People were not supposed to sit at the Aalto show, but the whitewashed crates encircling the otherwise empty space proved to be too much temptation for attendees, who immediately filled them as if on autopilot. Not such a big deal, of course, but fascinating when brought into a larger context through the lens of Tuomas Merikoski’s reigning concept, which had to do with habits and behaviors and the human desire, above all else, to maintain some sort of basic homeostasis and sense of normalcy and routine. How does that work when everything you know has been taken away from you? It’s an especially interesting idea coming from the fashion industry, which has long proposed that what you own and how you display it is one of the best ways to define yourself. And that’s all without directly referencing the Syrian refugee crisis currently under way in the EU.
Merikoski, the Finnish designer behind Aalto and recently dubbed an LVMH Prize semifinalist, didn’t mention Syria backstage at his show, but he said with this latest collection he was thinking a lot about assimilation, tradition, and identity. He mentioned the Sami people, who are indigenous to the north of Finland, Sweden, and Norway, and from whom he got the dropped waists and voluminous belted coats and dresses that he showed in shades of mustard, royal blue, and bubblegum pink. He called it “Hellsinki,” in a play on that city’s name, which appeared in Vetements-reminiscent patches on the cuffs of jacket sleeves. The best in show included examples of the same silhouette: a cropped black-and-white knit worn over a tri-paneled knee-length black skirt, and the same in a menswear black-and-white check, the top here a shrunken bomber jacket. “It’s about the challenge of holding onto your values while adapting to urban life and creating another identity without losing the one you have,” Merikoski explained. This, by the way, is advice that his fellow LVMH Prize semifinalists would do well to heed, too.
