Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp’s debut commercial collection is an ode to embracing the mundane
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAPHNE NGUYEN
Words by Sohani Goonetillake
“The collection came from that feeling of going for walks, drinking tea, cooking meals with my family and letting go of my perceived future.”
Sydney-based label Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp, known for its progressive, fit flexible design style, has released its debut commercial collection, Butterfly Pea Flower Tea. The collection seeks to celebrate the mundanity of life and challenges our desire to constantly look to the future for what’s next, instead of committing to our reality.
Designer Niamh Galea sees her body of work as a personal commitment to stay present and recognises that her life remains wonderful despite it taking a different route to the life she initially mapped out for herself pre-pandemic.
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Upon returning to Australia at the beginning of the pandemic, Niamh felt like she was living in limbo after her dream of going to New York and doing a master’s degree came crashing down.
“Up until this point in my life, I have always been sprinting to these perceived goals,” she tells me. “The collection came from that feeling of going for walks, drinking tea, cooking meals with my family and letting go of my perceived future.”
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The name of the collection itself is a nod to the slow and gentle living which inspired its birth. Butterfly Pea Flower Tea is a South-East Asian tea that is a vibrant, cobalt blue colour that has many health benefits.
“It’s supposed to make you happy which I feel like is such a funny, large claim for a cup of tea but it kind of does make you happy because it’s this crazy colour and it tastes very earthy,” she says. “It references finding beauty and joy in micro-moments such as drinking a cup of tea.”
Niamh admits she was sipping on this tea a lot when she was creating her collection and its electric blue hues shine through in many of her pieces, set against a sedative selection of milky greys, blues and browns.
Her collection features 18 styles including her signature bleach printed trackpants and delicate, asymmetrical lingerie designs. Using new colourways, hyper-feminine silhouettes and motifs, including hand-drawn illustrations and lines of poetry, Niamh introduces a sense of romance into the collection.
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The Jacquard reversible tramp stamp stays (a stay is a type of traditional bodice) were created in collaboration with corset-maker and seamstress Indigo Newbury-Chun. With her expertise and assistance, Niamh’s corsets have been corrected and constructed to be her take on the fully-boned laced bodice that was worn in the late 16th or early 17th century.
These improvements are made with Niamh’s slow and inclusive ethos in mind. Her technical framework includes upcycling methods and zero waste techniques as her collection is primarily made from regenerated deadstock and vintage fabric.
Her label remains gender-inclusive and has an element of flexibility in her designs, so we can trust that when we browse her collection it will fit our ever-changing bodies.
Shop the Butterfly Pea, Flower Tea collection here and check out her secret store here.
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