Aalto is one of two brands that made this year’s shortlists for both the LVMH Prize and the ANDAM Award (Koché is the other), and a visit to the Marais showroom fell a few days after the first and 10 days before the latter. Like any good sport, Tuomas Merikoski took the LVMH loss in stride, noting the valuable upsides of meeting industry experts and gaining significant visibility. His latest collection, titled Uusi Fantasia (roughly, “New Fantasy”), validates the recognition. Like other emerging designers today, Merikoski is tapping into youth culture and gender fluidity, both rooted in grunge (for maximum authenticity, the male and female models were street-casted); his variety just so happens to be Finnish. How can one tell? Most obviously, the plump Moomin animated characters stationed on a T-shirt spliced with a draped dress, and hand-embroidered on the back of an oversize denim jacket. The designer likened the official collaboration to featuring the Scandinavian Mickey Mouse; nostalgic coup notwithstanding, it gave the collection a quirky spin.
Beyond that, the regional cues were nuanced, although cropped polos in two-tone velvet ringed with metal eyelets, raw edges on gauzy viscose knits, and an offbeat color scheme evoking a sunset in the countryside amounted to an alternative vibe without exaggeration. Merikoski described his brand as “a framework of extremes,” and it’s true that the leather biker jacket (extra-long in the back and vented with side zippers), and crisp light wool check suiting swung the pendulum toward urbane. But he also worked a polyester lining fabric into an attractive plissé, and developed a retail-friendly rain shell from 100 percent silk that can be folded into its own pouch. The trompe l’oeil check sweatshirts and straight-bias combo skirts further confirmed Aalto’s sweet spot between subculture fantasy and inclusive reality.
