Miles Away: A Quiet Strength

At Mertl & Valente, Miles Away is a reflection on three deeply human themes: distance, conflict, and longing — shaped by our present moment and the echoes of history.

Distance lies at the heart of this collection. Inspired by Madonna’s song Miles Away, it speaks to the emotional and physical spaces between people — between safety and danger, between Europe and the borders of war. We explore this through garments that feel both near and far: soft cashmere embroidered with scenes that seem dreamlike and detached, yet painfully real. A giant newborn in a forest, a fleeing mother, a Madonna under threat — all evoke the closeness of tragedies we often perceive as distant.

Conflict appears in the tension between materials, cuts, and imagery. Military-grade wool, sourced from a UK supplier for the British Army, is transformed into feminine, tailored silhouettes. Bomber jackets, skirts, and trousers echo uniforms but subvert them with sensitivity. Our trousers, with their 14th-century military flap, nod to history while challenging gender norms. Each piece is a dialogue between war and peace, control and emotion, strength and fragility.

Longing flows throughout the collection — a longing for connection, safety, meaning. It’s stitched into poppy embroidery, referencing sacrifice and rebirth, and drawn into allegorical scenes of survival and escape. Ron Mueck’s A Girl and David Černý’s eerie baby sculptures haunt our prints, while the Madonna’s face — a blend of medieval sculpture and Mina Mazzini — bridges personal memory and universal mourning.

At Mertl & Valente, we aim not just to dress, but to evoke.

With Miles Away, we invite you to feel what’s far yet near, forgotten yet remembered — and to wear the weight of those stories with presence, empathy, and quiet strength.

Each piece carries a quiet strength — expressed through structured tailoring, deliberate silhouettes, and intricate detailing. The materials, from heavy military wool to soft cashmere, are chosen to evoke contrast: resilience and vulnerability, hardness and softness. Embroidered motifs and symbolic prints encourage reflection — on what has been lost, what continues to shape us, and the unseen threads that connect individual lives to broader histories. These are garments designed not just for wear, but for remembrance — inviting the wearer to engage with the world emotionally, thoughtfully, and with purpose.