By Lotus Ladegaard
Deux Magazine was there first hand to sort out the awesome from the mediocre at the Oslo Fashion Week. But instead of espousing the potential of already established brands like Moods of Norway and Mardou and Dean, here is a cheat sheet for who to look out for in the coming years coming out of Oslo.
Camilla Reinfjell
Camilla Reinfjell is an emerging Oslo-based designer. She graduated with a Bachelor degree from Oslo National Academy of the Arts a couple of years ago. She has worked for labels such as Sølv Studio, Lillunn and ESP. In 2014, she created a mini AW 14 collection of knitted accessories for Sølv Studie.
Alongside working as a freelancer, Camilla Reinfjell is also focussed on developing a project that aims to create high quality womenswear based on a collaboration with the ideal customer. Her vision is to create improved, long living garments developed through interaction, conversation, exploration and cooperation with the selected customer group. She uses a methodical approach to the design process and hopes to gain an understanding of emotional and practical aspects of getting dressed, which in term will allow her to create garments the selected customer group will treasure in years to come.
Camilla Reinfjell named her BA 2014 project the Woven Collection, it is a collection of garments in woven fabric. Kimono inspired jackets with oversized details were matched with striped capri length trousers, shorts and skirts. The actual garments seemed to be made from a squared pattern, but the individual styling of the clothes as well as the oversized belts on some of the garments made each look flattering on the model. It was a collection that will appeal to a younger trendy woman of any size. The play on tailored yet oversized garments made for a very interesting collection.
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Anne Karine Thorbjørnsen
Anne Karine Thorbjørnsen debuted onto London Fashion Week 2012 on the Central Saint Martins MA show. She has since been showing on LFW Off-Schedule and on Oslo Fashion Week with UP Design and Oslo Runway. She also curates her work off the runway, participating in exhibitions and collaborative performances.
Anne Karine Thorbjørnsen challenges the conception of aesthetics and the viewpoint of beauty and ugliness. She finds inspiration and is fascinated with the banal and mundane surroundings of the everyday. She collects random inspiration from people’s windows, facades, forgotten items and reworks them intuitively through draping, scrunching and as she calls it; messing about. Each collection, she has created has been an ongoing investigation into how and why we dress.
The questions, Anne Karine Thorbjørnsen asks is vivid in her play with garments and its uses. Many of her garments introduces a new way of embellishing clothes and casts away all prior teaching on function. While many of the garments’ details lacks functions, it is certainly a glimpse into her way of thinking and the viewer is left wondering.
Anne Karine Thorbjørnsen certainly does not lack any skills, innovation or creativity. The actual pieces are beautifully made and the finish is exquisite. Nevertheless, that makes one wonder about some of the raw flossed edges that sometimes seem unnecessary.
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Bror August debuted on New York Fashion Week fresh out of high school, which brought him a lot of attention including features in Dazed Digital, November magazine, Editorial Magazine, Bite Magazine, Bullet Magazine, Sleek, Interview Magazine and many more. He has had internships with Haik in Norway and Vaquera, Telfar and Eckhaus in New York. The latter allowed him time off to work on his own collection.
His brand focuses on a lot of hand techniques in designs, believing it creates a more personal and emotional relationship with clothing. He showed his AW16 collection named “Never Had A Boyfriend Jeans” at David Lewis Gallery and the show took the name from almost abstract sounding title to something very literal. Models worked around an art installation by Dawn Kasper and started out fully dress, removing layers and revealing details as the show progressed. The final look was completely sheer and symbolic to the way one reveals oneself to a new partner.
Bror August is still very young and it shows in his collection, but he will be interesting to follow as he perhaps moves away from the more obvious and literal way of approaching his theme. Nevertheless, several of his individual pieces were very wearable and will appeal to an audience that preferences streetwear.
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Edda Gimnes is a truly exciting designer if you enjoy the avant-garde. Ever since she graduated with a Bachelor in Womenswear from London College of Fashion, she has enjoyed much appreciation among the fashion insiders. She has been named “a designer to watch” by New York Times, features in British- and Italian Vogue and Glamour Magazine. She also won the BFT Saga Fur Competition and currently works there. She did an internship with Hockley Fur London as was the UK representative for the Remix Competition sponsored by Italian Vogue. She thoroughly enjoys the process of design research and she is always looking to stand out with unique objects and illustrations and collages.
Her SS16 collection featured avant-garde pieces with abstract hand drawn illustrations with black panels of fur. The collection offered many interesting and intriguing pieces as well as accessories to along with them. Her SS17 did not move away from that sense of whimsy. It has cartoon like patterns on normal clothes. Many of the pieces and pieces of accessories were full blown avant-garde and that approach to design as a concept shined through. The shoes were decorated with illustrations resembling slippers with as were the bags and many beautifully embellished with fur. Her play with materials is intriguing, the use of almost childlike abstract illustrations along with fur is brilliant. Several of her individual pieces were pieces a fashionable woman would enjoy owning and wearing. Granted, much of her collections is so avant-garde it can be difficult to imagine wearable, but she shows immense creativity and innovation. The unfinished hems and rough edges might not be to everyone’s palette, but I find it very suitable. Looking at her SS16 collection, it is easy to see why Edda Gimnes has been dubbed “a designer to watch”.
Lotus Ladegaard is a fashion journalist and a Copenhagen native. She was a house model and a publicist before committing fully to fashion journalism.