TG Botanical honours māteria - the basis of all existence through tactile and fungi-grown garments – with its AW24 collection
Matter as the basis for existence was the fuel for Tetyana Chumak, TG Botanical's founder and creative director, for the brand's autumn/winter '24 collection. “I’m always thinking about nature, Earth and world formation in general,” Chumak starts. “So when it comes to the explanation of the origin of everything that surrounds us, it always starts with māteria. It is the key fundamental principle of everything that exists.”
Flattering silhouettes float down the TG Botanical runway in the form of floor-sweeping skirts and low-waisted trousers, coupled with dainty knitted and sheer, lace-like tops. A bustier fit recurs throughout the line – some minimal and sleeveless, others with soft layers and arms that extend over trousers and past fingertips. The pieces are all dark and neutral tones of volcanic grey and light khaki, with some brighter green accents – shades of the earth.
Both these designs and their fabrics reference the earth’s various facets. “The soil, the field as seen from a bird view, the volcanic desert, sea waves, human beings – various forms of māteria that me and my team experience in our lives,” the designer explains. There’s a tactility to the pieces, a product of the methods used to recreate these surfaces. Achieved through distressing the fabric, quilting and stitching with elastic thread – with the aim of awakening the wearer’s senses.
“My main focus is to show people this uniqueness and beauty of each māteria that comes on their lifetime journey to avoid any possibility of being considered ordinary or average.” Chumak has been heavily influenced by nature and incorporated it into her garments, since the birth of the brand. She redefines innovation in her work with natural fabrics, and is both traditional and experimental in dyeing them – using everything from tansy flowers and acorns to onion husks and coffee beans.
This collection also marks the brand’s first collaboration (with artist Dasha Tsapenko), which Chumak describes as “an ode to matter, which, in my opinion, is unique and inimitable in any form: I hope, like the clothes that we create.” The collaboration sees Tsapenko adopt a selection pieces from the AW24 line-up, infusing them with polypore fungus spores. These grew across the pure and un-dyed yarn into a mycelium surface, resulting in a multi-level collaboration - of two Ukrainian ateliers, their disciplines, and of two species - human and fungi.
“The AW24 collection is an expression of the unique primal energy hidden in earth — the giving and taking source of life on the planet. I want to remind people that we are all māteria, and that it can be as dark as it can be celestial.”
Discover all the looks from TG Botanical's AW24 collection below:
