Why the name UNTTLD?
In contemporary art, there are often works names untitled, leaving more space for the viewer to see and interpret what they want in the work. We called our company UNTTLD with this idea in mind: rather than wearing someone else’s name and buying into their lifestyle, we want the UNTTLD woman to wear what we make rather than wear us, so that she can truly shine and our clothes are a way for her to express her truest self.
How did the two of you meet?
We met at a bar, it was an instant connection, maybe even perhaps because of the vichy shirt Simon was wearing. We were instantly in sync, we get what the other is thinking without needed to talk all that much to explain. And we’ve been dancing together ever since.
You are just launching your business outside of Canada, where do you dream for the company to be in 2 years?
The UNTTLD woman is strong and affirmative, sensual and romantic all at once. When we think about where the company is going, and where we want to be two years from now, we see more and more women, from the cocktail reception to the red carpet, from boardrooms to the halls of fashion publications and everywhere in between reaching for UNTTLD in their wardrobe and feeling a renewed sense of inspiration, the confidence to push the limits, to be bold and be their truest fabulous selves.
Tell me about your love of combining eras, history and people
Jose: When I was in art school I took art history and was always intrigued by symbolism. You cannot pinpoint exactly where it comes from; it evolves over time. I was interested in how objects carry meaning. It is the same with clothes. It allows us to tell stories. It is an expression of how we feel at the moment and a way for us to interpret the things that fascinate and move us.
Simon: The reason we love fashion and got into this business in the first place is deeper than just making clothes. We want the clothes we make to reflect our interests, and our hopes and desires – the ones we have for ourselves and those we wish for others. We are constantly inspired by historical references, both in fashion and beyond it, we like to approach fashion as something that reflects the current time, and at the same time has a certain timelessness to it. This way people can go back to pieces in their closets and each piece in some way has a deeper meaning
You’ve done some interesting work with local artists, can you tell me about that?
Jose: UNTTLD in itself is the result of our artistic collaboration – we like to bounce ideas and push our own limits in the work we do. We love to involve other artists as it pushes us to go further in our design and creation at Hughes Air & Co. as well. We recently collaborated with Romain Boz, a calligrapher artist who does a project called Garbage Beauty. He may see a discarded items on the street, like an old mattress in an alley, and he stops everything to write beautiful things on it. We love the poetic romanticism in his work, and thought it would be interesting to see him work on beautiful clothes. We love the result, each piece is so unique and personal and it the woman who wears it gets to wear art at the same time. There’s even more of a story in the jacket, pants, skirt she wears.
