A walk on the moon with Bruno Pieters

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Everybody gets excited about H&M’s spectacular collaborations with world-known designers like Versace or Lanvin. But you shouldn’t miss Bruno Pieters’ collection for another Swedish label: Weekday.

Bruno Pieters represents Antwerpian fashion with all its best characteristics: architectural, elaborate cuts, prudent forms and an emotional touch. The designer graduated in 1999 and has since then worked for such labels as Martin Margiela, Christian Lacroix and Hugo Boss. His own ready-to-wear and couture collections have brought him enthusiastic reactions from fashion gurus like Suzy Menkes and Karl Lagerfeld.

Pieter’s collection for Weekday—which is actually owned indirectly by H&M– combines extraterrestrial androgyny with a retro feeling. The clothing is both classy and extremely modern. Suited to a hectic urban life or a walk in a desolated moon landscape.
Text: Verónica Fraticelli
Photos from http://www.weekday.se

Cute cuff for your fetish party

Is it a bird, a shiny corset or an accessory for a men’s dress shirt? According to its manufacturer, the item pictured to the right is none of those things. It is instead a silver bracelet shaped like a shirt cuff designed for the “woman of today,” according the press release. The “Smithy Cuffs” collection comes from the distinuished House of Georg Jensen, founded in 1904 by Mr. Jensen of Denmark.
At first glance, I thought these cuffs with leather straps might be intended for androgynous lads, to be worn, possibly, as a complement to a black leather jacket or a starched white shirt. Or perhaps as a touch of bling for bunnies in the Playboy mansion?
Of course, the jewelry would certainly work for chic female Dandies.
But what would Georg say?

A fashion exhibit smelling of mothballs

The Hallwylska Museum in Stockholm tries to warm up this chilly autumn with a collection of woolen dresses and coats by Ebba von Eckermann. The exhibition entitled ¨ Woven Fashion Dreams- from Ripsa to New York” (Vävda modedrömmar- från Ripsa till New York) tells the story of a Swedish clothing company, which offered its classic outfits to the women in USA and Paris in the second half of last century.

Pushing my way through the tight lines of these ghosts of the past crowded in Hallwyska’s room, I couldn’t avoid one strong impression: this exhibition smells, metaphorically speaking, of mothballs.

It is a static exposition with a rather detached musical

Twisted visions of American Civil War

Uniforms worn by federal soldiers who took part in the blood-drenched American Civil War inspire the Fall/Winter “Uncle Sam” collection of Danish designer Asger Juel Larsen.

Asger’s childhood fascination with the 1860s gets twisted in a Gothic direction in this collection, which uses hard and soft fabrics, from cashmere and wool, to leather and tough Japanese denim. The boots were designed in collaboration with British rock n’ roll footwear brand Underground.

Asger, who graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2009, isn’t the only Danish designer giving a nod to the U.S. Civil War. As previously observed, Soulland’s designer Silas Adler also looks back to the 1860s in his A/W “Civilized” collection.
Photographer: Ellis Scott

Tight new styles from Cheap Monday

The Spring/Summer 2012 collection of Cheap Monday casts a glance back to an older generation with a Polaroid palette of bright orange, dark blue and mint. New for this season is a line of ‘Second Skin’ jeans that are tight – even tighter than last year.

Erik Möller of Cheap Monday gave us a tour of the showroom on the south side of Stockholm.

Video: David Bartal and Alexander Farnsworth

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

Bjørg jewelry in mutated shapes

Futuristic aesthetic: The Odyssey collection

If film director Tim Burton wanted to do a fresh remake of Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner, he would need to visit Oslo, Norway to find the perfect jewelry accessories. The Bjørg Odyssy 2012 Collection is brutal…in a good way.

Inspired by futurism and geometry, the collection uses natural materials like horsehair, opals and feathers, juxtaposed with iridescent colours, industrial structures and mutated shapes.

I got a first-hand glimpse of the collection yesterday when Scandinavian Press Room, a fashion PR bureau, held a press day at their office in the Östermalm district of Stockholm.
Company vice president Olof Erlandsson took me on a tour of the showroom. He was wearing a large, gold-plated bracelet from Bjørg which reminded me of a whale skeleton, and a finger ring with a pale, horsehair ridge. Photo: David B

Fio-Fio arrives on minimalist landscape

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Fio-Fio Design is the brainchild of Stockholm-based artist Veronica Alkmim Franca, who comes originally from Brazil. After research into the potential of Brazilian natural colored cotton and other materials, Veronica and other modern designers have developed an elegant line of handmade jewelry and accessories.

Swedish fashion addicts have for many years been averse to bright colors. But tourist travel to tropical destinations has created a taste among some Swedes for spicy flavors… and dramatic fashion brands like DeSigual, Save the Queen and Custo Barcelona.

I don’t think that Swedish women have lost their basic preference for clothing which is simple, functional and of high-quality, but the wearing of bright colors or decorative details no longer requires gigantic amounts of courage.

Fio-Fio will in the coming weeks make it its debut in Stockholm. We can expect to see more eye-opening, dramatic colors and designs defying the chilly grey of minimalism this winter.

Antidote to Moderna Museet needed

Claude Monet--Water Lilies, after 1916:© Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris / The Bridgeman Art Library

Last week I received an invitation to a preview of a new exhibit of the work of three artists: Turner, Monet and Twombly. This causes me to feel an itchy irritation, a kind of vague anxiety.

The unopened envelope containing the invitation rests downstairs on top of a bureau adjacent to my front door. And now I’ve received several e-mail reminders.

I love the work of Turner, can appreciate Monet and should probably give this less well-known Twomby a chance to reveal his brilliance. The problem is my chronic antipathy to the Moderna Museet. I’ve been disappointed too many times.

The Moderna Museet has for more years than I care to remember

Conceptual Ecology from Norway

Just a year after her graduation from Høyskolen in Oslo, Norwegian designer Lisbeth Løvbak Berg has launched her label L-L-B, staged a fashion show in London and established a base in Paris. This designer is all about “slow fashion,” with a focus on high-quality tailoring with an ecological message.

The “Decay in Beauty” collection combines old materials with new coloring techniques and modern forms. The project was inspired by an abandoned tree-house the designer discovered somewhere in the austere Norwegian landscape. She wanted to catch the spirit of the unspoken past still visible in the house. Using vintage materials, re-colored and stitched together from different pieces, she gave her garments a quality of new items with a history.

“I would like to bring back the value that clothes lost with the