motoguo is first and foremost a clothing brand, but it’s their eye for creative direction that makes them truly stand out. With a strong value placed on design and photography, they breathe a more holistic life in their broader concepts of nostalgia and humor.
The Malaysian brand started as a menswear label but evolved into producing genderless lines with unique fittings, clashing patterns, and powerful colors. Their debut drop in 2015 was designer Moto Guo’s graduation project, which was photographed by Zhong Lin and submitted to Fucking Young!, a Spanish men’s magazine devoted to global youth culture. Within hours of the article release, Moto was receiving wholesale and retail orders from around the world, and the brand was born.
的确，motoguo 是一家时装品牌，但他们最为人津津乐道的却是品牌背后的创意团队。对 motoguo 而言，服装设计和艺术摄影是品牌两大重要环节，与此同时，怀旧与幽默的宗旨更为他们注入了多元的色彩。
这家来自马来西亚本土的时装品牌，最初以男装为主，后来逐渐将目光投向无性别概念。古灵精怪的造型加上极具视觉冲击力的图案和色彩，时刻调动观众的口味。2015年，设计师 Moto Guo 在毕设上首次亮相该品牌。时尚摄影师 Zhong Lin 用镜头记录下了当时发生的一切，并随后将照片发送至西班牙男性时装杂志《Fucking Young!》。在文章发表的几个小时之后，来自世界各地的批发和零售订单接踵而至，品牌第一炮就这样打响了。
Although the label is named after its founder, it’s decidedly a team effort. Since its inception, Moto’s life partner Kinder Eng has been a part of the brand. The pair—both from Kuala Lumpur—met while in college. Kinder started as a personal assistant but quickly became co-creative director alongside Moto in 2016. They also stick with close friends when shooting editorials, usually pairing with photographers Zhong Lin or Lee Wei Swee for motoguo’s inventive visuals. “We’ve established a good understanding of each other’s preferences,” they say.
品牌的运作离不开团队协作。在 motoguo 创立之初，Moto 的挚友 Kinder Eng 便早早开始为品牌忙前跑后。他们在大学相识，都是吉隆坡本地人。从个人助理到创意总监，Kinder 始终与 Moto 并肩。服装型录拍摄时，二人又会拉来身边密友合作，比如前面提到的摄影师 Zhong Lin 和摄影师 Lee Wei Swee。他们表示：“我们彼此建立熟悉的来往，大家都很了解对方想要哪种感觉的东西。”
The motoguo website riffs off an early 90s Geocities-type design, with animated text, bouncing clip art, and old-school hourglass loading icons. The thumbnail for each collection is even framed within silhouetted shapes that include a cocktail glass, a suburban house, a cloud, and more.
motoguo 官网页面沿袭了90年代初期 Windows 网页设计，动画文字、弹跳的剪贴画以及经典的沙漏加载图标分分钟带你重回那个年代。每一个系列的头图还被套用在各种低保真样式的剪贴画中，类似鸡尾酒杯、乡村别墅、蝴蝶、云朵等等。
Each drop comes complete with a background story, an involved editorial campaign, and often a short video. There’s even a section for fan art, which the duo began soliciting with the launch of the site. “We hold all of them close to our hearts,” they say.
此外，通过网页背景故事、专题和短视频内容的填充，使得每套服装的呈现更加饱满、丰富。网站刚一上线，Moto 和 Kinder 便开始向广大粉丝征集作品。为了展示粉丝群体的艺术理念，motoguo 官网甚至还开辟了专区。二人表示，他们非常重视不同人的奇思妙想。
The brand tone is solidified with their lookbooks. Take for example, It, which features models lounging in an earthy, orange-themed living room, surrounded by virtual imagery of distant scenery. As the scene progresses, the models seem increasingly distraught by their faux-luxury surroundings, opting to exit the simulation in the final shot. Come To Us, We Celebrate You is a sardonic celebration of the little things, a forced smile in the face of bleak pandemic days. Designed as motivational posters, blank-faced models wander aimlessly along a deserted, cement-encased beachfront; the lone smile that appears is on one model in the final group shot. The Rite Of Spring is designed and edited to resemble colorized historic portraits, a contemplation of death and the message we each leave behind.
