Mvt · I
Mourning Coat — I
Boiled wool, hand-tacked lining, horsehair canvas.
Prix
€ 4,480
Numbered · Edition of 40
UMBRA & CO
Maison Fondée · AnnoMMXIV
Collection · Requiem · MMXXV
In the
architecture
of shadow.
Umbra is a maison of slow couture — garments cut from the silence between prayers. Each piece is built within the atelier in Antwerp, hand-tacked, candle-lit, weighed against the body of the wearer before it is sent into the world.
Plate · I
Morning of Black Gold
14 · 02 · 25
Lux · in · Tenebris
Manifesto · I
We believe darkness is not absence.
It is a room where the soul waits,
dressed in its most careful cloth.
Every seam is a liturgy. Every button, a small ringing bell. The house of UMBRA was founded in the winter of 2014 by Aleksandr Vossen, in a converted chapel above the Schelde, with a single candle and twelve meters of heavy black wool. We do not photograph our garments in the morning light; we photograph them at vespers, when the world is softest and the shadows do their own cutting.
Our collections are named not after seasons, but after ceremonies. A wedding requires a different weight of cloth than a funeral; a matins prayer demands a different collar than a midnight. We consider such distinctions sacred. We sew, therefore, slowly — with brass pins, candlelight, and a devotion that refuses the metric of speed.
— A. Vossen, Atelier Principal
The Collection · MMXXV
Requiem
Six movementsCut in AntwerpCloth by Huddersfield & Lyon
A collection built for the long ceremonies of winter — weighted coats, veiled dresses, and the quiet economy of a single bronze button.
Mvt · II
Veil Dress — II
Double silk organza, blackened bronze hook closure.
Prix
€ 6,120
Numbered · Edition of 40
Mvt · III
Chorister Cape — III
Hand-embroidered cross-stitch, weighted hem.
Prix
€ 5,840
Numbered · Edition of 40
Mvt · IV
Obsidian Blouse — IV
Silk crêpe, blackletter monogram collar.
Prix
€ 2,940
Numbered · Edition of 40
Mvt · V
Reliquary Trouser — V
Heavy worsted, bronze button fly, cathedral pleat.
Prix
€ 2,280
Numbered · Edition of 40
Mvt · VI
Matin Boot — VI
Italian calf, hand-stacked heel, tarnished eyelets.
Prix
€ 1,760
Numbered · Edition of 40
Plate · II
Vespers — Interior
Editorial · Candle & Cloth
A liturgy, in which the garment is the only thing permitted to speak.
This season we worked with the Flemish photographer Ilse van Heyde and the choreographer Manon du Plessis to stage six interiors, each lit by a single candle and recorded in complete silence. The cloth became the choir; the body, an architecture waiting to be given voice.
“
We do not dress the woman. We dress the hour in which she is most precisely herself.
Aleksandr Vossen · AnOther, 2025
Armorial · The Atelier
AntwerpParisKyotoVienna
Our houses are converted chapels. Our tools are brass pins, tallow candles, and a disobedient patience. Light, we insist, is only meaningful when it has been earned against the dark.
Lookbook · Veil 01
Twelve plates,
recorded at vespers.
Photographed by Ilse van Heyde in a converted chapel along the Schelde. Available in print, hand-bound, edition of forty.
Pl · 01
Matin
Pl · 02
Lauds
Pl · 03
Prime
Pl · 04
Terce
Pl · 05
Sext
Pl · 06
Vespers
Printed in an edition of forty · Antwerp · MMXXV
Programme · Ceremonies
A record of shows
past & yet to come.
Calendar · Anno MMXXV
Order of Service · In Obsidian
- 01ParisFuneral MarchSpring / Summer14 · 02 · 2025
- 02AntwerpMorning of Black GoldAutumn / Winter03 · 10 · 2024
- 03MilanoVeil 01Ceremonial Pre-Collection22 · 02 · 2024
- 04KyotoRequiemSpecial Presentation19 · 09 · 2023
- 05BrusselsCandle & ClothDebut04 · 03 · 2023
- 06ViennaLux in TenebrisAtelier Showing11 · 11 · 2022
Admittance by invitation · Correspondence below
Ad honorem
Selected Mentions
The critical
correspondence.
A brief ledger of writings. Full archival clippings available at the atelier, by appointment.
- 01AnOther Magazine“A cathedral of tailoring”2025
- 02Dazed“The funeral that fashion forgot”2024
- 03Vogue Italia“Couture of bronze and blood”2024
- 04System“UMBRA rewrites the silhouette”2024
- 05032c“A poetics of shadow”2023
- 06Document Journal“Still life, still mourning”2023
- 07T — The NY Times“Darkwear, but architectural”2023
The Ritual
The Correspondence.
Four letters a year. Dispatched on the new moon. Written by hand and set in lead by an old press in the Antwerp atelier.