A Plot For The Murderess
Published on 28 October 2019
Photography and film by Wanda Martin @wanda_martin Fashion design, styling, set design by Alessandra Tacla @a.tacla Make-up artist: Azzurra Bonaldo @azzurra_bonaldo Hair stylist: Ryo Narushima @ryonarushima Model: Wing Yue Leung @wingyofficial Assistants: Blanca Sanz @msblancaful and Deya Banerjee @deya_banerjee Music by Chris Alexander
Tell us briefly about the brand, who is behind it and what is your creative background?
I’m Alessandra Tacla; I’m from Brazil and I’ve been living in London for the past five years. I got my Bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design at Istituto Marangoni London in 2017 and then obtained a Master’s degree in Fashion Design Womenswear at the same university in 2019. My interest in fashion actually derives from an old passion for old movies. When I was around fourteen I started watching cult films varying from the 1920’s to the 1980’s, and I guess I was dazzled by the great costume designers of the silver screen. There was a time when I would go to the video store and rent nine films a week, and I would watch every single film by each cult director before going to the next one - Hitchcock, Polanski, Fellini, Truffaut… This played a fundamental part in my sense of aesthetics and style and in my creative potential. So even though I work in fashion and love what I do, my primary passion is cinema. Also, as a teenager I was never really good at school, so I was eager to learn about art, music and fashion by myself, as these were subjects that that spoke more directly to me.
What sets aside Alessandra Tacla from the other brands that are on the scene at the moment?
My work joins quirkiness with sophistication: my designs are almost naïve but done in a clever way. Alessandra Tacla is a brand that stands out for its exceptional attention to details and finishings, innovative manipulation of textiles, sharp construction of volumes and shapes and bold use of unexpected materials and colour combos. I like to develop unusual finishing methods, such as overlapping edges or binding seams on the outside of garments, and to mix handmade details and hand-stitched pieces with cutting-edge techniques such as laser-cutting and laser-etching. The freshness of graphic detailing allows my brand to sustain a strong and consistent visual identity.
What is the concept behind your latest collection?
My MA final collection ‘A Plot For The Murderess’ is inspired by Mario Bava’s ‘Blood and Black Lace’, a giallo film from 1964 in which a serial killer chases models that work for an Haute Couture house. Giallo is an Italian horror-thriller genre characterised by a sexy, stylish atmosphere juxtaposed with a heightened depiction of graphic violence. The genre focuses on female seductiveness and on the physical and psychological violence inflicted on women in a male-dominated society. Whilst embracing the genre’s idea of emphasising women’s erogenous zones, I’ve twisted the film’s plot and in my collection, the female characters are the killers. I’ve traced a parallel between femininity and female empowerment: the power that lied in the killer’s hands is provided with traces of femininity. A subversion of male-associated elements of clothing (e.g. plaid patterns, pinstripes and suits) is performed through the use of elements associated to femininity (e.g. lace and yarn). My purpose is to indicate that femininity is not a sign of weakness, but one of solid strength assembled from all the heritage left by generations of women throughout History.
What themes do you explore with your designs? Do you feel empowered and able to make a statement through Fashion?
Alessandra Tacla explores deep, eerie themes in a fun, fresh, sometimes paradoxical way. My BA graduate collection, ‘Puzzle Mind’, was inspired by childhood memories: toys, which are tangible remnants; and fears, which are intangible but still alive through our subconscious. I’m very passionate about my work and see it as a medium through which I can express my intrinsic personality and concealed feelings. I feel accomplished to be able to externalise the creative buzz that is constantly in my mind through fashion, and I hope that my work can also bring emotions and feelings to other people, becoming personal to them in their own way.
Is there a type of person you have in mind when designing your clothes? Who is your dream client to dress?
Because I’m always turning my head to the past, I think the woman I design for is a present-time Edie Sedgwick: a free spirit with a joyful sense of humour and a starry-eyed personality built over a melancholic foundation. My dream client to dress would have to be Chloë Sevigny; I think she has a very compelling personality and sense of style.
How are you hoping your designs will evolve in the future?
I am planning on developing both more commercial ideas, in order to spread my name as a designer and build a client list, and more avant-garde, conceptual ideas, as what I am most interested in is fashion as an art form.
What fascinates you about the art world today? Which designers or artists have been the most influential to you?
An artist’s freedom of choosing whatever medium they want to use, and not being constrained to the historically male-associated paint, canvas and clay, is what I believe to be one of the most valuable attributions of the more inclusive art world of today. Two of my favourite contemporary artists are Freddie Robins and Genieve Figgis. Earlier this year I wrote my MA dissertation on the use of traditional handicrafts as media for subverting patriarchal stereotypes of the feminine, and Freddie Robins’ work deeply informed my research. Figgis’ naïve but eerie works of art pay daring homage to masterpieces in the History of Art, and I feel very inspired by the concept behind her work.
How do you see nowadays social media affect fashion? Who do you love to follow on Instagram?
I see social media as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is a mass communication tool that hugely promotes fast fashion in a worldwide scale. At this point in time there is a countless amount of popular Instagrammers scattered all around the globe, who get paid and daily receive boxes and boxes of clothes from fast fashion brands only to wear them once for a quick shot for Instagram, which is going to get thousands of likes and incite hundreds of girls to get the same look. Rumour has it that many brands even send these bloggers multiple sizes of the same style, just so they can pick which size fits them best at home. Now, that’s a bit excessive, isn’t it? On the other hand, social media is also an easy and inexpensive way for small brands and emerging designers to share their work and generate some brand awareness. It is a great platform to make contacts with other creatives working in fashion, and also to get discovered by potential clients. It is really rewarding to find out that others appreciate your work when you share it through social media. I like to follow independent magazines and emerging creatives, who are always eager to collaborate with local designers and freelancers and produce raw, edgy, innovative low-budget material.
Who would you most like to collaborate with from within the visual arts and fashion spheres?
I would love to collaborate with great female artists such as the sculptor Camille Henrot and the photographer Tania Franco Klein. I believe it is very important to promote and gather women within the creative spheres, as gender inequality continues to be an issue and women struggle to feel represented both in fashion and in the art world.
What can we expect from you in the future? Your No1 goal for the rest of 2019?
Because my brand is still an unfulfilled project, my main goal for the rest of 2019 is to try and carry out a mini production in order to start building a clientele. I want my brand to be a small business, to source and produce locally, and to manufacture very limited quantities so that nothing gets wasted and products remain special. So I invite everyone to stay tuned, as I’m hoping to have exciting news by the end of this year!
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