Last week, at the Tra­noi showroom, we encoun­tered the tal­ent­ed moth­er and son of the Miko fam­i­ly, cre­at­ing high­ly con­cep­tu­al sus­tain­able fash­ion in new ways. Dis­cov­er how they got here.

Who is Tribal Hotel?

Simona Vei­lande is an accom­plished fash­ion design­er who is a PhD can­di­date in Sus­tain­able Fash­ion Prac­tices and Research from the Art Acad­e­my of Latvia. She also has a BA in Finance. Through­out her aca­d­e­m­ic career, she has been pas­sion­ate about pro­mot­ing sus­tain­abil­i­ty in the fash­ion indus­try. In 2018, Simona wrote a com­pelling essay titled Sus­tain­able Fash­ion Prac­tices in the Sovi­et Union, which explored the soci­etal and con­sumer aspects of that era, explain­ing the upcy­cling and reuti­l­i­sa­tion of gar­ments back then and how they relate to con­tem­po­rary prac­tices.

Simona Vei­lande is also a mem­ber of BUT­TER­MAN Stu­dio, a slow fash­ion design and art col­lec­tive that focus­es on cre­at­ing sus­tain­able basics made from cash­mere.

How­ev­er, it was dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic in 2020 that Simon­a’s pas­sion for sus­tain­abil­i­ty and design led her to co-found the con­cep­tu­al brand, Trib­al Hotel. While spend­ing time at home with her son, they began col­lab­o­rat­ing on designs and devel­op­ing the brand’s unique aes­thet­ic. Despite the chal­lenges posed by the pan­dem­ic, the team per­se­vered and suc­cess­ful­ly launched Trib­al Hotel. Today, the brand is known for its sus­tain­able and eth­i­cal prac­tices, as well as its com­mit­ment to pro­mot­ing con­scious con­sumerism in the fash­ion indus­try.

Art as an inspiration

Trib­al Hotel draws inspi­ra­tion from the life and work of numer­ous artists, with each col­lec­tion fea­tur­ing a unique con­cept. Last year, for Fall/Winter 2022 the brand’s col­lec­tion was par­tic­u­lar­ly strik­ing, as it paid homage to the influ­en­tial artist cou­ple Gus­tav Klut­sis (1895 – 1938) and Valenti­na Kulag­i­na (1902 – 1987).

Klut­sis, a pio­neer­ing fig­ure in the post-abstract Sovi­et avant-garde move­ment, was a renowned artist, design­er, pho­tog­ra­ph­er, and pho­to-mon­tag­ist. His inno­v­a­tive work con­tin­ues to inspire artists to this day. Kulag­i­na, who was Klut­sis’ wife and col­league, was a ground­break­ing design­er who cre­at­ed posters, books, and exhi­bi­tions that were both visu­al­ly strik­ing and social­ly rel­e­vant.

Togeth­er, their work stands as a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of col­lab­o­ra­tion and inno­va­tion in the world of art and design. Their con­tri­bu­tions to the art move­ment are on par with those of oth­er notable fig­ures of the move­ment such as Alek­san­dr Rod­chenko, Var­vara Stepano­va, El Lis­sitzky, and Sergei Senkin. Through Trib­al Hotel, Simona has suc­ceed­ed in show­cas­ing the beau­ty and sig­nif­i­cance of their work and inspir­ing oth­ers to do the same.

Corruption. The new collection

This year, Trib­al Hotel’s con­cept takes a dark­er turn with its focus on the theme of cor­rup­tion, inspired by the sur­re­al­ist works of Wolf­gang Let­tl. Let­tl, born in Augs­burg, Ger­many, dis­cov­ered sur­re­al­ism dur­ing his time as a com­mu­ni­ca­tions offi­cer in Paris dur­ing World War II. How­ev­er, before ful­ly focus­ing on devel­op­ing his sur­re­al­ist style in 1950, he first estab­lish­es him­self as an artist, cre­at­ing por­traits, land­scapes, and oth­er types of work.

Let­tl gained recog­ni­tion for his work and was invit­ed to par­tic­i­pate in the Great Art Exhi­bi­tion in Munich in 1963, which helped estab­lish his rep­u­ta­tion as a sur­re­al­ist painter. He held numer­ous solo exhi­bi­tions and estab­lished the Asso­ci­a­tion for the Pro­mo­tion of Sur­re­al Art in 1992. The asso­ci­a­tion aimed to make his paint­ings acces­si­ble to the pub­lic free of charge, out­side of the art mar­ket, and led to the estab­lish­ment of the Let­tl Atri­um Muse­um of Sur­re­al Art in Augs­burg in 1993.

Let­tl believed that sur­re­al­ism aimed to retrieve images from the uncon­scious mind using sym­bols, strange shapes, and a ques­tion­ing of the famil­iar to cre­ate com­pelling, fan­ta­sy-like art. He felt that the uncon­scious played a sig­nif­i­cant role in shap­ing who we are and that it was cru­cial to acknowl­edge and incor­po­rate it into artis­tic expres­sion.

The par­tic­u­lar biog­ra­phy of the artist, being engaged in a war he didn’t approve and wit­ness­ing the con­flict in Europe first­hand and its con­se­quences, made a con­stant mark on his work. The con­cept of cor­rup­tion was noth­ing new to him, as it’s reflect­ed on some of the paint­ings that inspired this col­lec­tion, such as The Tri­al or The Wheel of Tears.

The col­lec­tion fea­tures airy pieces that cre­ate a strik­ing con­trast with the dark colours of their details and the over­all con­cept. It’s a refresh­ing depar­ture from the norm, bring­ing to light a rarely rep­re­sent­ed con­cept in the fash­ion indus­try.

The col­lec­tion’s stand­out piece is a stun­ning fan­ta­sy wed­ding dress. The white fab­ric shim­mers, while sheer trans­paren­cies add a del­i­cate touch. The dress fea­tures beau­ti­ful­ly sewn sleeves that envel­op the arms in a soft, dreamy way, and a string of pearls that runs up to the neck. The dress’s ghost­ly, windy vol­ume moves around the body in an enchant­i­ng man­ner, adding to its mes­meris­ing qual­i­ty.

Sustainability. Towards The Future.

At Trib­al Hotel, the fash­ion col­lec­tions are a man­i­fes­ta­tion of their unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to their val­ues. Employ­ing only sus­tain­able mate­ri­als and employ­ing arti­sanal tech­niques, each prod­uct is cre­at­ed by local tai­lors. The preser­va­tion of tra­di­tion­al crafts­man­ship, the sup­port of the com­mu­ni­ty, and the pro­mo­tion of local artists are all tenets that the brand holds dear.

Their per­ma­nent col­lec­tion stands as a tes­ta­ment to their ded­i­ca­tion, while new pieces and con­cepts are wel­comed each sea­son. The brand adheres to a demand-only pro­duc­tion mod­el, eschew­ing the stock­pil­ing of excess inven­to­ry and min­i­miz­ing waste at every turn.

Join us as we con­tin­ue to explore the world of sus­tain­able fash­ion by dis­cov­er­ing new brands and their unique sto­ries on our ded­i­cat­ed sec­tion. Stay tuned for more excit­ing fash­ion dis­cov­er­ies.