Natalia Maczek is a co-creator of one of the most recognizable Polish brands in the world. However, you won't find her name in gossip magazines, and you won't stumble upon Natalia herself at the proverbial "photo wall". Unless it's a photo wall before a MISBHV show.
Natalia Maczek, or from Krakow to Shanghai
It all started in a duet with her friend Katarzyna Kotnowska in an apartment in Krakow. A decade ago in Poland, a streetwear brand boom began pretty quickly. Young people and festival-goers mostly wore clothes designed by their friends - less popular, limited, with a story and character. This is how the idea of MISBHV was born. At first, Natalia Maczek and Katarzyna Kotnowska sewed simple clothes like t-shirts, sweatshirts, and the then-popular snapback hats.
Everything was marked with the MISBHV logo, read and understood as the English word "misbehave", meaning naughty or bad behavior. Oh well, another brand that made youth rebellion its virtue and will only exist for a moment - thought the owners of other streetwear brands, which were emerging at the same time at a dizzying pace. Is this really what MISBHV was waiting for? Natalia Maczek quickly realized that her clothes have much more potential and she aimed much higher than just her group of friends and the residents of Kraków.
The breakthrough came with the project of a mini collection, especially the MISBHV sweatshirt, with the inscription Team Paris. Seemingly simple, as always, a universal cut quickly became a social virus among the brand's consumers. Half of the young residents of Warsaw wore the sweatshirt. The other half chose the option with the inscription Team Berlin, thus contributing to the brand's recognition in the capital and in every city in Poland.
With this collection, Natalia Maczek conquered the streetwear market in her own country, but her plans still reached much further. In the meantime, the duo of friends transformed into another duo, which is de facto responsible for the final direction and global success of the brand. Today, MISBHV is Natalia Maczek and her partner Tomasz Wirski. They are the ones who created MISBHV, which turned out to be a phenomenon.
Natalia Maczek: MISBHV is More than Just a Passing Trend
The latest collections of the brand are not just classic T-shirts with prints or simple, uncomplicated cut sweatshirts. The MISBHV we know today is projects that reinterpret or even set new trends in fashion. The strong and audacious character, which can be seen in every collection of the brand, is not lacking. The designers are not afraid of bold graphics, as in the case of the MISBHV Euphoria sweatshirt.
There are also references to the futuristic trend, which is strongly inscribed in almost every MISBHV collection. Active Top is one of the undisputed bestsellers of the brand, and its design refers to techwear, that is, clothing adapted to the needs of our body. MISBHV also strongly hits such tones as sex appeal or deconstruction. From season to season, the creators of the brand play with current fashion trends and interpret them in their own way, according to intuition and what their consumers like.
There are plenty of MISBHV consumers. They can now be found not only in Krakow or Warsaw, but also in New York, Paris, or Hong Kong. Global fame began with sending Rihanna one of the sweatshirts with the MISBHV label. As is well known, what Rihanna puts on, becomes the biggest bestseller, regardless of the origin and recognition of the brand. The latter also increased thanks to its prestigious presence at such events as Paris Fashion Week, or thanks to articles and favorable critics in the most popular issue of Vogue, on the American online page of the famous fashion magazine.
Today, MISBHV projects are worn all over the world. They are particularly popular in Asia, which is considered the new cradle of fashion trends. Cities like Shanghai or Hong Kong attract as many or even more fashion consumers as Paris or New York today. This is where Natalia Maczek and Tomek Wirski are directing their forces. MISBHV is already loud here, and it will certainly get louder.
