Tomasz Armada



  • Polish article about this designer in harpersbazaar

    Tomasz Armada - One of the most promising designers of the young generation

    He was supposed to become an attorney, but he lost his luckier career ... the music video of Lady Gaga. Specifically - "Bad Romance", which clothes (from the collection Plato Atlantis in spring-summer 2010) lent Alexander McQueen. For Armada, it was like a thunderstorm and traced all the registrations of the wizard's shows. And then he decided to become a designer himself. Końskie, in which he was born, exchanged for Łódź, where he began to study at the Academy of Fine Arts (he still studies). However, he did not want to duplicate the stereotype of the designer-star of a bubbling ego, which clothes with inexpensive fabrics dotted with prints called "creations". He says "rags" himself about his projects, and Siksa (the singer, and privately a designer's friend - editor's note) has even recorded the song "Polyester scum" about them. Probably not without significance is the fact that they are often made of clothes found in second-handach. Which does not mean that Armada goes to the easy way. On the contrary.

    "My clothes often arise in pain until 5:00 am ..." - he says half jokingly, half-seriously. Emphasizing, however, that all that he has been doing so far were one hundred percent copyright. He draws, creates, prints himself, sews himself. "So far, I have never used the services of a tailor, I did not want to lose my field for experiments. I wanted to know the matter with which I work. Although most contemporary designers never sat down to the machine, among other things, to (as he once heard) «do not defile your hands». But those who have never worked with a fabric do not know its capabilities, and later they are surprised that something is not coming out, "he notes. "I am most interested in fashion constructed - I do not use ready-made patterns, and my clothes are a continuous process. Some can wait a year or two before I finish them. On another occasion, one day is enough to sew four different clothes that I will suddenly come up with. I am still looking for a way to systematize this process. Once I was a nightmare, but the more I work, the more I can predict certain technological issues. In the latest collection, which I finish, I went a step further - I created my own textiles, I painted on others, and some elements of the department myself. A part was created on crochet yarns or jacquard machines in order to accurately reproduce the patterns I invented. "

    Armada does not hide that as an artist he has a sense of mission. "Fashion is the medium in which I can express myself the easiest way. The clothes that I sew, as well as the ones that I wear every day and the envelope that I create around them allows me to take up issues that personally interest me, irritate me or hurt. " His previous collection - "patriotic clothing" - pointed to the problem of appropriation of patriotism by nationalist circles. The latest game with stereotypes, xenophobic and homophobic fears and classism that are common in Polish society.

    Except all schemes
    He is not interested in seasonality - just as he is not interested in fast fashion. He likes to work in his own mode, but also creates clothes that are not subject to the fashion calendar. They are supposed to be universal enough not to grow old in half a year. "I would not like to let anything go away every season," he points out. "My latest confection consists of many different lines aesthetically distant from each other. I could divide it and show every season, 10 silhouettes, but it seems to me that all together, will have more strength and sense. " We will see you on 14.09, because it is then that the collection with 30 silhouettes will have its premiere - in the Central Museum of Textiles as part of the Festival of Łódź 4 Cultures. Then, as part of exhibitions or shows, we will also see her in other Polish cities.

    Fashion House Limanka
    But original collections are not everything that Tomasz Armada does. Recently, he designed a line for the world-famous UEG brand street. It is also part of the Limanka Fashion House, which, despite its name with fashion, has little in common. "This is an artistic group that we create together with friends: Coco Kate, Sasa Lubińska, Dominika Ciemięgą and Kacper Szalecki (the brain of this enterprise). We are interdisciplinary artists. Each of us works in various fields - from metalwork, photography, painting, through culinary programs, or "performative modeling" and many more. What united us is this apartment, which from time to time we turn into an art gallery, a concert hall or a space of performances. "Of course, we also undertake fashion-related activities: we work on image campaigns, together with Jakub Dylewski we recorded the music video" Dear clothes "for Bella Cwir, we also deal with stylization - but the real one - he explains.

    What else can we expect from him? He still thinks about creating a similar group, but bringing together designers. "We have many interesting fashion designers in Poland, such as Artur Cincio (Cinciohood), Marlena Czak, or Hubert Kołodziejski, and a lot of other talented people whose names I could exchange without end. There is so much to say that nothing happens in our country, just look around or go to the OFF Fashion Kielce competition, where one day you can see over 100 different collections from all over the country. I would like to create something like an alternative fashion week sometime. Since mainstream designers in Poland fail to enter the traditional fashion weeka mode, maybe we are smaller (but more capable - laughs), we would be able to unite. " What else is he dreaming about? "About doing things in your own way, expanding your activity - designing min. footwear. The peak of your dreams would be to dress up the disco polo industry, work once for Eva Minge and ... be a free man. I would also like interesting, nice and colorful dressing to be no longer considered controversial. What we all wear is just stitched pieces of material. "

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    KTW Fashion Week 2018 ▶

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