Fashion Bloggers Guide to Shopping: Atelier-Mayer

Fashion Bloggers starts a new series of interviews: Fashion Bloggers Guide to Shopping, read our first interview with Carmen Haid of luscious vintage boutique Atelier Mayer

Charlotte: Tell our readers how Atelier-Mayer started

Carmen Haid: Atelier-Mayer launched 3 years ago. My grandmother Klaudia Mayer was an haute couture seamstress in the 1930s in Vienna specializing in eveningwear. She was my inspiration to go into fashion. The idea of Atelier-Mayer.com is to elevate my late grandmother’s atelier into the 21st century in the form of an online boutique for luxury vintage clothes and accessories.

Madame Mayer is essentially my late grandmother (the name) but on the site, it is a black female silhouette who is a little bit of all of us. She is fabulous, frivolous, gives advice, travels, drinks champagne and just loves fashion.

Charlotte: What does vintage mean to you?

Carmen Haid: Vintage is something very unique and personal. I have a passion for beautiful hand craftsmanship, good quality, heritage, rare cuts and beautiful design. In our world of mass production, vintage is something very special. I regard it as the art of fashion. It needs to be kept, passed on, treasured and given a new life, so it is at the same time environment friendly, ethical and sustainable.

Charlotte: Can you remember the first vintage piece you ever owned?

Carmen Haid: My mother’s and grandmother’s pass-me-downs aged 3 for my dressing up box.

Charlotte: How do you pick an Atelier-Mayer piece?

Carmen Haid: I source pieces globally, mostly from private collectors, vintage dealers, markets and sometimes auctions. I travel a lot but also the word is spreading and people are contacting me if they think they have something interesting to sell. True vintage is at least 20 years old.

I particularly love Yves Saint Laurent and Lanvin from the 60s and 70s, Paco Rabanne, Pierre Cardin, Alaia, Galanos, Chanel, Hermes, Ungaro, Christian Dior, Bill Blaas, Givenchy, Oscar de la Renta, Ossie Clark, Halston, Pucci to name a few.

Charlotte: What makes Atelier Mayer different from other fashion websites?

Carmen Haid: Atelier-Mayer is a unique online concept of a commercial, yet inspirational mix of luxury vintage fashion, accessories and objets d’art. All items are clean, odour free and feng shui’d in stylish environment friendly bio-degradable packaging.

In addition to our beautiful hand picked vintage, we also feature capsule collections of contemporary designers exclusively for Atelier-Mayer with vintage inspired collections, such as Rafael Lopez’ vintage lace haute couture collection or Katherine Alexander’s new plexi cuffs with vintage brooches. There is additional information on how vintage relates to current trends, care instructions, our blog, a Look of the Week on stylist Hannah Bhuiya, a great selection of short video content in our Style Minutes as well as background information on heritage pieces and designers.

Charlotte: What are your favourite pieces in your wardrobe?

Carmen Haid: My late grandmother’s private collection.

Charlotte: Your first thought in the morning?

Carmen Haid: The kids!

Charlotte: Give us some tips to find our personal style!

Carmen Haid: Go for pieces that appeal to you visually and quality wise. Try everything on and see how you feel when you wear it, look at the cut and your overall appearance. Does it go with your skin complexion, hair, height, eyes? Most vintage pieces can be tailored if necessary, to fit perfectly with the help of a seamstress.

Ignor brand names, true style has nothing to do with a designer name. Good vintage needs to look modern, so go for easy decades such as the 60s or 70s, stay away from “too vintage” looking patterns and low quality materials. Always go for the best quality and natural materials such as cottons, silks and wools. Stay away from polyester or any other synthetic fibres as you will sweat in them and they won’t come odour free.

Atelier-Mayer

47 Kendal Street

London, United Kingdom W2 2BU
www.Atelier-Mayer.com
Facebook Twitter