Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Überreste.
Hi Michelle, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up on a farm in northwest MN. I was interested in fashion and art from a young age. I learned how to sew from my mother and both grandmothers. My mom really took the time to teach me an appreciation for sewing, and encouraged me to think outside the box. My dad would bring home discarded art supplies from the store he worked for. I remember him trying to get me to wear blue jeans when I was 5 or 6, and I was absolutely repulsed by that. I wanted to wear my matching outfits.
My family lost our home multiple times due to flooding, and we moved back many times to rebuild. I learned a lot about constructing houses that way, it’s a lot like constructing a garment. I also learned a lot about loss, and acquired a healthy distrust for the government, after dealing with them through those disasters.
In High School, I started experimenting with sewing more, and began selling my creations online. I graduated in 2002, then went to college for chemistry and programming. I had wanted to be involved in fashion for a long time, but I just never considered it a viable career option until I met my husband, Forest. He encouraged me, and we moved to Los Angeles so I could pursue education.
I dropped out of two schools that taught me little, then landed an internship with a brand that I was captivated by since I was a teenager: Lip Service. I worked there for 5-6 years, and learned all that I could. I was fortunate to be encouraged to learn so much on the job. Experience is the best teacher, it’s true. I feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute so much to such a legendary and fashion forward brand.
After that, I auditioned for Project Runway a few times, and was finally cast! It aired in 2014. I didn’t win, but I was able to show quite a bit of my work. Plus, I gained an incredible, life altering experience that has changed my perspective forever. I also won five thousand dollars in a challenge, which I used to start my brand!
I founded my namesake brand in 2014. Up until then, someone else always got to put their name on my work. I had lots of cool brand name ideas, but this is just me. I’m signing my work.
The following year, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a progressive, autoimmune condition in which the immune system destroys the body’s own neurological tissue in the brain and nerves. This was completely devastating news. My whole world was turned upside down as I became a lot more limited in my abilities.
After a few years, my husband quit his job and I taught him everything I knew. He joined the business and we have been making cool clothes at home ever since. Hacking my system together. We decided to move back to Minnesota, even though we were scared there may not be many opportunities. So, we made our own opportunities. We created our own, new world. Since then, we have had the pleasure of connecting with a lot of other local creatives, and worked with some old friends as well.
My work has now appeared in TV and movies, music videos, and been worn by people all over the world. I’ve shown collections at NYFW and LAFW. What more could I ask for?
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road is never easy. If it was, I would have to ask myself “What is wrong with this picture?” If there’s no friction, there’s no growth, no fire. And, that’s what success really is, in my opinion: improvement.
As I mentioned before, not long after starting my own brand, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It was a big set back. It was one of the reasons my husband initially left his job and came to work with me. He has enabled me to continue doing what I love, to fill the gaps in my brain.
Then Covid-19, and the explosion of fast fashion have both set us back with fewer sales. Now, knock off practices are running rampant. Huge companies just scour the internet for independent designer’s ideas that they can steal without compensating them. There is no law protecting clothing designs in America, they can’t be copyrighted. These companies will even steal our original photos, and use them on their websites to sell their copied designs. It’s happened to me, and a lot of my creative friends. Then, we are often called the guilty ones. They also almost always cheapen their copied clothing because they need to be produced en masse, and lower prices make them more appealing to most consumers. So we double lose.
Now with artificial intelligence, people no longer need to study design, learn how to use their own intuition, or understand function. They don’t need to know how to design, they can just have a robot do that for them. And, while they’re at it, a robot can imagine for them, too. And, then hand it off to some skilled workers who can make it into a reality. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Robots made it easy, so now everyone IS doing it. AI has trained on work that I contributed to the underground scene, which was beyond my control. I feel like all I’ve learned and worked for is now worthless. It’s tough seeing derivatives of my work everywhere, while everyone else gets the profit and credit. Now, the market is oversaturated. I feel like my own ideas are being used against me. Gaining inspiration from others is a normal part of the artistic process, but blatantly failing to incorporate your own distinct ideas and perspective, or give credit where it’s due… it’s just theft. And, it’s lazy. AI isn’t a tool, it’s a crutch.
