There’s something inherently hopeful about a student fashion show—even when the mood is one of preparing for an apocalypse. Such was the case with the opening collections presented by the graduating class at Beckmans College of Design, shown at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm yesterday (which I accessed via video). Rita Roslin and Eli Solberg delivered a one-two punch with harnessed looks that had a militaristic feel. In a statement, Roslin, who described her pieces as “quite dark, yet romantic,” said she was presenting a “post-digital version of couture” that combined hand and machine, hardness and flou. She wasn’t alone in catching some air: wispy trains and trailing hems were a theme throughout the presentation.
Solberg’s collection, titled “Pedestrian,” was partly inspired by her city walks; but it was Robin Paulie Stenberg’s collection, which featured his brother’s graffiti (and some Comme des Garçons-esque silhouettes), that communicated some of the gritty vibrancy city streets can have. Here is a subculture that Stenberg grew up with, consciously subsumed into fashion. It worked best when he moved beyond print and translated the curves of the graffiti into the shape of silhouettes. Similarly, Jannica Hagfors wasn’t literal with her inspirations, though they were quite specific—woodlands and the culture of the Forest Finns, migrants who lived in the forests of Sweden and Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries, who used a slash-and-burn method to clear land for farming. Hagfors effectively spun her historical references out, creating nature-inspired prints and laser-cutting leathers to “replicate the texture of ashes.”
Technique is what struck me first about Robin Söderholm’s clothes—especially the one blue look with luscious rounds of pleats à la Zandra Rhodes—their gender play, second. Because of that it was interesting to read about one of the concepts Söderholm had been grappling with: are “the designs themselves gender-neutral, or is it the wearer who determines the feeling?” That’s one to ponder.
It’s always interesting to see the designer references that students incorporate into their work, consciously or not. It wasn’t a surprise to see the oversize fit favored at Balenciaga referenced indirectly; when faced with frightening events, it’s natural to want to appear big and brave. In the use of pelts and cording techniques, I saw an affinity with Josephus Thimister and Sophia Kokosalaki, whose work from the early 2000s the students likely wouldn’t know. What’s interesting about this is that it could mark a slight shift away from the nineties; the era in which fashion has been in a sort of nostalgic quarantine for a while now. Maybe it’s time to loosen the decade’s hold on the creative imagination. In any case, the Beckmans show was a reminder that despite the current turmoil, we must never lose sight of the future.
