By Valentina Accardo and Sofia Celeste
MILAN–Indian by origin, British by nationality, Nigerian raised… designer Bav Tailor has taken her rich heritage, culture and experiences and invested them into a new, sustainable fashion line that is gaining steam on the Milan fashion scene.
Operating under the mantra “respect your body and your sphere” Tailor is engineering functional, clean, minimal “tailored architecture,” which is crafted with superior eco-sustainable materials like bamboo cotton, bamboo silk, canapa hemp or upcycled wolfish and perch skin, as well as upscale materials like vicuna cashmere for her coats. “The vicuna is made by Loro Piana, and I use this because Loro Piana is a company that is committed to protecting the vicuna species,” Bav said, adding that she admires brands and designers Acne, Jil Sander, Alexander Wang and Haider Ackerman and of course, Stella McCartney, who also runs her company under a sustainable ethos.
“I’m based in Milan, and I want to maintain my collection artisanal. I want to create a community, in order to help local communities,” Tailor said at her studio in Milan, noting that she works with small family run companies in Novara, Naples and Bari for the production of her line.
Aimed at eco-aware fashion mavens like Livia Firth, Tailor is hoping to tap into the potential that the growing wave of brands, who are using never-used scraps made by top Italian and international fashion brands and producers. Gucci for example used Lanificio Stelloni’s upcycled offcuts in its fall winter 2015/16 collection, while Max Mara in its Weekend collection, for example, used textiles made out of recycled plastic.
“In the future I would like to create pieces that are recycled. I would like to work with charities and give a percentage of sales to fund schools in the developing world or to a charity to help empower women.
Bav will show her spring summer 2016 line at a runway show at Paris’ Les Salons Hoche in Paris on Saturday, Oct. 3.
WHERE TO BUY: By appointment only. Contact http://www.bavtailor.com
