{"id":452979,"date":"2024-06-06T11:18:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T09:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highxtar.com\/hablamos-w-zabala-el-disenador-detras-de-las-gafas-mas-famosas-de-lil-yachty\/"},"modified":"2024-06-06T13:15:09","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T11:15:09","slug":"we-talked-to-w-zabala-the-designer-behind-lil-yachtys-most-famous-glasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highxtar.com\/en\/we-talked-to-w-zabala-the-designer-behind-lil-yachtys-most-famous-glasses\/","title":{"rendered":"We talked W\/ Zabala, the designer behind Lil Yachty’s most famous eyewear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On April 29, Lil Yachty<\/a><\/strong> opened his European tour in London with a pair of glasses that caught everyone’s attention. A futuristic white frame with liquid-like grooves enveloping rectangular lenses. The creative mind behind them? Mathew ZABALA<\/a><\/strong>, one of last year’s graduates from Central Saint Martins, the breeding ground for the fashion masterminds of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The London-based designer launched his debut collection in September last year. In it, we could already see that eyewear was to become a fundamental part of his universe. Soon after, his quilted, biker-inspired menswear and eyewear were spotted at Bloody Osiris<\/strong><\/a> at Paris Fashion Week, sitting on the front row of Kenzo’s FW24 show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 1st the Z-FRAMEs finally arrived for the rest of us mortals, and Yachty stopped by Zabala<\/strong><\/a> London studio to get an eyeful of his work before starting his tour, and ended up leaving with a pair of them and, Mathew tells us, something else. Last week at his concert in Stockholm, in fact, the rapper wore a total look of the brand and a new model of glasses that he premiered for the first time, as they have not yet gone on sale. We had a conversation with Mathew Zabala to know first hand his universe beyond his connection with Lil Yachty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lil Yachty in Zabala Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Lil Yachty in Zabala Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

HIGHXTAR (H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> The designer of the moment! How are you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mathew Zabala (MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> <\/strong><\/mark>Very well, I tell you first of all that I’ve been living here in London for a long time, so when I’m not in Spain it’s harder for me to speak in Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> Don’t worry, you can say it in English if you are more comfortable. How is life! Just the other day I was talking about you with a friend from San Sebastian who follows your work. It seems that the stars have come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> Donosti is small, and there are not many people who do fashion there so, we all know each other, you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> How long ago did you go to London? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> Well, I’m from many different places. I was born in New York, I was living in San Sebastian for a few years; now I have my friends there, so it’s like I have my lifelong group, when I come back it’s like I never left; but I’ve been in London for more than 10 years now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> So, you went because of your studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> At first it was because my parents came here for work, but when I knew I wanted to do fashion I knew the best place for me would be Saint Martins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> You finished in September last year, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> Yes, that’s when I did the graduation show. Before that I was working in a lot of places. Since we had the COVID era, I was working a lot more because there were opportunities. In that year I went to JW ANDERSON and I was working next to Jonathan, quite close to him, so that was very interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other one I was working with is Se\u00e1n McGirr. But I just couldn’t believe it because I was talking to him the other day and all of a sudden, I see him at the Met Gala with Kim Kardashian!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> Didn’t you know that Alexander McQueen had appointed him? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> Before that, I could imagine that he was going to go somewhere big, but I didn’t know that much. In fact, when he started at McQueen we talked and he offered me to go there with him but I was already doing my own thing. At JW I was designing a lot, which was very important to me because normally when you’re designing at these brands you don’t always get that much chance to design as such. From the moment I arrived I was designing for Moncler for example, and I didn’t believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I think I learned a lot more working for these brands than I did at uni, because with COVID you couldn’t do much there either, but it was good for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> In the end, the opportunity to work for such important brands gives you more experience than university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> Of course, I also don’t use my agenda to get a job. I want to consolidate my own brand. High fashion, for me it was one of those things that, I can see it feasible, but I didn’t want to start that typical and irremediable path of any firm in which you start as a normal designer and then you can move up. The chances of promotion are sometimes minimal. If you don’t know someone, you’re probably not going to get it. I’ve been with a lot of designers, and there are people who are brilliant at their job but stay in the same position with no chance of promotion, so when I saw that I said, \u201cWell, I’m going to do my own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> That’s when you went to New York?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> After JW, I went to New York to work at Harley Davidson. That year they were revamping the brand. Louise Goldin, another CSM graduate who had been a designer at Yeezy, was as creative director of the women’s section. I was working alongside her as a menswear designer. It was one of those very important moments for me because it was the first time I had to review the whole creative process: I was talking to the manufactures, controlling the photo shoots from beginning to end\u2026. I had more things to be responsible for, and that helped me to become more experienced. I already wanted to do it for my own brand, so I had to learn everything, not just design. At that moment I realized that many times it doesn’t depend a lot on whether you are good or bad or if you are more creative or less designing, but that the industry also has a lot to do with who you know. But well, there are people who have started without being known at all, so we’ll see what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> How long have you been with Zabala since you graduated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> Yes, but after I graduated I was working but more as a freelancer. I was making custom pieces for my clients. Now I’m starting my own thing. All that money I was making from the customs was to start my brand really, and the other day when Lil Yachty came, it was a turning point when I said to myself: \u201cI’m starting seriously now\u201d; and now it’s all starting to roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(H) \u2013<\/mark><\/strong><\/strong> And how did you start making glasses?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(MZ)\u2013<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> The accessories thing was one of those things that when I started my collection I already knew I wanted to have in my brand. I started designing glasses, sneakers, bags\u2026 Glasses were one of those things I wanted to explore more, so for the prescription collection I created a prototype of what I wanted to continue developing and today they are the Z-FRAMES.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ZABALA Z-FRAMES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ZABALA Z-FRAMES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ZABALA Z-FRAMES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The world of eyewear is more difficult than that of textiles. With fabric, when you have to make a change, you make it and sew it in. When it comes to product development, you have to do trial and error all the time. So it was a lot of finding people who could make the model: a 3D expert, someone who could make the frames -which in the end are not normative-, put the lenses\u2026 It’s been a year since I started with the glasses. And when you see the first ones, it’s like they are very bad, but now there is a refined final product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also designed a box for these glasses that is very special. I don’t know if you’ve seen the video on my instagram of the mold process. It’s like the process in which the color of the frame is made. It’s called Vacuum Forming, and it’s the one they use to make the color of cars and motorcycles. Since the idea for these glasses came from the world of motorcycling, I thought it was very cool to put a reference of the engine and the processes used to make the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by ZABALA (@zabala.mat)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>