“The story that you build up around a brand is sometimes more important.”
Tanzer’s love for pop culture together with her experience from interning in brand strategy at the design agency 2×4 leads her to have a different view on fashion. “I love to understand people’s consumer behaviour and the psychology of why they would buy into a brand or follow somebody on Instagram. A brand’s communication to the consumer supports a design so if you know how to bring it to the mass, the design becomes irrelevant,” she explains. “The story that you build up around a brand is sometimes more important.” Hence, the talent’s final collection instead emphasised the story around it than the actual clothes. In fact, the five images being displayed on the website told two stories: first, that upcycled clothes can be fashionable, and second, it reflected an ode to the 100 people that inspired Tanzer along her way.
Piece of You, according to Laura Tanzer, was a back-up plan resulting from the lockdown. Because of the little opportunities left when one is forced to work with whatever is available within their own four walls, the young talent decided to turn from tailoring to textile. She asked 100 people to donate one piece of clothing and turned them into seven upcycled items. As the visual outcome was to focus on the story of the collection, Tanzer ensured to document every step rather rigorously. She says: “I already had an understanding of how things were supposed to look digitally and that you have to work with professionals. So it was important to me to collaborate with friends that are really talented and know how to display things.”