Erin Hodson We speak backstage at Vancouver Fashion Week F/W22 with the innovative duo, L’Amour Brut, about their collection, ambitions, and how their brand came to be.
L’Amour Brut was born in Paris, France, under the designers Alessandro Tedone and Laura Da Costa. The brand prides itself on maintaining sustainable and ethical practices while producing refined creative concepts for the runway. This season’s collection is inspired by the style of the 70s and 90s, reflecting the steps one takes through life, such as childhood and marriage.
What inspired your brand?
TEDONE: We met in Fashion School in Paris, and at Fashion School we started a common project, and then it became evident for us to do our brand together.
What inspired this specific collection?
TEDONE: Different years inspired us to do this collection, like the 70s and the 90s. You can see it through the large, low, pants, and you can see the 70s with the big shoulders. We like to mix colors that cannot be mixed at the beginning.
DA COSTA: So, the collection represents the process of life. The first look is more simple.
TEDONE: It’s like childhood.
DA COSTA: Yes, and the last look is like a wedding dress, so this is maybe the final project which we want in life.
TEDONE: So, that’s why we came out with these looks. There’s a lot of steps, you can tell by seeing the looks, that we wanted to have in common with the steps of your life.
Why 70s/90s fashion?
TEDONE: Because it’s inspiring in fashion, but it is important to us to give it a new birth too, since it can also be very old school.
We wanted [the collection] to be modern, but just loosely inspired by this era, because it’s so far the best era in fashion. It’s also our childhood, because she’s [born in] 96, I’m 97, so we grew up in this era.
What’s your creative process like?
TEDONE: We are two artistic directors. We draw together, we do some patterns together, and then we send them to Portugal.
DA COSTA: There is a family factory in Portugal that’s really important to us.
TEDONE: Yes, [we care about] good conditions for them
DA COSTA: Yes, and we do all our accessories together. Bags, et cetera
TEDONE: We also use only the end of rolls of fabrics, so we won’t create a lot of fabric that pollutes. The fashion industry is not very eco-friendly, so that’s important to us. There’s some upcycling, so each piece won’t look like the other. For example, in our previous collection, we have some jeans, the same as showcased on our model, but not in the same exact shape or visual.
What’s the vision of the future of your brand?
TEDONE: Engaging our brand is very important to us. We want to be at the top of the mountain – very known and famous, but with good vision and a creativity in our collections that reflects our brand. Our designs won’t just sell because they look good – they sell because it’s us.
DA COSTA: It is important to also be an inclusive brand for all shapes, of course.
TEDONE: And we may only do a collection a year, to respect sustainability, because for us there’s no more seasons. Like, we may do summer, winter and spring, for example. Our collection is not on sale for now, but soon it will be a label to purchase!
Thank you to L’Amour Brut for the look into your conceptual collection and history as a duo, as well as the eye-opening peek into what sustainability can look like for the fashion industry in the near future!
To see L’Amour Brut’s collection, check out their instagram @lamour_brut. For more runway photos, check out @vanfashionweek.
