by Mashaal Hussain
Atelier Tammam is a London-based ethical couture fashion house founded by designer Lucy Tammam. The brand is known for its commitment to sustainability and ethical production. Instead of selling multiple replicas of one design, they instead offer a single annual collection which showcases one-of-a-kind ideas as well as reinvented and re-issued archive pieces.
Consistently fighting against Ecocide through their work, each season they enlighten audiences on what exactly this is; a “Crime Against the Earth.”
Tammam explain, “Stop Ecocide International is the driving force behind the growing global movement to recognise ecocide as an international crime, now being discussed by governments across the world. Ecocide legislation aims to promote responsible and sustainable practices by holding business leaders and government policy makers personally and criminally accountable for decisions that result in severe environmental harm.”
This season at London Fashion Week, the brand revealed ‘One Dress: PLANET.’
Featuring vibrant, detailed flower embroidery and sophisticated flowing skirt, details extend to every inch with faint text printed on the fabric to add some intrigue.
The small writing was mainly prominent across "leaves" on the skirt, made of a fabric developed in partnership with the Kanhirode Weavers Co-operative Society in Munderi, India.
As for the rest of garment, its under layer is made of 100% organic fair trade certified cotton, a stock fabric left over from past collections, which was initially purchased as a surplus material from one of their partner producers in India who have Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) and Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certifications. Both relate to social and environmental standards; FLO-CERT focuses on social auditing while GOTS establishes criteria for the organic integrity of textiles.
Created as part of a training program to pass couture skills on to young stitching technicians, the corset has an 100% cotton coutil interlining and steel boning and eyelets. Embroideries were then made of a combination of surplus, reclaimed, and vintage yarns.
‘One Dress: PLANET’ is a piece of textile art that supports the stop ecocide movement. For this dress, small embroideries of diverse plant species, from different ecosystems and environments that are endangered because of human destruction, can be purchased and added to the evolving garment. These bespoke hand stitched embroideries will be made by artisans who are credited alongside the designer on the ‘One Dress: PLANET’ register.
Their website explains that these floras represent a commitment to protecting the planet and make the purchaser a co-owner of the dress.
Darling spoke with Lucy Tammam on why she gravitated toward the stop ecocide movement; “I loved what they were doing [and] thought it was a really important mission. I approached them saying im a fashion designer and I would love to do a dress about Ecocide... They thought it was a really nice idea to create a dress to talk about the ecosystem thats being destroyed and the life that is being affected. Flowers seemed liked the perfect opportunity for that.”
Many see fashion and the industry as a whole as vapid or vein, but it’s often deeper than that - being used as a tool to drive conversation. Lucy echoed this, commenting, “I think fashion is a really powerful to tell stories, spread messages and talk about political issues.”
Eager to delve further into Tammam’s work, our conversation continued:
Darling: What inspires your work?
Lucy: “I think nature inspires my work, symbolism is really important. And strong women inspire me. Working with stop ecocide, I met with some really amazing women in that organisation and they've been so brilliant to work with.”
Darling: ‘One Dress: PLANET’ will spend the next year touring the globe at climate conferences and events - ensuring ecocide is on every agenda. With stop ecocide’s mission being to change legislation, what is the goal of taking this dress to where figureheads will be?
Lucy: “What I hope is that this dress is going to act as an inspiration and conversation starter at those conferences. I can't change the laws but I can try to influence the people that are.”
Darling: The dress was showcased over two seasons. Firstly launching bare at London Fashion Week (LFW) in February this year and now showcasing completed at LFW again this September. How does it feel to have finished this long term project?
Lucy: “Now I'm looking at it, I dont think it’s finished. I feel like I want to do more to it… as the project keeps going the dress will keep evolving. That's the beauty of art; it keeps moving. Because in reality nature keeps moving, the planet keeps moving, the idea of what sustainability is keeps changing. It's not an end goal. I love the idea that the corset will keep evolving over the next year as we take it to different conferences, people keep adding their flowers to it, adding their voice to it.”
Darling: The show started with a serene melody and a voiceover explaining the meaning of ecocide. The whole atmosphere further immerses the audience for the final reveal. What was the thought process behind these details?
Lucy: “It’s theatre…It’s about creating the atmosphere, it’s about getting people in the mood to understand what they see.”
Darling: At the start of the show models walked out with white “leaves” with small writing on them, could you elaborate on this decision?
Lucy: “I wanted to give people a show, but I still wanted the focus to be on the one dress … the whole point is that this dress is the whole collection. So we didn't want to show other things and take away from that… but I did want to give [the audience] an experience of being at a catwalk.
The idea was that people wouldn't be able to read the writing. I wanted people to be curious about what it said and want to research afterwards and then want to be more involved.”
Darling: Whats your creative process whilst designing?
Lucy: “I'm a pattern cutter- I like creating shapes. I loved creating the corset, creating that skirt. I'm not an embroiderer but I have incredible embroiderers who I work with, so I left it to them. But it's been lovely putting the flowers together ”
Darling: With so much attention to detail, how have attendees responded to the garment?
Lucy: “I thought we may piss some people off, I was prepared for that. But I haven't, people really liked it. They've been awestruck by it; which was the idea, that's what I hoped. I think it worked, people have seen it as art. Couture is art.”
As for the future and their next project? “I’d like to keep using this dress to its full opportunity and keep focusing it on it so it evolves.”
Edited by Emily Duff