The Zalando Sustainability Award finalist defines its designs as ‘Scandinavian globetrotting’, but the debut show ventures to dimensions even further afield
Danish designer Elisabet Stamm is no stranger to the industry, but there’s a refreshing newcomer energy to the first showcase for her new eponymous label. Quite literally, the models are like strangers dropped on the runway from another planet, surveying the reflective surfaces of the show venue’s surroundings – and the audience within it – with a wary curiosity and carnal, alienesque attitude.
It’s a powerful first outing for Stamm, which is up for Copenhagen Fashion Week’s Zalando Sustainability Award, set to be announced on Thursday 2 February. The autumn/winter 2023 collection is innovative to its core, introducing a new construction technique – dubbed by Stamm as 'Fly' – in which the sleeve construction merges in an organic form at the back, enhancing comfort and movement. The organic elements extends to the textiles themselves: each is constructed from natural cottons and recycled man-made fabrics. There’s hand-spun Indian Khadi dyed in tree bark, yellow pomegranate and natural indigo. Elsewhere, recycled lamb leather makes up a striking patchwork. And amid the well-considered, utilitarian forms are breaths of fresh air in the form of diaphanous, gossamer-thin layers and panels of intricate lace.
As well as making the brand her namesake, the designer is evidently making it a natural extension of her own interior world. “As I bring myself into my work, the collection reflects a personal journey and I believe one that collides with a journey that many will sense,” she says. For Stamm, it's that "feeling of liberation after having been blocked for some years, the balance of walking with both peace and yet with an inner fire," that the collection captures. "I'm an Aries," she adds.
