An interview with “Dreaming Eli” designer Elisa Trombatore
by Brian James
The unveiling of the latest collection from London-based fashion designer Elisa Trombatore’s semi -eponymous label “Dreaming Eli” has become a London Fashion Week must-see and her SS25 collection “Mother of Pearl, Daughter of Flesh” was no exception.
Her mastery and command of fabric manipulation, layering and draping was again stunningly executed with this collection which took inspiration from her native Sicily and the rich mythology which pervades that beautiful island.
It was a collection that showcased the designers continuing evolution with the iconic Dreaming Eli triple corset deconstructed and reimagined in new ways, while vintage corsetry elements combined with swirling sways of fabric to gift us creations which alluded to the collection’s themes of sexuality and fertility. An evolution further evidenced through Elisa’s continued utilization of upcycled denim which this season was cut out and enhanced with delicate lace. With each garment painstakingly hand-made it was a bravura assemblage of truly timeless pieces that were revealed on the runway by an array of muses and that left us musing long after the show had ended.
Flanelle spoke to Elisa during London Fashion Week about the influences which inspired “Mother of Pearl, Daughter of Flesh”, the creative journey which took her from Sicily to St Martins and then founding her brand, and her future goals and aspirations.
Congratulations on your latest collection which has just shown at London Fashion Week. Can you tell us what inspired it and what message you want to share with us through these latest creations?
“Mother of Pearl, Daughter of Flesh” has been, like all my previous collections, a mirror of my personal experience of life. This is what Dreaming Eli is for me, a means to reflect on life and keep me grounded, finding my balance, remembering why I’m here for. This collection is going back to myself, to the Woman, to The Mother. It’s me in me. The oyster that gives birth to the Pearl, as a protective mechanism, the oyster produces something incredibly strong, incredibly perfect and incredibly beautiful. This is the essence of womanhood to me. Where “mothering” here is intended like caring for and giving birth to yourself. For this collection I went back to my roots, to Sicily, to my studies as a teenager of Greek mythology. The myth of Scilla, this sea monster, half woman, half monster. She ate men to protect her sea, her Sicily. And a woman so incredibly fierce must of course be identified as a monster, as women can’t be beautiful and powerful at the same time, can they?
When did you start work on the collection, did you face any particular challenges when creating it and how rewarding has it been to bring it out into the world?
I’ve started working on this collection last April. Coming out very burnt out from producing a season after the other – especially at the early stage of a brand, trying to juggle between a fashion week and the other, custom looks and wholesale orders is extremely challenging. I don’t really have a big team, just me and a small trusted group of friends and interns who believe in Dreaming Eli and invest their time into it. I also define myself as an artist that is running a business, and as such I spent the first years trying to figure out how to be a business woman. This clearly hasn’t worked out too well and just tends me to feel frustrated for systems and politics I don’t really understand. With all these struggles over my shoulder I’ve decided, after the last fashion week, to stop trying to do business and going back to what I do best: pure art.
Mother of Pearl, Daughter of Flesh has been this: my return to the craft, to working with the fabrics to create something that didn’t exist before. Each draping, fabric manipulations and intricate embroidery have been my way to say “f*ck it” to a box where I don’t want to fit, and doing what I love doing: translating my emotions into forms and textures. Seeing it coming to life makes me excited about fashion again, like a kid on Christmas Day.
Previous collections have shown a design aesthetic that’s developed to include streetwear references and the use of different materials. How important was it to continue that process of evolution with this collection while retaining the signature elements that have made Dreaming Eli the highly acclaimed and much-loved brand that it is?
This collection has been a really fun ride in terms of development. I’ve tried to take the iconic dreaming Eli pieces – such as the triple corset dress and the lace dresses, and push them into new exciting lands. Each technique used in the past has been pushed to its limits, taking a step back from what’s wearable or commercial and diving into the art. I think in this season I’ve set the bases for loads of exciting new elements that I look forward to developing further into next collections.
In what ways does your Sicilian heritage influence that aesthetic and creative vision?
La mia Sicilia is quite hard to explain in words if you haven’t experienced it. The first influence is the aesthetic of it. It’s warm and decadent, stuck in time, with a vintage aura to it like time is not really a concept there. I like to think that this is what Dreaming Eli is as well. My Sicilian heritage has also affected my concept of womanhood. I grew up surrounded by these passionate and fierce women and yet somehow victims of social chains and restrictions that have bounded them from generation to generation. I grew up with their fire in my heart, but the desire to spread, to conquer the world, where those women where only stuck to their little piece of place they were inhabiting. Stuck in stereotypes and boxes someone else molded for them. Since I was a kid, I was obsessed with challenging them, I used to say to my mum that I wanted to fit them all, for me it’s never been about being one type of woman versus the other, why settled down for one thing when you can be it all?
