Thought you missed Stockholm Fashion Week? YLC puts the fashionable in fashionably late and presents a lowdown on last week’s fashion extravaganza in the city, courtesy of our new in-house fashionista Victoria Hussey.
Last week, Sweden’s capital hosted the biggest event on the country’s fashion calendar, Mercedez Benz Stockholm Fashion Week. Amongst sizzling temperatures and an even hotter guest-list that included international fashion blogger Bryan Boy, Swedish model and blogger Elin Kling and pop newcomer, Kim Cesarion, the three-day event not only attracted Sweden’s most super stylish but managed also to show off some impressive design talent, both old and new.
Established Swedish brands J. Lindeberg, Whyred and Tiger showed their spring/summer 2014 collections alongside up-and-coming designers Alice Fine, ALTEWAISAOME and Dagmar. The result was one of cohesion and slick Scandinavian design; sharp tailoring contrasted by cool casual or edgy rebellion played a major part in the week’s offerings. Whyred’s Ingmar Bergman-inspired collection played down posh, private school blazers with haphazard Whyred Red printed pyjama ensembles, crisp white, raw-edged tees and cropped pants for the boys; whilst the nineties-born design house opted to sugar-coat the girls in Peach Bellini, sharp boyish shorts and high-neck shirts.
While Whyred’s boys and girls were playing at dressing up, The Swedish School of Textiles lot were getting imaginative.
Fifteen Bachelor and Master students from showcased avant-garde designs inspired by folklore, carnival, the female form and nineties skinheads. Such an eclectic range of starting points made for an interesting fusion of styles expressed in impressive workmanship and attention to detail. Master Graduate Abril Vergara Lozano’s explosion of colour, sound and texture was a welcome treat in a week that was predominately neutral in tone.
Elsewhere, outside of the sauna of a fashion pavilion – temperatures inside the tent were reported to have reached 30°C+ degrees during some shows – a Maison Martin Margiela display took place at high-end auctioneers Bukowskis. Being but a breath away from pared-down, deconstructed items by the reticent Belgian house was almost surreal.
Upstairs at Bukowskis, Alice Fine’s sporty warriors in space-age masks sat alongside a soft, feminine collection in dove grey, stone and white by Isabell Yalda Hellysaz; the designer recently saw one of her eye-mask creations on the cheekbone of none other than Lady Gaga as part of her 2013 album promotion. From one curiously weird customer to the marvels to be found Beneath the Surface; Jewellery designer Cornelia Webb’s ss14 collection shimmered in coral-inspired shapes and tropical hues that instantly transported onlookers to exotic climes.
It was a week that saw the emergence of key trends for spring/summer 2014 of sorbet peach for women, bomber jackets for all, discontented tailoring and nature-inspired palettes – sky, stone as well as influence from the city in bright lights and slick urban silhouettes.
And who would have thought the week would end with tailoring ace Tiger of Sweden showing its rebellious side in tartan kilts, bomber jackets and rat-tailed hair?
Sure, it wasn’t exactly on the Parisian scale of extravagance but then why would it be? This is Sweden – home of efficiency, functionality, and minimalism – only now, the land of ‘snow and snus’ also has a sting in its tail.
Victoria Hussey
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