Interview with WINNIE the founder of Mischka Aoki for Childrensalon

Since the brand was established in 2009, Mischka Aoki has become one of the leading luxury dress designers for children. Each unique design - from the fabric which is expertly sourced in Europe, to the intricate attention to details - is a testament to her perfectionism and love of true craftsmanship.


Within the seven short years since the brand was established, Mischka Aoki has become one of the leading luxury dress brands for children and is a red carpet favourite amongst Hollywood’s mini-elite. Each dress – from the fabric which is expertly sourced in Europe, to the hundreds of man hours spent on intricate detailing – is the testament to her perfectionism and love of true craftsmanship, which pays off as each piece is simply stunning.

In anticipation of the upcoming AW’16 collection, we caught up with Winnie to discuss the inspiration behind her designs and the rumours surrounding that 24 karat gold dress.

What is the inspiration behind the brand?

I have always loved fashion and luxury and it has become part of my everyday life. I never thought I would do what I do today until my daughter Mischka was born. At that time, I felt that there wasn’t anything that was both luxurious and stylish enough in the children’s market, so I saw that there was a great potential – that’s when Mischka Aoki was established.



Having only debuted your first collection in 2009, Mischka Aoki has fast become a leader in the luxury childrenswear market. What do you feel sets you apart from other designers?

I believe that we offer something very unique and original. We offer ready to wear dresses that adopt haute couture techniques and styles, available in regular standard sizing, eliminating months of waiting times. There is a niche of people who appreciate the fine detailing and time that goes into designing and creating these dresses and this is what makes Mischka Aoki stand apart from the rest.


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You work with so many delicate fabrics and your attention to detail is simply stunning. Please talk us through the process of creating one of your unique designs.

Every single Mischka Aoki dress is unique. Each one requires skilful techniques and can take hundreds of man-hours on one dress alone; this technique is extensively adopted on a wide selection of styles in every collection. Creating these dresses requires an artistic eye for fine detailing as quite often no patterns or markings are used in the process. Most of our dresses require the use of 4-5 different fabrics and our design team sew every single embellishment by hand.


A single dress can take 300 hours to produce with at least 8 people working on one. We source exclusive fabrics from all over Europe, however, we create our own in-house designs. Every dress has some form of intricate handwork – embroidery, embellishments, etc.

Is every design completely organic or do you make a conscious decision to follow trends and/or industry demands?
I tend not to follow any trends or industry demands, but I do listen to our customers on what they need and what they like, I then take these factors into consideration when designing. When I create new styles and choose materials, I give careful thought on realizing our customer’s requests and put these ideas into the products, to ensure they are exceptional and improved on a season by season.



What do you enjoy most about designing dresses for little girls?

Being able to see the reaction of the girls that finally wear them – how each dress makes them feel very happy and very special. Children always love dresses that are breathtaking and it just so happens Mischka Aoki’s character is always about creating a dress that is unique, luxurious and elegant, so it comes naturally for us to design dresses that children easily fall in love with. We always use elements such as Swarovski crystals, sparkling tulle or fancy tweed coupled with intricate details, which children usually love.





The first flower of spring dress Each of your beautifully crafted dresses seems to tell a story. What is your favourite piece from the current SS’16 collection and why?

The first flower of spring dress. I think the colour is vibrant and fresh and the shape is unique.


We’ve had a sneak-peak at your AW’16 collection which is simply beautiful! What can our customers expect to see?

The Mischka Aoki Fall/Winter 2016 collection is inspired by ‘The Midsummer Night’s dream’ steeped in a world of enchantment and dreams. It draws on charmed elements one may find from flowing butterflies, colourful birds, and beautiful flowers, all imagined within a more whimsical interpretation.
Drawing on the entranced world of a garden dreamscape, the collection is bewitching to the eye, down to every last detail. With a colour palette of soft neutrals from peachy-coral to luxurious ice-blue to forest green, with accents of mystical gold and silver.


What’s next for Mischka Aoki? Do you have any exciting projects or collaborations in the pipeline?

We always have new and exciting projects in the pipeline. Recently we launched something that takes Mischka Aoki to yet another level of luxury, as we released our most exclusive dress to date – an exclusive 24K gold dress.


The dress is adorned with real 24 karat gold and is further embellished with thousands of Swarovski crystals, which is something that has never been done before in the childrenswear industry. We will very soon be releasing a collaboration that features a beautiful children’s story book based on a classic story. The children will be able to learn whilst at the same time enjoy reading them. In addition, a beautiful doll has been designed in collaboration with a very famous artist – Megan Hess. Keep a look out on our social media page for up to date, new and exciting projects!


“Winnie: Mischka Aoki is an haute couture brand for children featuring luxuriously elegant and glamorously crafted dresses. Mischka Aoki is definitely not for everyone, however, people who appreciate craftsmanship, quality and distinction will find contentment in the brand.”


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