Francois Sagan once famously suggested that ‘A dress only works if a man wants to take it off ’. Lucy Tammam, a graduate in Fashion and Textiles from St Martin School of Art and Design, makes heart-stoppingly lovely tailored daywear, evening gowns and Beatonesque, elegant bridal gowns in the fairest Fairtrade silk, satin and lace that certainly might provoke such heady sentiment.
Rachel McDowall wears Tamman Antique Gold Cami Dress.
Hair by Karine Jackson, Covent Garden using Organic Colour Systems. Crocodile Pendant Kimpoor.com
Lucy’s artisan couture house is symbolised by the strutting splendour and magnificence of a peacock, and her favourite fashion era runs from the roaring exuberance and abandon of the twenties, through to the screen siren, ladylike allure of the 1940s. Lucy is a gifted tailor, and her peerless form-fitting gowns and svelte coatdresses appeal to discerning A listers including Olivia Williams and Alicia Silverstone. One of the star pieces in the current collection is a playful, extrovert pale gold cami gown in wild peace silk, evoking all the confidence and playfulness of the Flapper – with its luxuriant, undulating, folded hemline, which appears to float and ripple with each silken movement. The dress features a gossamer lace panel across the bust, which takes artisans two days to hand-embellish, and the exquisite draped detailing at the back resembles the delicate tail feathers of a bird of paradise. This extrovert, lovely gown has a chameleon personality, and would work wonderfully as an original bridal gown for a more informal, high summer or beach wedding. After your perfect day, you will long to wear it again and again, as a treasured, heirloom evening dress on high summer nights, for dinners a deux and anniversaries.
The Cami dress conjures up a time when hemlines suddenly went naughtily sky high and women had more independence and freedom that they knew what to do with. They were heady, extraordinary times indeed, and Lucy Tammam re-interprets this exciting moment in fashion, updates it for the woman who yearns to be a modern Josephine Baker – and for the thinking woman with a conscience ensures that the process from field to hanger is squeaky clean too. Peace silk has an extraordinary lustre, colour and softness, which is hard to replicate with mass produced silk. This precious fibre is hand loomed, and humanely produced from empty silk cocoons collected from forest of Eastern India, when the Eri moth has flown. With conventional silk, the cocoon is boiled with the chrysalis still inside. Lucy also ensures that the spinners, weavers, tailors and embroiders she works with in Bombay and Bangalore are audited and paid fair wages. So, you could say that this is the future of luxury – a dress that is truly, madly, deeply beautiful, inside and out.
Tammam Couture Ethical Credentials
Small British Couture House – Lucy champions artisan skills and techniques
Fairtrade production from field to hanger – all producers are audited and paid Fairtrade wages
Tammam only uses sustainable and Fairtrade fibres including: peace silk, lace, organic cotton, and bamboo
Halter neck, Antique Gold Cami Dress in hand-loomed, wild peace silk with hand embellished lace bodice, available exclusively through the Ethical Hedonist Magazine.
Special Price £585.00 inclusive of recorded delivery. Sizes available now and delivered before Christmas Size 8, 10 (While stocks last) Further sizes 8,10, 12 & 14, to order. Please allow six weeks for delivery.
The dress is also available in the colour shell pink, to order.
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