A Rave Review for Rave Review

by Lotus Ladegaard

Rave Review made its Copenhagen debut this cycle at the CPHFW. This relatively new brand was founded in 2017 by design duo Josephine Bergqvist and Livia Schück, who studied together and share a sense of fashion aesthetics that complement each other well. Their mission is to change the way we view fashion, raise awareness on consumption of fashion and the industry’s impact on the environment. 

Rave Review has taken inspiration from Scarlet O’Hara’s amazing curtain dresses and focuses on remaking of home textiles such as plaids, blankets, curtains, and other nontraditional materials into high-end fashion pieces. They source their materials from second-hand shops and markets as well as searching the internet for interesting textiles. In many ways it is the most authentic sort of upcycling.

Rave Review’s AW20 collection was editorial, exciting, fresh and offered bold colour- and print combinations which is rare in Scandi-fashion. The colour palette was busy and featured a variety of prints and many different tartans. 

The collection featured many showstoppers and standout looks such as the long dress with mixed prints in delicate blue and grey shades and busy brown floral prints. Another standout look was the crop top and slacks in mixed prints and tartan. 

More subtle pieces like the black long-sleeved sweater with yellow trimmings styled with a pair of trousers in mixed fabrics and a stringy bright coloured clutch also made quite the impact. 

The mixed tartan pieces were also crowd favourites and featured interesting details from streetwear such as the asymmetrical top in yellow and buff coloured tartans styled with a traditional Stewart and nontraditional tartan mix skirt with black trousers underneath. 

Rave Review is an exciting new fashion brand with values most can relate to. They offer a bright and different perspective to the very minimalistic Nordic fashion scene. Their AW20 collection is bound to excite fashion editors and fashionistas alike. To do something well and do it within the means of one’s aesthetics is admirable and fortunately for us, Rave Review’s admirable philosophy also leads to some fantastic fashion.  

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Too Cool for School with DSK

by Linda Bezos & Camilla Mikkelsen

The Design School Kolding's Graduate show is always a solid indicator of where fashion is moving in Scandinavia. This year was no different. Among the plethora of design school graduates, nine of the designers were picked to show their work. And none of them failed to deliver. 

The designer duo Marie Due and Karoline Heide designed a collection using the bricolage method, where you make use of available materials, combine it in new ways to create something new. Such innovation is usually what draw crowds in Scandi markets but the aesthetics of their work would draw crowds outside of it. They used secondhand materials and thereby extended the objects lifecycle by using them within a different context with a clear understanding of deconstructed aesthetics.

Alix Habran Jensen was inspired by forced marriages and the restrictions versus freedom on women's' bodies.  It stems from his experience talking to victims of forced marriage and his work provided glimpses of what a designers role is in a rapidly political environment...that is to provide solution not only to aesthetics but also to certain social dilemma. The beautiful drapes on the white set with the yellow jacket and the green dress provided a  fashionable and timely representation of where we are as a society. 

Oliver Oppermann was inspired by one of the biggest problems for Danish teenagers, loneliness, which is an important topic for people in all ages. Oliver Oppermann worked with three concepts, modern living, social media, and loneliness and incorporated those concepts into his work. 

Some of the designers also worked with the balance between gender and identity, like Sarah Sølver and Helene Stahl Holm.

Sarah Sølver's  gender fluid collection was inspired by old tennis wear and provided a glimpse into retrofitting our sense of aesthetics through the lens of gender neutrality. 

Helene Stahl Holm's  collection about the empowerment of women stood out among this year's participants. Her insight into the ever demanding work place expectation for women to dress in a specific way was truly refreshing. She incorporated the strength of the man-suit in her collection, so women would feel strong and feminine at the same time without being sexualized or deemed a distraction. All in all Helene's work had elements of both masculinity and femininity playing off each other. It also had the most promising commercial appeal which tends to get pushed in the back-burner for a lot of creatives but ultimately is a very important component in finding a foothold in a very competitive market. 

Sofie Bundgaard Holst worked with her own heritage to make slow aesthetic. She worked with the landscape of the danish island Mors, workwear details, controlled chaos by artist Eric Heide’s home, abstract sculptures, and the monochrome color palette to create workwear, casual wear and formal wear.

Michelle Brandstrup made a collection for the more reduced and flexible wardrobe. She also played with the boundaries between casual and formal wear.

Sofie Pazdecki wanted to explore the gender constructions and a more nuanced feminine aesthetic based on Sofie Coppola´s version of girly femininity in the movie ”The Virgin Suicides” from 1999. Her goal was to use the feminine aesthetic as a method to question and criticize the reaction from the outside world, objectification of women, and the stereotyped qualities associated with conventional feminine aesthetics.

In the end, the DSK show came across as a far more polished show than most other design school shows because the organizational skills and the aesthetic being presented complemented each other. It would not shock any of us , if one of these designers go out and change the way we view our everyday lives. 

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