoking cigars. So I kind
of have to balance it out! I can’t
just do all that.
Michelle Lai, shot by one of our favourite photographers, Carmen Chan.
To learn more about Mischa, visit her website here.
Mischa is available in Hong Kong at Lane Crawford, BALS Tokyo, Kapok, Indigo, Sidewalk, Tiare and White Bridal Couture.
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