Tondolo
What’s your name and where are you from/based?
my name is alessandro stefano tondolo, i’m half italian, half mexican but born and raised in basel, switzerland. I moved to london for my studies and I am now based here.
Can you describe your practice in a few words?
i do fashion, it’s inspired by nature and my cultural background. Finding beauty in the things that are often overlooked
What first drew you to fashion?
i think it was a combination of my older brothers GQ magazines as well as my love for sci-fi and fantasy.
I would draw and sketch my own characters but would catch my self focusing on their attire rather than their faces.
You describe Tondolo as fashion in coordination with ecosystems and humanity. Can you talk about how this philosophy first came about?
As much as I love fashion and see it as another medium for art and more importantly a form of expression for the individual, it is unfortunately build on a consumeristic system.
The fact that it is a never ending machine producing so much waste makes it difficult for me to create a brand in good conscience. Knowing how much microplastic is being thrown around just because a nylon tshirt is cheaper to make than a cotton one is slightly infuriating. Clothes have lost their value because we are used to super cheap alternatives. Society thinks it is okay to pay 5-10 pounds for a t-shirt, so everything above is difficult to justify.
Of course the majority is not able to buy expensive or “sustainable” clothes but we have been conditioned to buy more frequently with all the constant trend shifts. So to keep up, the majority lowers their standarts.
As a student and nature enthusiast you start to inform yourself and notice how many things “seem” sustainable but end up just being a greenwashing tactic for bigger corporations.
Next to the sustianable factor, there is the humanitarian factor that fashion tends to ignore. Cheap items come with cheap labour and unfair conditions. But the uninformed consumer often does not have the privilege to conserm themselves with these facts.
Being confronted with all of this information I try to be as understanding and careful as I can, when creating and making fashion.
I try to use what is around me, things that are seen as worthless (cheap cotton, dead stock or off cuts) and give them a new life by giving it time and care.
In your “off cut” pieces, you transformed leftover toiles into garments resembling bark. How do you see texture as a language for telling stories?
These things (most experiments) often happen out of my hate for throwing away things which in my eye still have a second chance in them. My father grew up in a working class home and they never threw out food. they always found ways to incoorporate them into new amazing dishes. To this day he manages to make some of the best food with things that people would usually throw away.
Texture is something that can carry so much information. It can be memories, sensations, feelings, notions, ideas and so much more.
But it is also something that lets you be unique. If you look at bottegas intercato weave, or issey’s pleats (which my brand does get compared to quite a bit) they managed to create a logo without needing a graphic one. Something that speaks for the brand solely with shapes and forms. something that we also strive to do.
unfortunately menswear is less experimental when it comes to the whole sale side, where most men tend to prioritize practicality, comfort, durability and simplicity over self expression. So our goal is to find a leanway inbetween all of that.
We want to emulate structures and textures that are familiar to us, but we don’t really know why at first glance.
So we love to get inspired by nature; tree barks, leaves, mushroom gills etc. to try and duplicate these forms in an approachable way.
The idea is to evoke a feeling of familiarity
In what ways does designing from existing garments change your design process compared to starting with fresh materials?
We usually create the shape of the garments first to see where it can fit in a collection. sometimes it starts in a heavy cotton twill but it might end up being made from washed raw silk or even jersey.
As a young brand we need to be careful what the buyers will get and what will sell well. Also as a smaller brand we need to make sure that we use the same material in different products as to reach minimum amounts in fabric consumption. So it becomes more a financial and practical decision rather than solely artistic.
How do you begin to imagine the narrative of a new collection?
So far we have had this connective root. it started with mycelium then it went up to the roots of the trees, the bark and tree trunks, the leaves and now for aw26 we are looking at arboreal flowers. Flowers that grow on trees. It isn’t only the visual inspiration we get from them but also their position in our environment that interests me. Arboreal flowers stand for protection, as little insects and animals tend to use them as protection, food or cocoons. So we look at different ways of opening up a garment, layers, protection, wrapping etc.
Next to that we combine it with shapes and forms from my mexican and italian herritage to creat this little microcosm.
Is there a garment or collection that you feel marked a turning point in your work?
Unfortunately, not yet. I mean maybe, but my ambitions are rather high. Potentially the bomber jackets and the gilled trousers which helped me to get into Dover street market and ssense after finishing my MA. But i haven’t had the chance to get someone i really look up to and make them a custom outift. So hopefully this year we get, kendrick, bad bunny, xcx, rosalia or chalamet to wear out stuff 😉
Each of your pieces often include textures and small details inspired by nature. Outside of fashion, are there details you find yourself drawn to?
Yes! so so many different things. I think that is the beauty of life and creativity. If you are open enough, you can get inspired by the cracks on a concrete floor.
Our insipiration comes mainly outside of fashion. It is a lot of aztec and mayan culture that I tend to look at for inspiration. Nature and biology books, often vintage ones i found on the internet. military wear, old anime, art, different painters as well as sculptors.
And obviously nature itself. I love to just go to kew gardens and have a whole day where i stroll around and take a milion pictures.
there is obviously more things that inspire me, inclduing a lot of music but i feel like if i list everything we’ll be here for a while.
What do you hope people feel within themselves when they wear garments shaped by natural forms?
Most importantly I want them to feel comfortable, secure and well. I want them to feel good, sexy even. The clothing should become an extension of them!
I hope they wear the clothes a lot, to the point where you can see that they become clothes with character and life. Just as nature, i want my clothes to have a purpose even if its just solely emotional to the wearer. But the pieces I like most are often pieces that were from my father or clothes I got, when i was with people that mean a lot to me.
Where can people find you?
They can find me on www.tondolo.co.uk on instagram, Dover Street Market London and Ginza, Opener in Korea, Babys Alright in Japan, Style Fusion in Taiwan and APOC store in London. And hopefully in many more stores
