Get to know Interior, the up-and-coming label hailing from New York City and one of the latest brands to land at LuisaViaRoma. Born in 2020, Interior is the lovechild of long-time BFFs Jack Miner and Lily Miesmer. The label presents an alternative approach to daily dressing, offering a range of unique forward-thinking pieces evoking emotion, excitement, and a hint of nostalgia. Read the detailed interview with Interior’s founders and discover their Pre-Spring 2023 collection.
How did you both meet and what made you decide to start a label together?
We met in 8th-grade math class and fell in love right away –– we recognized a lot of ourselves in each other as far as our outlooks and interests were concerned. So we both just immediately felt like we’d found our respective soulmates. We’ve been best friends for the last 20 years. We’re so close now that at times it’s hard to tell where one of us ends and the other begins … Starting a business together has been like the marriage we’d never be able to have otherwise (haha).
We’d always each kind of assumed we’d do something together as far as work is concerned, but it wasn’t until lockdown in 2020 that Interior really started to take shape. Covid emboldened us to conceive of and launch the brand. It shattered our realities, and we realized that there was no such thing as the “right” thing to wear anymore. When people started dressing up again, they were only wearing what they loved. We’re drawn to things that are deeply resonant, so we felt like dressing in a post-Covid landscape really lent itself to our point of view.
What is the central concept behind Interior?
Interior is specialness across all categories. We love taking familiar styles and subverting them to create tension and intellectual novelty in different ways. We want to give women an expressive, well-articulated wardrobe full of surprising propositions. And yet, while our clothes aim to be distinctive and a little off-kilter, they’re always designed with comfort and an intuitive wearability in mind. Ultimately, Interior is about converting on emotion and a sense of discovery –– our products aren’t the things you need, they’re the things you want.
Who is the Interior girl?
Most often, we think about the fact that the Interior girl dresses for herself and no one else. Putting on clothes is like choosing which character she wants to be that day. She’s someone who enjoys fashion but doesn’t take it too seriously –– she’s not coming from a place of shellacked perfection, of keeping up appearances at all costs. There’s a naturalness and ease and relatability to her, and with that comes a lot of welcome imperfection.
Where did you draw inspiration for the new PS23 collection?
PS23 was all about problem-solving for women’s wardrobes in the height of summer. In a way it was a reaction to how narrative-driven SS23 was given that we were tasked with building a world around our first runway show –– so we eschewed storytelling in lieu of creating a really product-first collection, even more so than we typically do.
We did a fully-fashioned t-shirt with a trompe l’oeil wrinkle print –– but instead of using 100% cotton, we made it from a silk yarn with a tiny bit of merino to wick away sweat. Another trompe l’oeil moment came in the form of a wheat-colored linen/viscose suit jacket with detachable cotton poplin hem + sleeves and a coordinating trouser, which is cut from a crisp and lightweight viscose/linen. We did a softly haloed cashmere/silk sweater with a loose, irregular knit structure in shocking cobalt blue. We love to design eveningwear and we’ve been lucky to have some great red-carpet moments since our launch –– so to that end, we made an all-over crystal-embellished gown with deep V’s at the front and back and a pooling hemline + sleeves.
The collection is about bringing a lot of intrigue to highly functional pieces across every touchpoint in a woman’s wardrobe –– and in that sense, it’s about striking the balance between commerciality and creative umami.
What are some current trends you’re loving at the moment?
We’re so psyched to see nipples out! We love designing into clothes that conceal and reveal in equal measure. Women claiming their sexuality in a way that’s entirely free of the male gaze is awesome to us.
