PHILOSOPHY

TEPHRΛ EXISTS OUTSIDE THE EXPECTATION THAT FASHION SHOULD BE EASY, FAMILIAR OR IMMEDIATELY UNDERSTOOD. WE ARE DRAWN TO INDEPENDENT DESIGNERS WITH A DISTINCT POINT OF VIEW — PEOPLE WHO WORK WITH CONVICTION, EXPERIMENTATION AND RESPECT FOR THEIR CRAFT. CHARACTER OVER CONSENSUS. IDEAS OVER RECOGNITION. OBJECTS THAT HOLD THEIR IDENTITY BEYOND THE MOMENT THAT PRODUCED THEM.

FASHION HAS NEVER EXISTED IN ISOLATION. IT MOVES THROUGH ART, ARCHITECTURE, MUSIC, NIGHTLIFE, SEXUALITY AND THE CULTURES THAT FORM AROUND THEM. TECHNO AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC MATTER TO US IN PARTICULAR: THEY HAVE CREATED SPACES WHERE SOUND, BODY, MOVEMENT AND DARKNESS CAN EXIST WITH FEWER RULES. THAT FREEDOM SHAPES HOW WE LOOK AT CLOTHING AND AT THE PEOPLE WHO WEAR IT.

DESIGN CAN DRAW FROM UNIFORM, LABOUR, CEREMONY, UNDERGROUND CULTURES OR THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF FETISH, THEN REMOVE THOSE REFERENCES FROM THEIR EXPECTED CONTEXT AND LET THEM BECOME SOMETHING ELSE. WE DO NOT ERASE THEIR HISTORY OR THEIR TENSION. THAT RESIDUE IS PART OF WHAT GIVES AN OBJECT MEANING.

CLOTHING CAN CHANGE THE WAY A BODY IS READ WITHOUT DEFINING IT. IT CAN BE INTIMATE, CONFRONTATIONAL, QUIET, EXTREME, FUNCTIONAL OR SENSUAL WITHOUT REQUIRING A DEFINITION. WE HOLD NO RULES ABOUT WHO A PIECE BELONGS TO OR HOW A PERSON SHOULD APPEAR IN IT. THE SAME OBJECT BECOMES SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM ONE PERSON TO THE NEXT, AND THAT EXCHANGE — BETWEEN DESIGNER, OBJECT AND INDIVIDUAL — IS WHERE FASHION BECOMES PERSONAL, AND WHERE IT BECOMES CULTURAL.

INCLUSIVENESS, TO US, IS NOT ABOUT MAKING DIFFERENCE INVISIBLE. IT IS ABOUT MAKING ROOM FOR IT TO EXIST WITHOUT EXPLANATION. NOBODY NEEDS TO BECOME MORE FAMILIAR, MORE ACCEPTABLE OR MORE ALIKE IN ORDER TO BELONG HERE. DIFFERENCE IS NOT SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE RESOLVED.