The name “Dreaming Eli” is a particularly evocative one and seems to capture the essence of your work perfectly. Were your childhood dreams and aspirations always centered around fashion and what led to you embarking on a career in the industry?
I’ve always been ambitious, but with a weird naivety to it, and not just as a kid but as an adult as well. Like the world or the obstacles of life have never been a concern to me. That’s where the nickname “dreaming Eli” came from. Well into my teenage years, I was 100% convinced I was going to be the next world-famous pop star. Fashion was actually just the B plan!
I grew up doing art: singing, dancing, writing poems and books, creating costumes for my performances. As a kid I used to invite friends and family to my house every summer to witness my well elaborated year show, I still laugh thinking about it. At 18, in Sicily, when I was surprised to see I still wasn’t a world-famous singer I then decided I needed to accompanying my performative studies with something else and as I’ve always loved to challenge social rules with the way I looked and dressed, I thought fashion would have been an easy and fun side journey as I’d be climbing my way up the world biggest stages! Little I knew of what I was embarking upon, but the dreaming girl in me still deeply believes one day I will be riding those stages!
You studied at Central St Martins before graduating in 2021. How did that prepare you for launching the label and what theoretical and life lessons have you taken from that time into running your own business?
Central Saint Martins has been probably the most life changing experience of my life. The years spent there gave me an excitement I don’t think I’ll ever experience again. In those walls I felt seen: the dreaming girl in me that wanted to break all the boxes and create new realities landed in a building where they teach you that anything is possible and that you’re there to create what doesn’t exist yet. I’ll never forget my first project ever at CSM, I was just starting the Fashion Folio course, years before my Master studies, and my tutor and forever mentor, the late Patrick Lee Yow, looked at me as I designed one of my first ever corsets saying “Has anyone else before you ever designed a corset?” I nodded confused and he added “then why are you making one?”. This for me will always be the greatest teaching CSM has ever given me: create what hasn’t been created yet. Today I still design corsets – clearly – but I think of this sentence every single time I pick a pencil to sketch, and try to subvert every single time the traditional with the new.
We understand that The Isabella Blow Foundation provided support when you were creating your graduate collection. To what extent did that allow you to bridge the gap between education and career and is that type of support something you’d like to see more widely available to designers emerging in these financially difficult times?
Everyone says fashion is a career for upper class kids and that’s true. For somehow like me coming from a not privileged background going to a top university like Central Saint Martins is out of the question. I’ve started my journey in CSM having no idea on how to pay my tuition – let alone starting my own label! The Isabella Blow Foundation has given me the financial help to start Dreaming Eli and I probably wouldn’t have been able to have the financial security to do so without their support. Fashion needs to be more inclusive and needs to care more about the amazing designers who don’t have a privileged background. We’re working 10000 times harder than those who have financial stability and that’s never taken into account – it’s always kept unspoken which I think it’s unfair.
Who are the designers that have inspired you and why?
Designers like Galliano x Margiela, Alexander McQueen and Jean Paul Gaultier have been my biggest source of inspiration, with sense of storytelling through fashion, the full magic world they built in each show and their celebration of female sexuality.
A number of public figures have worn your creations including Zara Larsson and the iconic Julia Fox. What does it mean to you to have achieved that level of celebrity endorsement in such a short space of time and who else would you love to see wearing Dreaming Eli?
It seems completely unreal, I’m extremely grateful for their support, as well as their kindness and love for the brand.
Seeing my all-time muse Madonna wearing Dreaming Eli would be the dream! In the past year we got close to it as her team has been pulling our pieces multiple times so I’m waiting on the edge of my seat for it to happen!
Female empowerment is at the core of your brand identity. How do you want the woman who wears Dreaming Eli to feel about themselves and the world around them when they put on one of your creations?
I want them to feel in control as they’re nothing more powerful than being in control of your body and your own life. I want them to feel seen, each piece I design embodies a feeling, an emotion. I want them to feel dangerous, enough to not fear anything in the world around. I want them to feel a whole, like they don’t fit in any stereotype or like they fit them all.
As we move beyond London Fashion Week what are your goals and aspirations for the rest of this year and beyond?
I’m looking forward to growing with this collection as well as pushing my vision into new fields. We are already looking into developing accessories, explore 3D printing, and much more. I’m excited for what’s yet to come!
Many thanks to Elisa for speaking to Flanelle and to Frida at IPR London for all her help.