Fashion designer Tanu Vasu unveiled her latest collection, The Interim, this past weekend at a gallery exhibition on the Bowery.
The collection ranging from avant-garde wool dresses to Victorian-inspired silk jackets presented a complex commentary on the future of fashion. Vasu sourced cutting-edge materials such as peace silk, recycled merino wool, and basaltic magma to push the boundaries of fabric.
The collection hung suspended from wire hooks on the ceiling to float fantastically in the white-walled space, gently rotating to present the subtle details of construction. Moving from light to dark, The Interim created a full story– one that Vasu describes as a “cyclical reflection based on technology and fashion.”
Tanu Vasu poses in her exhibition that ran for a weekend.
It’s evident Vasu is a natural-born designer and artist; she in fact began designing at age seven, setting up a mini shop for neighbors to peruse. Her interest in the marriage between technology and clothing bred an emphasis in seeking out unexpected sustainable materials, such as basaltic magma used for the standout final piece of the collection is comprised of. “I wanted to demonstrate how technology and sustainability can exist as a cohesive sphere,” Vasu said.
The entrance to the exhibition
Having grown up in Australia, Vasu was thoroughly familiar with natural wool, and used her expertise to play on the popular material. Each adorning coil to the beginning pieces was laser cut and hand-fastened directly to the wool, and the layered aesthetic extends to a blazer and skirt set, hanging directly behind. “I was playing around with geometrical construction and how coils can bind with merino wool and create new shapes and forms and kind of distort the body but still maintain a nice figure,” Vasu explained. “It’s revisited again here with these really copper-looking, metal-like, alchemy-inspired, all-consuming weird coils but I love it. It created this really interesting series of geometry.”
Tanu Vasu used recycled wool and plastic to craft her collection
The coiling effect continued with the next mini collection of futuristic dresses, jackets, and skirts. The dark brown hued pieces, beginning with a sheer blazer, use felted wool remnants needle-punched into recycled plastic. Vasu sourced leftover discarded wool from factories to craft the garments; this material was originally going to be used for insulation at a recycling center, yet as Vasu discovered, sometimes the best way to break a glass ceiling is to repurpose it. “It’s a reflection that I’ve been having about overconsumption and proposing an altered reality for garments and the end uses of textiles,” Vasu said. “[We] can be proactive in a productive way.”
The deeper chocolate color extends and then lightens with three Victorian-inspired draped silk jackets and matching skirts. The thick, textured pieces use peace silk, an all-natural silk that Vasu was introduced to while visiting India. Peace silk is ethically harvested from silk worms as opposed to the boiling process that inevitably kills the worm. “So many people don’t realize the silk worm actually dies in order to create silk,” Vasu explained. “However with peace silk–like the name, peace–the production team waits for the silk worm to vacate the cocoon prior to making the silk. That’s why you see raw aspects of the cocoon in it.”
The jackets are styled with a Victorian-era draping aesthetic
The collection cumulated in a metallic magma dress using basaltic magma taken from a volcano. The material is melted into filaments and woven to become a smooth textile. “This is a really innovative textile that hasn’t really been used in fashion much,” Vasu mused. “I just thought this was the most interesting thing ever. Clothing made out of magma? That’s insane.”
As for her material choice for The Interim as a whole, Vasu channeled her passion for ethical recyclable goods. “It was just a lot of experimenting,” Vasu admitted. “I’ve always just been really interested in natural materials that are not causing harm to the animals or to the environment. I love being experimental with textiles and fashion and fabrics.”
The decision to hang the pieces was a conscience one, another departure from the static expectations of the fashion industry. “Texiles have been manipulated into abstract forms,” Vasu said. “I didn’t want to be restricted to the confides of a mannequin or body for this exhibit. I was essentially looking at how these forms exist in the space they were created in, as their own entity.”
We’re curious to see where her work will take her next.