Easy-To-Wear from Christoph Rumpf

Austrian designer Christoph Rumpf won the Grand Prix du Jury at the Hyères Festival in 2019, finished his studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna in 2020, and founded his eponymous brand in 2021. With a modern approach and a sustainable point of view, Rumpf’s focus on traditional tailoring and graphic prints results in a wardrobe for the sophisticated man and woman.

Tell us about a concept or idea you have explored this season?

The concept is built around a day at the hotel. I imagined a woman entering a certain space like the lobby, the pool area or the bar, kind of the first seconds of a movie scene. I love to see someone arriving and to just think: “Wow what a great look”. So we made all the outfits with this idea in mind, while trying to make the pieces easy to wear. To make people feel luxurious and beautiful is a goal for each collection, but this time it was the main point and I tried not to overanalyse it.

In what ways are you exploring new materials, methods, technology each season — or with this collection, specifically?

I worked with a lot of different deadstock silks for the first time, so that, at least, was new for me. I found all these great velvets in Paris; some antique floral raw silks in Vienna, and plisses and chiffons, so I decided to start the collection with all these silk looks.I concentrated more on our recycled mesh for the summer collection, and we stumbled upon this great moiré effect when you layer it, which I love because it looks stunning in pictures and in real life. While adding new materials is certainly important to keep things exciting, creating the upcycled pieces is the most fun for me.

Would you say your collections explore what’s happening in the world as you’re designing them?

Each collection is different. Covid made me feel like we are all in the same boat right now, and I was more interested in collections that make you feel beautiful, because everybody can relate to that. I usually work with characters; although for this collection, I just had one character in mind, but in different settings and situations for her. I try to figure out what modern luxury means with each season, and I feel it comes with a certain comfort. Traveling is such a huge part of life for people nowadays, which is why the hotel theme made a lot of sense for me. Making exciting garments which are easy to wear and in a great quality fabric is probably the most interesting thing to explore right now because I always try to make life a bit more glamorous.

What is something or someplace you would like to explore in your lifetime?

I moved to Paris to get rid of the feeling of constantly leaving the place where I live, and somehow, it worked. I am not dying to travel the world right now; building the brand, working on garments is really what is interesting to me for the moment. But to give a better answer, I am very keen to go to India as soon as there is time.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.