Tom Rebl and his close connection with music
Green Day, Justin Bieber, Morgan, Achille Lauro, Gianna Nannini, Negramaro, Emis Killa, Sharon Stone, Jonas Brothers, u name it – what do they all have in common? A designer — more specifically, Tom Rebl — with deep inspiration (and past) in music & a will to go further.
Born and raised in Germany, his pieces are produced entirely by artisans and manufacturers using high-quality materials combined with traditional tailoring skills. The motto of his collection is "shocking radiance", bringing his sharp designs to the front stage.
Given his past at the infamous Saint Martin's School of Art, we met up with him during our stop in Milan, home of his studio, to understand how that creative experience has influenced his creations. Here's what Rebl had to say:
"I'm German and when I finished school, I was going to London a lot: that's when I discovered my passion for fashion. I was studying Fashion Design at Saint Martins and started to work in different fields, I worked as a freelance consultant for designers, but also for Trendstop, a trend forecasting company. Back in 2005, I was offered a job in Italy as a creative director for an established brand, and two and a half years later, the production company I used to work with before offered me to start my own brand with them, so I'm still with my original producer from that time."
The designer shows in each collection the huge dedication and passion he has for his work. Besides that, he believes that the chosen material influences the disconnection of what ppl relate to one gender or another.
"In 2008, we launched the brand Tom Rebl, which is actually my real name, it's not an artist name, I was born a Rebl. I started off with menswear only and after a while we had a lot of female customers as well, especially for jersey pieces. Naturally, I introduced the women's collection later on and a lot of fabrics I use for men's are also used for the women's collection, 'cause I like quite a lot to decontextualize existing codes. Fabrics which are predominantly fluid, used in women's clothes, I use for men's, but I also like to use rough fabrics for women's."
Speaking of the importance of choosing the right material, Tom collaborates with various Italian artisans, for example Pasquale Bonfilio, a Milanese hat designer who creates by hand otherworldly leather hats. Rebl mixes his knowledge of production with perf bold leather to create unique pieces. But he hasn't always been connected with the making of accessories, Tom told us how he decided to create other kinds of pieces:
"I think that's because of my German nature, I'm very controlling so I need to know everything, especially the creative part, which I take care of myself. From the research to the designing of the collection pieces, but also the creation of the images, lookbooks, campaigns, shows, videos and everything. I'm the one who actually imagines how the things should look like and the complete outfits with shoes, accessories and everything else, so it's quite natural for me to involve experts to collaborate with the collection."
And if you're like us and are dying to know how those hats are made or how the hell u could wear such one of a kind pieces, here's what he had to say:
"The hats are made of leather and in collaboration with Pasquale Bonfilio, a hatter from Milan. He's a real artisan who makes crazy pieces all by hand. They're very versatile, there are lots of ways to wear and shape them. BTW, on the lookbook we used them on girls and guys."
Tom's inspiration comes from everywhere, especially from his close connection with the music universe. By going close to the source of inspiration, Rebl seeks to understand the style of the artists he's creating for. Exxxtra custom. Curious about his background in music? We were too:
"I used to play the guitar in Germany, I actually stopped when I moved to London. I studied classical guitar for eight years, but I never reached a level that satisfied me, I was sort of really mediocre, so I actually gave up, 'cause I just wasn't that good. But I stayed within the music field. Now I'm dressing a lot of international artists and celebrities from the world of music and showbusiness.
An artist usually has his own image or character, so you have to listen to that as well, you can't just do whatever you want. The thing about it is that, if you do stage outfits, you can go over the top, 'cause you don't have to care or take into consideration that you have to sell it.
Because I create stage outfits for artists, I can do lots of handwork on it using very particular materials, because I don't have to care about if it has to be washable or anything else. It gives more freedom in the creative sense and it's nice to understand the background of the musicians as well, where they come from and how they actually created their image."
His training comes from all the places he'd lived, such as Germany, England and Italy. To get to his point of creating bold leather looks, we knew he had to learn from one of the countries that lives the essence of production heritage.
"The thing I like about Italy is that it's paradise for production and it helped me understand all the processes of industrial production, manufacturers, the machines, and how they work. It's good to be close to production, to control it."
He has already created looks for people like Sharon Stone and Justin Bieber, so we had to ask: "how is it for you to put together looks for each person, for each different and powerful personality?"
"Everyone has its own way of working, some guys just completely trust their stylists and don't even care that much or don't even say anything, they just listen to their stylist's advice. Achille Lauro, for instance, gets really into the creation of his image and is getting involved a lot more now himself, as he did in the beginning."
With such a vast portfolio of projects, we wanted to know his objectives for the future of Tom Rebl:
"I'd like to collaborate with Thom Yorke, he's my all-time favorite artist. He's not very known for his fashion style, but he's a super creative mind and I wanna just get to know personally how he thinks, I'm quite intrigued by him.
Apart from that, we're planning to find new ways to work, the classic institutional ways of selling — like fashion shows, showrooms, and multi brand stores — are not the only or the best way to sell or expand anymore, you have to go different routes & collaborate with e-commerce platforms. We have already stopped showing at Fashion Weeks with regular runway shows and in the last few years we decided to create presentations and collaborations mostly with dancers. It's just more direct, you organize small events with people that you actually want to invite rather than a catwalk show where you're behind the scenes and people come just to say ´Hi` and that's it. You don't see their actual reactions at a runway show."
Hats off 2 u, Rebl.
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