Jeremy Scott scores strike for Adidas

Making the rounds of the fashion PR companies’ showrooms in Stockholm on Thursday, we couldn´t help noticing the red-white-and-blue boots by Jeremy Scott worn by a stylist named Jessica. A follow-up to the bowling shoes Scott previously did for Adidas, the boots with their modest wedge heels look super-comfy. Photo: Alexander Farnsworth

Stockholm Fashion Week, Wednesday

Veronica Fratrielli

We chatted with Veronica Fratrielli while waiting for the Carin Wester show to start on Wednesday evening, during the Stockholm Fashion Week. She was wearing a colorful coat by Desigual, a Spanish label, together with vintage shoes and jewellery.

Origninally from Poland but currently living in Oslo, Veronica (who has a cool blog!) at http://www.veronicafratielli.blgspot.com will soon be shifting to Sweden to study fashion at the University of Stockholm.
Photo: Sara B

Stockholm Fashion Week- Tuesday

IN VOGUE: Michelle da Silva

Stylist Michelle Da Silva was one of the most popular targets for photographers on the second day of Stockholm Fashion Week. I grabbed this shot of Michelle on an iPod outside of Berns, one of the fashion week’s main venues.

I’m shopping for a stylist to help with a an “underground” event I’m trying to organize this Fall.

Fashion calendar for Fall 2011

Old Customs Warehouse: New venue for Helsinki Design Week

Summer in Scandinavia is brief as a sneeze. Achoo! Before you have time to recover from your pollen allergy it is time to deport your flip-flops and swim suits to the bottom drawer in your closet. August means the start of another round of fashion weeks, fairs and festivals.

Danish collections will hit the runways in Copenhagen from August 3-7. As usual, there will be an infinite number of events at CPH Vision, Terminial 2, Gallery and the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair.
Sweden is next on the program, with the Stockholm Fashion Week, running from August 8-14 and its sister event Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Stockholm, Aug. 9-11.
Oslo Fashion Week takes place during the same time frame, from August 8-18.

Some Finnish styles will be showcased during Helsinki Design Week , September 9-18, followed by a separate shindig–Helsinki Fashion Week— which takes place two months later, from October 21-23.

Scandinavian fashion calendar Spring 2011

One of the Icelandic labels: Mundi Vondi

As soft snowflakes blanket much of Scandinavia, the idea of springtime seems like a pleasant fantasy. Nevertheless, stylists, designers and clothing firms are already busy finalizing collections for the next round of fashion weeks during late winter/early spring..
Leading the field will be the Merces-Benz Fashion Week in Stockholm. From January 31-February 3 brands like Ida Sjöstedt, Filippa K, Carin Wester, and Camilla Norrback will show their collections.
Copenhagen will host its massive fashion bash earlier than usual, from February 2-6. Before we have time to catch our breathe, the other Stockholm Fashion Week hosted by the Fashion Council will blast off from February 7-13.
Oslo has grandiose plans and isn’t content to hold a single fashion week. They have announced a “fashion month” during all of February. However, the Norwegian designer shows will take place February 15-18.
Iceland won’t be left out in the cold either. The Reykyavik Fashion Festival will take place from 31.March – 3.April 2011, at the Reykyavik Art Museum.
Finland seems to be slow off the mark; they still haven’t announced the official date of the Helsinki Fashion week. Might we suggest February 20 or thereabouts? That would suit me, in any event.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Shoe trends in water

We sat around a large swimming pool at a spa north of Stockholm on Friday and watched synchronized swimming, as performed by pretty young women who were members of the Neptun swimming club. At one point, a square skylight opened high in the ceiling and snowflakes drifted softly down into the pool. Its a tough life to be a fashion journalist.

“Trends in water” was the title of the ingenious show staged by the Swedish Shoe Council, and in one number, the swimmers actually wore plastic footwear from Björn Borg, Crocs and Vivo Barefoot.

Sara Winter of the Shoe Council delivered illuminating ideas about trends for the coming season. Some of the main trends, she said, are Safari, Sailor, Transparency, Oceans of Gold and Strong Colors.

Strong colors, by the way, doesn’t just apply to footwear for ladies.
“We are seeing a lot of colors for men as well, and not just the standard black, brown and dark blue,” she observed.
Photo: Alexander Farnsworth

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Vintage fashion fair starts September 25

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If an invisible magnet pulls you into every second-hand store you see, then you need to put a big red “X” on your calendar for the dates September 25-26. That is when the largest fair for vintage clothing in Sweden takes place at Strand, a bar, restaurant and concert venue located near the Hornstrull subway station in Stockholm.

Obviously, you need a pair of bright yellow platform shoes from the disco era, a hand-knitted scarf with a butterfly motif, a 1950’s dress with a Rockabilly flavor, or a cowboy shirt with pearl buttons. These are things one has to have. The entrance fee to Vintagemässan is 50 kronor.

Ville Kauhanen took the images above at Helsinki Vintage, a similar event which took place on September 19 at the Cable Factory. The next vintage extravaganza in Finland will take place on November 21 in Tampere.

Nordic brands blast off at NY Fashion Week

IVANA HELSINKI

ODD MOLLY

TIIA VANHATAPIO

ISLAET

ROYAL EXTREME

Odd Molly of Sweden and Finland’s IVANA Helsinki are staging runway shows this week at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Manhattan. This is the first time that fashion brands from Scandinavia have been on the official list, running head-to-head with names like Anna Sui, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger.

Three other Nordic labels–Tiia Vanhatapio, Royal Extreme and Islaet –will stage a group show tomorrow.

While Sweden’s Odd Molly has a broad appeal and a Californian soul which can make it attractive to mass-markets, Finland’s IVANA Helsinki has a moody appeal, and a Finno-Slavic look which sets it apart from everyone else.

Outlook positive from rainy Copenhagen

At times during last week’s fashion festival in Copenhagen, I wondered if I had taken a wrong turn and landed in a tropical rain forest. The 20, 619 people who visited Terminal-2 and CPH Vision were repeatedly drenched by torrential downpours that made a mockery of ordinary umbrellas.
Despite the extreme weather, the arrangers of the three-day fashion extravaganza in Copenhagen, the largest event of its kind in Northern Europe, say that the fair which ended on August 14 attracted heavy media coverage and that business is looking up.
“The atmosphere was busy and we noticed an increased demand, indicating an upswing in the market with a positive outlook and brighter figures,” the arrangers said in a press statement.

Good stuff happening in Gothenburg

A magical evening will take place in Gothenburg on August 10, with exciting fashion events to take place at Götaplatsen, the city’s main public square, as well as at Röhsska Museum, Sweden’s only design museum.
There will be a party behind the design museum featuring fashion, hip-hop dancers and live music. Some 20 models will be showing off the best fashion from Sweden’s West Coast,