A focus on Malon, a designer crafting wearable art for the modern star.
November 16th, 2025
By Gena Aspinall-Martin
Malon Fashion closes Manchester Fashion Week - Photography By Molly Britton.
Manchester-based, Polish couturier Mariusz Malon closed day one at Manchester Fashion Week honouring LGBT designers with a breath-taking runway. For their SS/26 collection, Malon elevated avant-garde. Pushing the boundaries of gender and euphoria; through pieces that are almost alien and other worldly.
The show opened with a captivating performance by alternative singer Phoebe Green in custom Malon, closely followed by discordant runway music produced by Sarah Bates. Sarah created an ambiance of danger and intrigue; complimenting a collection that features torn fabrics, houndstooth and repurposed vintage brooches to create an eclectic mix of riches and rags. The garments are entwined with high fashion detailing; with a focus on unconventional construction. Malon features unique design elements, such as, woven and distressed fabrics, feathers, crochet and genuine vintage fox fur. The collection demonstrates the fall of riches in today’s society; with nods to nobility long lost to European history books. A subject very poignant in our current climate. Such as, a loss of faith in global governments and cost of living crisis; which has led to thrifting and economic self-awareness and an innate desire for sustainability amongst Gen-Z cohorts. Malon’s designs mirror society and what the future of fashion can be.
Malon Fashion at Manchester Fashion Week - Photography By Molly Britton.
“Your work is unapologetic and bold. Featuring genderless, sculptured silhouettes, taking ordinary objects and making them extraordinary. What inspired you to repurpose materials for your collections?”
“Repurposing materials keeps me resourceful and imaginative. It forces me to push boundaries, to experiment, to find beauty in unexpected places and think outside of the box, That tension between what it was and what it becomes is what inspires the boldness and raw energy in my collections”
Malon takes the ordinary to extraordinary, not always knowing the final outcome of his experimentation. The show opened on a dress that glistened in gold, made entirely from old brooches. Showcasing that treasures lost to past generations still hold value and heritage.
“Look 1 was truly mesmerising. I loved how it incorporated vintage brooches, a piece of jewellery now rarely used as an accessory to make something so captivating. How did you source so many brooches for the dress?”
“The base of the dress was constructed using butcher chains; which were taken apart and reconstructed into a chain mail! Once I had a base, I went ahead and started sourcing broaches, some were found in charity shops, others were bought individually from a wholesale jewellery warehouse, they kindly also gifted me a bag of broken broaches which I then put back together to use. This was one of the most costly dresses from the collection, I just kept running out and would have to go and source and buy more. It drained my account”.
Malon's Fashion is unapologetic, daring, and entrenched in modernity. Designs so bold they’ve been worn in shining lights. Malon is no stranger to the spotlight. The brand has triumphantly designed custom pieces for Sza and Doja Cat for stage performances. However, brands that use unconventional raw materials, posses unique sets of challenges
Malon Fashion at Manchester Fashion Week - Photography By Molly Britton.
“ As a slow fashion brand that turns “riches to rags” (more the latter) and repurposes using such innovative materials; what are some challenges you’ve faced in your product pipeline and how have you overcome them?”
“One of the biggest challenges has been building most of the collection alone while taking on custom work just to cover rent for my home and studio. I’ve collaborated on two of the outfits, latex one was brought to life by Amelia who hand cut out the pattern and constructed it on latex and the other was the chainmail crotchet which was done by Becca who has crotchet chains together”.
The collection represents an ideology. Inspired by “tension between past splendour and present loss” and pushes the teetering lines between fashion and art. A juxtaposition between old and new. Genderless, Queer, pugnacious and fierce. The SS/26 collection visually demonstrated reinvention and the collapse of Bourgeois and high society.
Malon Fashion at Manchester Fashion Week - Photography By Molly Britton.
“Where did you take inspiration from when designing your SS/26 collection?”
“I envisioned once regal, opulent figures who had basked in wealth and status. Now stripped of the luxuries that once defined them. Their crowns have dulled, their garments frayed, yet they cling desperately to fragments of pride and the faint glimmers of what remains. This tension between past splendour and present loss became the heartbeat of the collection. From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to work with houndstooth. To me, it has always carried the weight of authority, it’s a pattern synonymous with power, elegance, and tradition. But by distressing, tearing, and ruining the print, I found an almost therapeutic release. It was an act of rebellion, a way to channel my frustration with the state of the world into something visceral and raw”.
Malon Fashion closes at Manchester Fashion Week - Photography By Molly Britton.
Malon's designs showcase reimagined raw elements; and visually demonstrates the collapse of societies. However, his work also honours past traditions and the future of textiles in the modern day.