Bloomingdales next for Lotta Djossou

Lotta Djossou jewelry, based in Paris and the small town of Höör in southern Sweden, has grown explosively around the world since it got started in Japan in the mid-1990s. Bloomingdales, the legendary American department store chain, will soon be carrying the jewelry.

“Anthropologie is also interested,” Lotta explained on Thursday when our paths crossed in Stockholm.

I first discovered Lotta Djossou’s handmade jewelry a few months ago, when I visited her flagship store in Malmö, in the company of a Washington Post colleague named Anthony. The store has a gothic ambience, a kind of magical Harry Potter-ish feeling which suits the intricate silver and bronze bracelets, rings and necklaces. Some of the pieces have the form of bats, owls and insects like dragonflies and beetles.
Photos: Alexander Farnsworth

Camilla recaptures traditional femininity

Most fashion designers who launch an independent label have to struggle to get name recognition. That is not the case with Camilla Thulin, one of Sweden’s best-known designers and style gurus.

I had an opporutninty to chat one-on-one with Camilla on Thursday when she presented her new dress collection, which has a romantic, almost Mediterranean feeling.

Gesturing towards the frilly, short dresses lining the walls of the Mildh Press showroom created by other designers, Camilla explained that people should dress in a manner appropriate to their age: “I don’t want to look like a small child.” She observes that popular labels like Odd Molly seem to target only very young women. The sleeves on several of the dresses in Ms. Thulin’s Spring and Summmer collections extend beyond the elbow, a feature which appeals to mature women.

“This is a new project I started just six months ago,” she explained.

The colorful long frocks by Camilla are intended to be flattering for any female between the ages of 20 and 85. Britney Spears or Lady Gaga will have to look elsewhere for their flashy party princess dresses. Ms. Thulin’s role model, she says, is instead Sophia Loren.

The author of two books on style, Camilla regularly pops up on television commenting on the gowns worn at a Royal wedding or Nobel Prize banquets. Last year, in 2010, she created costumes for four plays performed at Dramaten, the Royal Dramatic Theatre. She also designed sensuous lingerie for many years, and is the person responsible for the outfits worn by the avant-garde pop group Army of Lovers.
Camilla is clear about what she hopes to achieve in her latest endeavor: “My ambition is to recapture traditional femininity.” Photo: Alexander Farnsworth

Nordiska museum gets nearly naked

At a beach in Sweden, 1910

Stockholm’s Nordiska Museum, located on the island of Djurgården, continues to stage thoughtful exhibits about the history of fashion. The museum is currently spotlighting 300 years of fashion, and recently staged an interesting exhibit about the Dandy phenomenom.

Starting on January 25, Nordiska will get even closer to the skin with a small exhibit about men’s bathing suits and swimwear. A press release announcing the exhibit explains that the first swimming school in an academic setting was established at Uppsala University in 1776. The male students (no girls allowed) practiced swimming naked, but had to put on shorts for their final exams.

A book on the subject authored by Marianne Larsson about men’s bathing suits will be released in conjunction with the exhibit.

Note: In the photo above several men wear white caps with short, dark brims. One century later, Swedish students wear exactly the same style of caps (studentmössor) when they graduate from high school.

Nygårdsanna in the heart of Sweden

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The designer behind the Nygårdsanna label found inspiration for her latest collection at a 19th century residence called Stora Hyttnäs located in Dalarna. The property is just across the river from the historical home of artist and illustrator Carl Larsson, who together with his wife Karin created the light, functional style which even a hundred years later is an important part of the classical Swedish aesthetic.

Nygårds Anna Bengtsson designs clothing in natural materials which reflects Scandinavia’s culture and traditions. She was able to closely explore a clothing closet at Hyttnäs which had been nearly untouched by time. The garment which she found especially inspiring could have been worn by both men and women. The contrast between the feminine and masculine is always an ingredient in this designer’s collections.

In its new incarnation the garment functions as a reversible top: ”I think this top epitomizes the feeling of the entire Spring/Summer collection: white, feminine, delicate, detailed, wrinkled, and with some unmatched buttons,” the designer explains.

Feminine styles for men gain ground

Gender bender: Issue No. 2 of Industrie Magazine

THE RISE OF THE MERRY MAN
A new sort of cosmopolitan pioneer has emerged in the 21st Century. He is prepared to go beyond traditional male preening and flirt openly with feminine styles and fashions. Good-bye, Metrosexuals. Hello, Merry Men.

