Bo Matthew Metz is an American womenswear designer living and working out of Los Angeles. Within two years of living in California he worked with Rodarte, cultivating his craftsmanship and gaining invaluable experience. Metz also maintained a necessary artistic outlet on the side through styling and working on music videos, creative direction, sculpture and set design.
He designed his first clothing line, Bright Future, which included two seasons and sold in high-contemporary stores placed alongside brands such as Vivian Westwood, Acne Studios, Alexander Wang, and Rick Owens. Metz held the role of Creative Director for Age of Man, a men’s contemporary street wear brand, and the women’s counterpart line, ROHM, which sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Intermix, and Macy’s.
In the Spring of 2014, a long-time friend stepped into a forgotten original BoMM gown — it was in that moment Metz decided to pursue working independently and designing freely.
A companion film, AU or Gold, accompanied the Bo Matthew Metz debut collection of BoMM Spring/Summer 2015, featuring muse and inspiration, Aureta Thomallari.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. I am a spiritual being living a human existence. I spread love and beauty.
How has living in Los Angeles affected your work? Los Angeles is a city of DREAMERS. There is nothing that cannot be done here. There is no ceiling. Where as NYC is so very Eurocentric, LA is its own creation and unapologetic about it. You can choose to do or be whatever you want. There is a wild west mentality here…the misfits, the artists, the religious fringe…they all headed west to escape the puritans of the east. I feel an element of that still persists today and I can respect that.
What kinds of things are influencing your work right now? Higher spiritual planes and vast deserts… also my obsession with the drought in California and the idea of water scarcity.
What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? Right now I’m gearing up to release my SS2016 collection in September and am also producing a large format art book. The book is sort of an homage to all the creatives and muses that have nurtured and inspired me along the way…
If you were a drink what drink would you be? Water.
Tell us about your work process and how it develops. The heart wants what it wants and my mind follows… There is a quote by Rumi that I love that pretty much sums it up: “Respond to every call that excites your spirit.” So I start with what excites me and I ride it till the wheels fall off…
What do you want a viewer to walk away with after experiencing your work? I want them to glimpse the sacred feminine…I want them to be transformed by mighty female Aphrodite energy. This is exactly the energy this world needs right now to HEAL herself.
What were you like in high school? I was painfully goth and held hard to my punk rock and queer ideals that laid the basis for a lot of my world views today.
