Scan Magazine

By Emma Holmqvist

Lauded for its innovative and edgy spirit, Borba Margo is one of London’s most coveted accessory players. Scan caught up with Jessika Göransson and Anderson Borba DaSilva to get the low-down on the label and the duo behind it.

It might sound like a cliché, but some things are meant to be. On a sunny day in London in 1996, Jessika Margo Göransson, a half Swedish, half polish 17-year old holidaying in London, sat down on a bench in Covent Garden to prepare for a busking session with her violin, her greatest passion at the time. A moment later, Brazilian twenty-something Anderson Borba DaSilva walked past and took a seat next to the pretty violinist to eat his lunch. The pair started chatting and shared Anderson’s bacon sandwich. “As soon as we met, we both felt an instant connection and sharing an interest in many things including fashion, we became close friends immediately,” the duo tells us in unison when we meet them in their East London studio.

Eight years later, in 2004 to be precise, Göransson and Borba DaSilva founded Borba Margo together. Prior to launching the label, Jessika completed a women’s wear degree at Middlesex University in London and went on to hone her skills at various fashion houses including Gaspard Yurkievich, Oskar Suleyman and Hussein Chalayan. Borba DaSilva, meanwhile, gained experience elsewhere, including a stint at the tailoring department of The Royal Guards.

All Eyes on Borba Margo

Fast-forward to 2009: Borba Margo is considered one of London’s most promising new names. Coveted for its distinctive aesthetic that is playful and severe all at once, the label bagged the British Fashion Council’s prestigious New Generation Sponsorship no less than four times.

Speaking of the style that’s wowed the jaded and hard-to-impress fashion elite, Borba Margo’s aesthetic has a mildly surreal and somewhat organic feel to it, as bags and belts are carefully sculpted to mould around the body like living organisms. But other interpretations circulate, too: “Someone once described our look as a bit S&M, but a soft, seductive version thereof,” says Jessika and goes on to offer her own description of the label: “The style is full of contradiction; it’s body conscious and quite strong with focus on bold shapes. It’s also very feminine but not in the girly sense of the word.” Something else that sets the label apart from most other accessory lines is the fact that many pieces, such as the “skirted” belts, almost double as garments. This distinctive aspect has not come about by chance, but stems from Göransson’s background in women’s wear design- and her willingness to blur the lines between accessories and clothing. “I like the idea of a belt that thinks it’s a skirt,” she says.

Great Minds Think Alike

Talking to the duo about their creative ventures, it becomes obvious that their minds are acutely synchronized, almost spookily so, some would say. But despite being twin souls and sharing most creative agendas, working as a duo must surely have its drawbacks? “Of course we disagree sometimes, but most of the time we are so in tune with each other’s ideas that it’s almost ridiculous. In some cases we have to consult a friend to see if both of us have gone mad, or if we’re on to something good,” says Jessika and laughs.

“It’s also healthy to have someone to bounce back ideas on. That way you get another perspective and the original idea can develop and get better,” Borba DaSilva adds.

In terms of the design work as such, the creative pair share the notion that the label is “under constant evolution” and its fundamental concept serves as the springboard for new directions. “What we’ve designed previously provides the base for our next creative step,” explains Borba DaSilva. “Unlike most fashion designers, we don’t necessarily change route completely every season and we only use new reference points in a subtle way rather than drawing on obvious themes. Our design process is based on intuition: it’s a feeling, an aesthetic that comes naturally to us.” So what gives rise to these reference points, however subtle they may be? “Everything,” says Göransson. “We both love music and dance, but often we utilise our inspiration in an abstract way. It’s unusual that we take inspiration from tangible things,” she says by way of reinforcing her business partner’s previous statement.

Borba Margo’s autumn/winter 2010 collection, currently available in prestigious stores such as Colette, Harvey Nichols and Liberty, centres on escapism. “We were longing for what’s missing at the moment, i.e. glamour and luxury. Hence we created a collection representing the antithesis of the current doom and gloom and the frugal fashion that traditionally goes with it,” says Göransson. Simply called The Escapist Collection, the range certainly doesn’t hold back on the glam factor. Luxury symbols like tassels and gold chains are used throughout, but the resulting look still retains the recognisable Borba Margo air that is largely defined by contradiction. “The shapes might be square and utilitarian, if not even a little boring, but to counteract the plainness, we lavishly decorated the pieces with gold chains and tassels to create a dual aspect.”

Next Chapter

With the autumn/winter collection done and dusted, what’s next? “Our label is developing slowly but surely. We’re mainly known for our belts but we’d like to establish the wider accessory range a bit more and push the handbags, gloves and jewellery lines further.”

Before bidding farewell to the duo, we ask Jessika what attracted her to move from Sweden to London, leaving aside her strong friendship with Anderson, of course. “I never chose to lead a comfortable, safe life. I chose a challenge, and London provides that,” she replies. And on that note, we let Jessika and Anderson carry on with their most immediate challenge, namely to continue developing Borba Margo together.
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