The sustainable fashion sector is growing, and we’d love you to meet MINIMALIST. Founded by Tamara Davydova, MINIMALIST is a curated collection of women’s ready-to-wear, defined by a commitment to circularity and purity of design.
Tamara Davydova was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. She moved to New York City in the mid-Nineties to study at the Parsons School of Design. She graduated with a BFA in fashion design and was nominated for the Designer of the Year award for womenswear. Over the course of her 20-year career, she has led design teams and worked alongside designers including Michael Kors and Monique Lhuillier. In February 2021 she launched her own brand which focuses on bringing sustainability to the forefront of fashion.
This month we joined the brand’s event at Tamara’s home in SoHo to see the brand’s “Collection 3”. Creating simple, stylish pieces that incorporate circularity and sustainability into every facet of the design and production process, and the new collection is the perfect example of how sustainability doesn’t have to be a compromise.
Collection 3 is the first since MINIMALIST’s launch that offers a core and a seasonal component. The first collections consist of foundational pieces The new collection builds on that foundation with fresh colors, fabrics, and silhouettes that serve a warmer weather lifestyle.
A vivid shade of poppy red brings a surge of energy to the Spring/Summer 2023 palette of white, ivory, and navy. The poppy hue, inspired by Carol Bove’s sculptures Tamara saw at the Frieze New York art fair earlier this year, is applied to her signature zippered jumpsuit with architectural details, wide-leg cargo pants, a cropped jacket, and a tailored tunic dress, all crafted from Japanese denim and European sustainable viscose.
“It’s nice to lift the collection and introduce color, but keep it minimalist and consistent,” says Tamara. “It’s not about an explosion of color.” The Japanese denim pieces are also offered in ivory and navy.
Serving the playful yet polished side of summer is a range of terry rompers and jumpsuits made from 100 percent organic cotton.
All of the collection’s ingredients—from the water-preserving Tencel jersey used for T-shirts to ecological elastic to the non-toxic, water-soluble garment bags—have been thoroughly researched and certified to best-in-class standards in conjunction with GRS, GOTS, FSC®, bluesign® and STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX®. Tamara uses materials that are easier to break down and recycle into new fibers at the end of the garment’s lifecycle closing the loop.
“I’m a mom, and my kids are really what made me so passionate about sustainability. It started with cleaning products when I was pregnant, then organic foods when they were little and so this was the next step. I really also believe that sustainability is not just about materials, it’s also about communities, so everything we have is produced in NYC and supporting local jobs that are held mostly by women.”
Browse Collection 3 here.
