This season, Totême’s Elin Kling and Karl Lindman had something more important to take care of than a fashion show: a new baby boy. They did produce a collection and showed it to Vogue Runway in their office, which, despite its set-back-from-the-street location, has become a sort of mecca for fans who take selfies nearby. Most young brands don’t inspire this kind of devotion, but there’s a real, clear sense of transference between Kling’s much-watched personal style and Totême, and the collections are largely built around what Kling herself is feeling and wants to wear. “I think it’s so important today to have a point of view,” said Lindman, “and for people to feel that they belong somewhere.”
Kling and Lindman speak of a “Totême world.” Like their carefully curated work space, it’s one that is clean lined and neutral toned, and pieces of it are available to acolytes at a sweet price point. An added benefit is that these are clothes that don’t really go out of style; the brand is built around the concept of a modern uniform. For Spring, Kling thought about how that concept could be extended to party dressing and came up with smocked raw silk frocks. She jokingly refered to the ivory one as a wedding dress. These were outliers in the sense that the core of the collection was tops and trousers, Kling’s go-tos, many featuring the twisted seam borrowed from the label’s best-selling jeans, which gives them both a distinct shape and ease. Adding “seasonal flavor” was a peasant-y off-the-shoulder dress and a print (a rare sighting here) that superimposed the brand logo on a pattern inspired by the rug designs of Märta Måås-Fjetterström, a Swedish textile artist active in the early-to-mid-20th century. It’s “Totême bohemian,” said Kling.
