Interview with VIVIENNE TAM S/S 2015 MBFW

In between rehearsals, fixes and final touch-ups backstage, in preparation for the spring/summer 2015 collection from Vivienne Tam, we managed to ask the designer a couple of questions right between the calm and the storm.

Alex Márgary: Hello Vivienne, how are you?
Vivenne Tam: I am pretty good, how are you doing?

AM: we see a lot of bright colors for spring in a-line silhouettes. what can you tell us about that mesh-type fabric we see in a lot of the looks?

For spring/summer 2015, an opted palette of bright tones clashed with hints of pitch high hues, peaked at Tam’s runway, were the playfulness of tones worked marvellously towards the utilisation of rough-like fabrics and seaming techniques such as embroidering and tonal-stitching laser cut appliqués.

VT: Yes, it’s called power mesh this tech mesh proposed by VT meant a breakthrough in her ongoing technological ventures were she, this time, targeted to her most important asset: her collection.

AM: Seems rigid enough to last yet breathable enough for spring.
VT: Yes, like my dress.

AM: what’s the idea behind this season’s collection?
VT: this season I was inspired by technology and nature. I was so inspired by the images found in objects and painting in the forbidden city from my last trip. and those images of birds, nature, motion waves and landscape were so beautiful. I loved them so much that I interpreted them into embroideries, cut outs and appliqués. but applying them into power mesh when they’re opposites; it’s different, I love that.

AM: and you’ve also played it out with some laser cut
VT: yes, laser cut

AM: the socks have a pretty nice graphic/linear pattern that makes it polish socks played an important yet unassuming role with a line stroke over the sheer fabric  that flowed the attention towards the birkenstock-like sandals.

VT: yes, so right
AM: this new approach of making it more minimalistic, and in a certain way more sporty. how do you feel about it?

VT: I love that, specially how organic it all looks.

This new turn for Tam will sure bring more attention to her on-growing brand that will sure gather some raving reviews.

Review

Two words easily summarize Vivienne Tam's eponymous label: heritage and technology. Both taking strong focal points across her collections, she draws inspiration through the diverse historic references found in the orient, while partnering with companies that benefit the industry through technological advances. Yet Tam's collections feel familiar: an east meets west appreciation that is summed to a tech debut of any sort. Changeably, her spring 2015 was all about the clothes -it seemed- or perhaps it felt unaccustomed, fresh, untried even, that the audience was drawn solely and unequivocally by it.

Inspired by otherworldly landscapes and scenes from the ming and qing dynasties -as Tam would-, this collection infused tech fabrics and demure usage of pictorials -in a sort of discreet fashion- where the usage of western sportswear played a rather quintessential move.
In some looks where the intertwined lines of Tam’s power mesh resembled the ones found on boxes and cricket cages fashioned from jade and exotic hardwoods, they met laser cut appliqué overlays of fauna, intricately telling the story of her journey.

Every look evolved into the next one, reflecting the free spiritedness of the 60s and 70s through a-line silhouettes, shift dresses, mini skirts, bermuda shorts and pajama pants that transited between landscapes, tidal waves, and scenes from nature. A strong, dynamic feel propelled by the runway's soundtrack that pulled spectators into Tam's creative passage. Prints and boyish overlays iterated a modern context, combined with feminine expressions of embroideries and definitive sneak cut outs that scented a polished and refined craftsmanship.

Vivienne Tam's turn may seem a bit off the lines, but she's certainly in the right direction.

By Alex Márgary

WEB BY:NIVEKSTUDIO
WEB BY:NIVEKSTUDIO