ROMÉO STEDMAN MOURAS

RSM is an independent fashion label built around clothing, memory and transformation.

I make clothes from things that already exist. Deadstock, old fabrics, discarded garments, lace, leather, old techniques and pieces of clothing with a history. I like starting with something that already carries a meaning and seeing what it can become when it is cut apart, changed, combined or used in a way it wasn't intended for.

A lot of the work comes from looking at clothes and asking why they are the way they are. I look at historical garments, construction techniques, images and references, I take them apart and use them as a starting point.

Memory is everywhere in the work. It can come from a garment, a fabric, a person, a photograph, a technique or simply something I have encountered and don't want to forget. I am interested in what happens when these things are brought into the present and given another life.

RSM also comes from the people around. A lot of what I make is connected to relationships, conversations, shared experiences and the transmission of knowledge. My queer experience is part of that. It informs the way I look at clothing, bodies and the rules that surround them, but it is not something I want to illustrate literally in every piece.

Ultimately, I want to make clothes that feel like they have a life of their own. Clothes that can be worn, changed, lived in and passed on. Pieces where the material, the making and the history behind them remain visible.

For the un-uniformed.