Rym Beydoun’s model Tremendous Yaya is a love letter to West African tradition. As a fourth-generation baby of a Lebanese immigrant household, she spent her childhood portray by the ocean in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and rummaging via her dad and mom’ garments to assist them put outfits collectively.
Even after a stint finding out in London and a decade residing in Beirut, her ardour for town the place she was raised shines via in her vivid clothes. Beydoun launched her label in 2015 after graduating from Central Saint Martins, the place she studied womenswear. Initially, she was a workforce of 1, working tirelessly to develop her boot-strapped model and even modelling the collections herself, taking selfies within the garments she created. This method solely strengthened the enjoyable, playful spirit of the model she was constructing. And now cool ladies corresponding to Solange Knowles, Paloma Elsesser and Alexa Chung are carrying her creations.
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As we speak the model is embarking on its subsequent chapter. After an damage in 2020 compelled Beydoun to press pause on her enterprise and take a while out, she’s now relaunched the label with extra construction in place, hiring a workforce of 20 to help her. However the essence of the work stays: an exploration of texture and a celebration of artistry.
Her garments are as intricate as they’re loud – assume woven leather-based microskirts, T-shirt attire with hand-shirred detailing and vibrant, chequerboard-style ruched tops paired with tactile, poofy microskirts. Many of the work is finished by hand, on the model’s atelier in Beirut, utilizing materials dyed in Côte d’Ivoire. Even the title Tremendous Yaya pays homage to her upbringing: ‘Yaya’ is a typical unisex title within the area, whereas ‘Tremendous’ is a nod to slogans utilized in African commerce and promoting.
‘Style is part of the approach to life,’ says Beydoun. ‘Folks nonetheless purchase materials and have them measured to their our bodies. There’s a couture sensibility.’ This imaginative and prescient clearly performs out within the model’s new autumn/winter assortment, titled ‘Soyons Heureux’ – or ‘Let’s be comfortable’. Impressed by her marriage ceremony, she needed to design items that evoked pleasure amid such a troubling political local weather. ‘Regardless of every little thing, we are able to have causes to be comfortable,’ she says.
The garments themselves are quintessential Tremendous Yaya. Her signature ‘Weave’ mini has been reimagined in peach and white; halter-neck attire and culottes are affixed with bows, whereas a ruched chartreuse top-and-skirt set embodies the energetic spirit of the label. ‘I needed to maintain working with wax prints and domestically produced supplies which are birthed from West African tradition, corresponding to bazin,’ she notes. ‘There’s a freedom in not being depending on a manufacturing unit or an atelier.’
The designer plans to construct up Tremendous Yaya’s made-to-order service, so her prospects can fee bespoke creations. However style is barely the start; Beydoun has ambitions to develop past ready-to-wear into new classes corresponding to homeware and interiors. ‘I don’t need to stick to only making garments,’ she says. ‘I see Tremendous Yaya as a mission – and the intention is to broaden every little thing.’
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