Introducing Marina Yee

  • A founding voice of the Antwerp Six, Marina Yee spent a lifetime looking where others didn't. Finding beauty in the cast off, the imperfect, the overlooked. Where her peers built empires, Yee worked quietly in the margins, pulling discarded things back into the light and asking what they could still become.

    Shop the collection here. 

Black Tailored Car Coat, Black Twin Tank Top, Black Twinning Layered Skirt, and Guidi Black 90810 Square Toe High Boots.

Grey Stripe Biba Fold Up Shirt, Grey Stripe Twin Layered Shorts, and Guidi Brown NB06 Back Zip Boots.

Trained at the Royal Academy in Antwerp, she was part of the 1987 generation that rewrote fashion's possibilities. She later walked away from it all, returning only in 2018 with the M.Y. Collection. She passed away this year, at 67, leaving behind a language the industry continues to speak.

Black Biba Fold Up Shirt, Black Twinning Layered Skirt, Black Twin Tank Top, and Guidi Black 90810 Square Toe High Boots.

Before upcycling had a name, she was already reworking the unwanted. Clothes found, dropped, observed and rebuilt with intention. "I challenged myself to make beauty out of ugliness." Each piece carries something hidden within, a garment with an interior life.

White Ollie Oversized T-Shirt, Grey Stripe Twin Layered Shorts, and Guidi Brown NB06 Back Zip Boots.

Black Blitz Wool Jumper, Black Jules Darted Trousers.

Nutmeg Twin Tank Top, Off-White Dean Denim Trousers, Guidi Brown 99SND Cage Sandal, and Rosa Maria Sterling Silver Oak Beaded Bracelet.

The black ribbon. A small recurring gesture across her work, tying, holding, almost hidden. Present in different forms from piece to piece, never announced, always there. The BIBA Shirt carries this quietly. Sleeves that transform, cuffs that button to shift the silhouette, a signature dart at the shoulder anchoring it all.

Nutmeg Sweet Kangu Sweater, Grey Stripe Twin Layered Shorts.

Black Twin Tank Top, Black Twinning Layered Skirt, and Guidi Black 90810 Square Toe High Boots.
Black Biba Fold Up Shirt, Indigo Dean Denim Trousers, and Guidi Black 90810 Square Toe High Boots.

Marina Yee's heavy relaxed denim, distressed at the hem. The tie at the back cinched gently at the waist, shaping without force. The kind of combination that feels considered without trying, exactly what Marina Yee always intended.

A small collection. Shirts, basics subverted, denim, and reworked pieces that carry their history with them. They won't be here long.

Shop the collection here.


Photographer: Tülay Dinçel
Stylist: Emily Kate Cooper
Model: Tara Wong