S7 Ep27 MORPHEW: Bridgette and Jason, vintage dealers and reworked vintage designers - on sourcing vintage for design inspiration, reworked vintage, and their pieces on celebrities!

Pre-Loved Podcast with Emily Stochl

Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly vintage fashion interview show, with guests you’ll want to go thrifting with! For more Pre-Loved Podcast, subscribe to our Patreon!

Today’s episode is with Bridgette Morphew and Jason Lyon of Morphew. Morphew is a high-end fashion brand offering the rarest luxury vintage selections from around the globe.

On today’s episode, we’ll hear the story of how Morphew got started – from its foundations working with fashion designers to source vintage inspiration for designs, to their atelier line where they create one-of-a-kind handmade pieces made from luxury vintage materials,

With the belief that restoration and creation go hand-in-hand, Bridgette and Jason carefully select fabrics and pieces to reconstruct, and morph into wearable, trend-forward garments with strong historical context.

We chat about all this and more on today’s episode, including celebrities who have worn Morphew, why vintage is so precious to design inspiration, and the garments that from a fashion history perspective they’re astounded they ever got to see in-person.

All this and more in today’s episode, so let’s just dive right in!

DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

• [4:06] Jason and Bridgette met in Florida in 2000, where the thrift stores were particularly filled with vintage!
• [7:41] Selling vintage to the design trade for textile and design inspiration.
• [15:43] Selling Victorian vintage to Alexander McQueen, which inspired his Plato Atlantis collection, including the iconic jellyfish outfit worn by Lady Gaga in the Bad Romance video.
• [17:14] Vintage inspiration we can expect to see this NYFW season.
• [21:15] Deciding to add a vintage retail arm to their business (on the request of Lenny Kravitz’s stylist, no less) to sell directly to customers in addition to designers.
• [26:03] Their vintage retail operation evolved to include reworked vintage – the Morphew Atelier.
• [31:58] Why they work with Victorian lace, which has craftsmanship that even the greatest couture design houses today can’t emulate.
• [36:17] Celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski, Miley Cyrus, Florence Welch, Rihanna, and Doja Cat have all worn Morphew, and we dive into some of these stories!
• [38:53] Working with gold metal mesh from 1950s handbags, and making pieces for Emily Ratajowski and Rihanna.
• [52:00] The pieces that, from a fashion history perspective, they’re astonished they ever got to have in person.

EPISODE MENTIONS:

• Morphew
• @morphew_world
• @morphew_atelier
• Alexander McQueen Spring 2010 Plato Atlantis collection
• Alexander McQueen jellyfish outfit - photo from the Met
• This McQueen piece was worn in the Lady Gaga Bad Romance music video
• Decades of Fashion in San Francisco
• Rainbow’s End quilting store
• Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring 2017 collection inspired by vintage Irish crochet
• Florence Welch wearing her Morphew piece
• Kim Kardashian in a Cher costume made by Morphew
• Emily Ratajkowski in a Morphew gold metal mesh piece
• Rihanna wearing a Morpehw gold metal mesh dress in a Fenty ad
• John Galliano Susie Sphinx collection

LET’S CONNECT:

• 📸Instagram: @emilymstochl
• 🐦Twitter: @emilymstochl
• 🎥TikTok: @emilymstochl
• 📧 Substack: https://prelovedpod.substack.com/
• 🎧Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/prelovedpod

SPECIAL THANKS:

A special thanks goes out to my Patron Insiders – your support makes Pre-Loved Podcast possible!

• Patty Weber
• Beverley Docherty of Wolfe Pack Vintage
• Danny of Galaxy Live
• Kathy Brand
• Lucero Buendia
• Tricia Zelazny
• Leslie V.
• Lisa of Queenie & Pearl
• Lucille of Galipette Vintage
• KT
• Kelly Van Hecke
• Lydia Welp
• Anastacia Banicke of Goods & Provisions