The globe-trotting vehicle that is MCM has touched down on all corners of the world, always pushing the limits and evolving its DNA with our current zeitgeist. For 44 years the brand had one iconic monogram, the Cognac Visetos, but to ring in its 45th year in the game, MCM now has three. This year saw the release of its Vintage Jacquard Monogram, and now, it’s time to meet the latest addition to the family, the Cubic Monogram.
The Cubic Monogram simplifies and streamlines the brand’s signature house codes, like its staple diamond-like design, offering eye-catching, geometric lines and moving from a 2D to a 3D aesthetic. Aiming for a cross-category approach, the Cubic Monogram represents MCM’s journey from past to future, physical to digital, and construction to deconstruction.
We caught up with Dirk Schönberger, the brand’s Global Creative Officer, to uncover more about the Cubic Monogram, what inspired its conception and what exactly MCM’s mysterious M'ETAVERSE is.
Keen on rejuvenating the brand year after year, Schönberger is at the helm of channeling this adventurous energy into the products we see from the fashion house. "MCM has been pretty daring throughout its history, but it was time to play that boldness a little louder. The Cubic Monogram is an abstract distortion of the brand’s name featured in a Bauhaus typefont motif. It’s a great departure into something more modern really analyzing the codes and DNA of the brand and how to reshuffle them," he explains.
Woven and printed in a jacquard style from nylon and wool, the design has also been embossed onto leather, highlighting the brand’s multi-textile approach. On the offset, the Cubic is also visually a lot cleaner than many of MCM’s past monograms. "Besides reconfiguring our iconic diamond Visetos graphic into a cube format, we were inspired by the clear structure and graphic language of the Bauhaus and the trompe l’oeil of infinity and perspective from MC Escher’s art," says Schönberger.
If you haven’t heard of MCM’s M'ETAVERSE, then here it is explained in Schönberger’s words. "The M'ETAVERSE is our venture into combining the physical and digital world and creating our own space which you can access wherever you are. It is our way to create more immediate and honest connections with our consumers, but it won’t be just limited to the digital world. We want to bring people together again after being in solitude for a while."
Serving as the brand’s new conceptual direction from virtual to hyperreality, the M’ETAVERSE can be seen visually through the Cubic’s multi-dimensional composition and repeated pattern. The designs of the pieces bear similarity to optical illusions, forcing us to question what is real or not and linking to MCM’s provocative and fearless style. On top of that, Schönberger wanted to create a younger looking monogram for the millennial and Gen Z generation that MCM has been connecting more and more with.
With plans to keep exploring the Cubic Monogram with new materials, shapes, and silhouettes, MCM’s momentum is at an all-time high — and it’s not just clothing-wise that the brand is reaching such heights. "Our first physical M'ETAVERSE location will open in Seoul at the beginning of 2022 and we have so many exciting collaborations coming up too," explains Schönberger.
Find out more about MCM's Cubic Monogram collection here.
