The Fashion Week kickstarted at Kulturhuset’s theatre on Monday the 24th of August with The Swedish Fashion Talents vernissage, fashion show and award ceremony, there all the chosen brands that were candidates for the title ¨Swedish Fashion Talent of the Year¨ got to expose their latest collections on a display to the public and on the glamorous catwalk.
This year’s chosen brands were Arethé Stockholm, Emelie Janrell, Freehistoric, Inez-NY, Isabella Idberg, MLTV Clothing, Märta Larsson, Simon Ekrelius, Sofia Eriksson and WDEE and among those nominees the prize went to London-based designer Simon Ekrelius, for his collection called ¨Magdalena¨ for season SS16, created in honor and in memory of his mentor Magdalena Olsson.
The work from the eight clothes and two jewellery designers was in a minimalistic, eclectic and very elegant style, perfectly in line with the Swedish style. Of course there are always exceptions such as Isabella Idberg and WDEE with more outrageous and adventurous proposals in their designs. WDEE for example used CDs as an element on some of their garments.
The week proceeded with fashion houses presenting their new collections in various spots around the city. It all peaked on the Fashion Night on the 26th of August, which took place in the area surrounding Biblioteksgatan giving everybody the opportunity to take part in the Fashion Week.
Fashion Night was a whole evening with among other amenities live-streaming of Mayla‘s and Lamija‘s fashion shows, shopping deals, catwalks inside the shops, mingling and goodie-bags. There were around 300 shops that participated in the event this year and there were also various DJs playing inside several shops, as well as on the street, a dancing-roller-skater in black lycra, inflatables, drinks, a photo booth and even a hot-dog cart and everything was for free except for the clothes. This is definitely one of Stockholms most loved open parties, I would say.
The most prominent catwalks of the Fashion Night were the ones presented by the fashion brands By the No who presented its collection at NK and Mayla and Lamija who had their respective shows at Berns and were live streamed at Norrmalmstorg where people gathered to view them on a big screen. These shows were simultaneously commented by TV host, singer, model and blogger Jennifer Åkerman, together with Niklas Berglind, fashion blogger and TV4:s fashion expert who had a TV set in place also at Norrmalmstorg.
Between the 24-26 of August a “Swedish Fashion Pop Up Store feat. Bibliotekstan” was open on Smålandsgatan presenting a mix of 15 fashion brands in women’s wear, men’s wear, bags, shoes and jewellery. There was also the possibility to shop and see a selection of fashionable items from several Swedish designers including some of the brands and designers selected among the Swedish Fashion Talents finalists.