My declining health has also made it more difficult as we try to move forward. My physical and brain health makes it hard to work, but my creative side keeps coming up with ideas. It’s a struggle just trying to keep up with myself! I have to keep on reinventing myself and my world with each MS relapse.
But honestly, a lot of these challenges have sparked a lot of great themes and projects for me. That friction and conflict is what helps me create (and relate!) sometimes. A challenge is sometimes the best catalyst. But don’t get me wrong, I hate being disabled.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
CONCEPT
I make clothes that evoke a feeling, that make you feel a certain way when you put them on. To me, fashion IS a feeling. It’s about creating a mood, or expressing the inexplicable. I like to think that I create modern day armor, battledress for every day life.
A good designer should be able to dress anyone! Clothing is for the body, not the other way around. It should serve us, decorate us, adorn us, highlight our best and favorite features, display our personality. Present our best selves. Not for others, but for us. They can express what is inside, on the outside, or shift our moods.
AESTHETIC
My work is visually characterized by layered shades of black with small and rare pops of bright color, or grungy earth tones. I love mixing textures the way some people mix prints. Aggressive silhouettes appear often, with tough details. Repurposed, salvaged and unconventional materials are a common theme. I am constantly collecting bits from all over the place. I use metal hardware often, even on casual pieces.
Part of my process is also presenting the work in the context in which I see it. Yet, I like to leave something to the imagination and interpretation of the viewer or wearer. I really do consider my work to be art, and my canvas is the body. Each unique piece that I create has a life of its own and its own history. Similar to how each one of us is an original work of art by the master Creator, God. I create, too, because I am made in His image.
INSPO
I’m often inspired in finding beauty in every day things that we take for granted, or even ugly things. Things that were just meant to function. I want to make them pretty. I grew up in rural Minnesota, so I often photograph my work in local spaces where I notice the contrast between industrialization and the natural. I’m fascinated by construction sites, abandoned buildings, and just the general disorder and decay that humanity leaves behind.
I’m also inspired by other people! I like seeing someone put together an outfit that I would never think of. Not only their personal style, but their art, music, their dreams and fears. Goth culture and the cyberpunk genre both show up in my work often.
THEMES
I feel very uncomfortable in this world. Themes of disability and disease, government and military, faith and truth, tech vs. nature, despair vs. hope, aging and death, future vs. history are common threads that are woven into each piece that I make. I like to explore the dichotomy of appearance vs true nature. For example, our idea of what, aesthetically, a utopia looks like, can also simultaneously be dystopian in word and deed. It’s about perspective.
PROCESS
I consider myself a clothing architect. Each piece has to be engineered from scratch and is completely original. This is totally opposite of the current fast fashion model. I have always been excited to create out of my own mind. I want to see what I’m capable of. Imagination is so valuable, and that’s just one of the reasons I really despise AI.
I love inventing things that don’t yet exist or haven’t been done in quite the same way. I’m not interested in doing the same thing everyone else is doing. I often use scraps and leftovers, mixing old parts with new in unexpected ways. I love inventing techniques. I’m obsessed with small details that most people don’t even notice. I like to design in 3D, inside and out.
END
I communicate through the things I make. It’s self expression, but I think it’s also me trying to make sense of things for myself. Although, I think most of my work is understood by very few, those few people matter.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
The Bible.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.michelleuberreste.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelleuberreste/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichelleUberreste/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/michelleuberreste/
Image Credits
0. (BIO PIC) ME: CARBON-14.6ZA SHRUG
Photo: Forest Überreste
1. HARDWARE GLOVES
2. DEFENSE MECHANISM PANTS
3. MELTDOWN JACKET
Model: Jill Frederick
Photo: Photography by Shannon Rae
MUAH: Micaija Lee Lindeman
4. MUTAGENE GARTER TOP
5. CARBON SHRUG + PLASTIC COLLAR + GLOVES
Model/MUAH: Micaija Lee Lindeman
Photo: Photography by Shannon Rae
6. H3DG3H0G ZIP VEST
Model: Mckenna Fowler
Photo: Photography by Shannon Rae
7. NIGHTBLOOM DRESS
Model: Rachael Heppner
Agency: Natalie Sparrow Management
Photo: Amber Dreamcatcher
8. BULLET DRESS
Models: Micaija Lee Lindeman
Photo: Photography by Shannon Rae