The most daring young Dandys of our day wear platform shoes or high-heeled boots when they visit art galleries openings or sit in the front rows at fashion shows. They favour all kinds of perfumes and aren’t afraid to try any kind of cosmetics; they find Oscar Wilde inspiring, wear coats cut in womanly shapes and decorative necklaces. They laugh with good humour at anyone who is shocked, provoked or dismayed by their womanly attire. They want to provoke.

This new breed of Merry Men isn’t afraid to be mistaken for Gay. They delight in decorative styles and vamp-like fashions. The gender-bending Dandys of today hunt in vintage stores for a coat with a fluffy fur collar that might have been worn by their own grandmother. These boys borrow their girlfriend’s eyeliner (or purchase their own) to make themselves look mysterious and dangerous. These gents demand to be noticed. The cover photo of the latest edition of fashion culture magazine Industrie, for example, shows a gentleman in a long, feminine grey coat and rakish hat. Obesrve the dark eye make-up. Ironically, images of women wearing little or no clothing have become ordinary, almost mundane in the fashion world. But a bearded gent with wavy black hair showing a little leg on a magazine cover makes us look not once, but twice.

First Lady of Fashion: Mari Kiviniemi

Prime Minister of Finland Mari Kiviniemi

Finland’s attractive new Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi could potentially serve as a fashion icon, showcasing the best of Finnish fashion design. That is what first lady Jackie Kennedy did for the USA in the 1960s, when she became a symbol of sophisticated style from America.

The personal style of another Finnish politician, President Tarja Halonen, has previously gotten a good deal of attention, as is often the case with female leaders. For her large purses, Mrs. Halonen has also been compared by some local wits to Moomin Mamma, the mother of the main character in a popular series of children’s books from Finland.
That is not precisely the kind of fashion ambassador needed by Finland. We need a fresh start.

Perhaps our new prime minister, Mari Kiviniemi, can fill this role.
Mari Kiviniemi got off to a shaky start when she was spotted wearing a hot pink jacket shortly after coming into office in the summer of 2010.

Over a glass of wine, a pair of stylists observed that Mrs. Kiviniemi, 42, may now be going too far in the opposite direction, favoring the business suit and corporate style. “It makes her look too old.”

But the consensus is that the prime minister has been able to pull off some lovely ensembles. “I really think that she has an eye for colors and how to mix them together. I like the simplicity and clean silhouettes of her clothes,” says stylist Niko Luostarinen.
On the other hand, Niko isn’t certain that the clothes the prime minister really needs exist in Finland. “We need more high-end labels.”

The Gap signs Swedish Indiepop band

The Gap, one of the world’s largest clothing retailers with over 3,000 stores, has signed a two year contract with You say France and I Whistle, a Swedish indie band you probably never heard about. The contract gives The Gap exclusive rights to use the group’s tune “Cats” in its marketing, daily Dagens Industri reports.

Stockholm-based You Say France, comprised of Patrik, Clas, Ida, Petter, and Christian, has been playing since 2007 according to its Facebook page, and they love “colorful teddybears and other soft toys, and bubbles, and dancing, and speed baking.”
Having your song picked up and used for advertising can open doors for a band. In the past, Swedish singer/songwriter Jose Gonzalez did a tune for Sony, and The Hives sold a song to Nike.

Sneak preview of Ivana Helsinki 2012

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These moody images of Ivana Helsinki’s Velvet Lake collection for Fall/Winter 2012 which popped up in my inbox this morning give a sense of what the weather is like right now in Scandinavia. The photo series was taken by Mikko Ryhänen, with styling by the designer, Paola Ivana Suhonen. The models are Sirkku and Leila from Paparazzi Models Helsinki.

Hair and make up (love those eyes!) is by Marjo-Riitta Härkönen.
If you happen to be in vicinity of New York City on February 17, by the way, you might have a chance to see a catwalk show of the new collection. The Finnish brand is for the second time on the list of the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in NY.

Converse + Marimekko = True Love

Converse with Marimekko print

The Converse sneaker I wore when I skateboarded on the sidewalks of Los Angeles as a kid came in two models: low-tops or high-tops. The February 2011 version of the Converse shoe for women will come in three distinctive patterns created by Marimekko, the Finnish textile and clothing company founded in 1951.

Julian Assange as style icon

Christmas gift idea from Esquire webpage

The style blog of American mens’ magazine Esquire has come with an unusual gift idea for Christmas shopping: the puffy sort of jacket favored by Wikileaks head-honcho Julian Assange, currently on bail from a London jail on charges of sexual crimes allegedly committed in Sweden.