网站上的型录页面专门整合了 motoguo 每套服装的上身和造型图。系列 “它（It）” 的宣传照拍摄于一间格局简单的橘黄色客厅内。两名模特懒洋洋地倚靠在沙发上，背景张贴了低保真自然风光壁纸。照片中的人物随着壁纸的变换而抓狂，想要拼命逃离这虚幻的世界。
系列 “来，我们为你把歌唱（Come To Us, We Celebrate You）” 歌颂生活中那些不起眼的平凡小事。一群面无表情的古怪角色在海边废墟百无聊赖，偶尔在他们脸上出现的笑容令观众倍感欣慰。“春天仪式（The Rite Of Spring）” 系列则带我们重返过去，体现了作品对消逝和遗忘的思考。
For motoguo, the appeal of nostalgia lies in its comforting quality. Kinder fondly recalls following his mother and step sister around to noisy salons, where they’d sit him down with colorful, old-school fashion magazines while they drank out of pretty china. These memories remain a vintage romance to him. While the majority of their customer base is from China, much of the brand’s references are American. “Thanks to the rise in American media back in the 80’s, elements from American culture inevitably made their way to Malaysia as well,” they say, referencing the kitschy mall portraits of their Even Odder collection.
对于 motoguo 来说，怀旧感的无穷魅力来自于抚慰人心的力量。如今，每当 Kinder 回忆起往事都还心存温暖：他青少年时期跟随母亲和继姐一起去美容店，母亲和继姐端着精致瓷杯饮茶，他则一旁的茶几边翻阅厚厚的时尚杂志。对于 Kinder 而言，这些旧时的记忆依然能唤醒他内心的柔肠。虽然 motoguo 的客户大多来自中国，但品牌不少设计或多或少受到 “美国怀旧风” 的影响。在谈及 “再怪一点（Even Odder）” 系列中美风格的人物摄影时，他们表示，“美国在上世纪八十年代媒体行业蓬勃发展。同时期，马来西亚就受到了当时美国风格的影响。”
The number of pieces in each motoguo release differs, but they say that with each subsequent line, they produce more and more. The majority of their materials are sourced from Japan, Hong Kong, and mainland China, and although they’re trying to opt for sustainable materials to reduce their carbon footprint, they say it’s difficult at their current size: “At the moment, some of our designs are made of deadstock fabrics and we are also known for our use of assorted vintage deadstock buttons.”
motoguo 每一季发布的新品产量各不相同。据他们所说，随着需求量的增加，目前品牌的总体产量正在逐年上升。motoguo 时装的生产原料大多来自日本、香港和中国大陆。眼下，他们正在尝试使用可持续服装原材料来减少碳排放，不过目前，想做到这一点并非易事：“我们会尝试一些不同的面料，然后通过一些细节，比如钮扣，来延续复古风格。”
At its heart, motoguo is about the weirdos and the outcasts. They aim to spread positivity by representing the person at the back of the room who’s deemed too “odd” to fit in. At one runway show, they even painted acne marks on their models. “We believe everyone is different in their own unique ways,” they say. “At motoguo, we celebrate peculiarity.”
老实说，motoguo 的受众大多是一些怪咖和边缘人士。日常生活中，他们常常被冠以 “不伦不类” 的称号，但 motoguo 却坚持为他们发声，以正向的方式把他们推向“舞台”。在某场走秀上，模特们的面庞被刻意画上粉刺，两位合伙人为此解释道：“我们相信每个人都有自己与众不同的特点，而这些特点恰恰是品牌 motoguo 最在意的地方。”
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Website: www.motoguo.com
Instagram: @motoguo
Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Alice Zhang
