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FASHION

Snooty but stylish: Stockholm Fashion Week blasts off

Stockholm's fashion scene can be snobby, writes David Bartal, but Stockholm Fashion Week provides rich pickings for those who can get past the doormen.

Published: 29 January 2008 17:58 CET

The cultural elite of Sweden dressed in all shades of black is on the prowl, local paparazzi are hunting celebrities with provocative hairdos, and dedicated fashion-lovers lurch in hotel entrées drooling over “goody-bags” containing free cosmetics samples. In other words, Stockholm Fashion Weeks has blasted off with its usual mix of flamboyance, commerce and open-bar parties.

One of the most highly anticipated events took place Monday at Berns, as celebrated local designer Sandra Backlund, 32, showed her fall 2008 collection of sculptural knitwear to the moody tunes of New York singer and pianist Regina Specter. The Swedish designer’s earlier work — some of which was created from paper origami and human hair — has made a big splash in international glossies like Zoo, Vogue Italy, Paper Magazine, I-D and Surface.

Backlund, who personally knits and crochets all the garments herself, presented bulky tunics and dresses in muted autumn tones of burnt orange, dark earthy green and skin colors. One of Backlund’s newest radical visions resembles an exagerrated layered cake, another a braided medieval vest, while a third is a tunic graced with playful, twisted balls of yarn.

A striking brunette with a contagious laugh, Backlund has emerged as the darling of this country’s avant garde fashion scene. With her tall, slim build and long neck, Backlund could easily model her own creations. But this enthusiastic fan of experimental music of Icelandäs Bjork has zero interest in self-promotion, and shrugs off all perks of celebrity.

“I have never gone outside in any of my outfits. It would be too strange. It would be as if I were wearing myself,”she explains.

All Backlund’s work is intensely personal and introspective, and her latest somber collection is no exception: while still engaged in the early stages of the project, the designer was backing down a treacherous, tiny spiral staircase in her studio when she fell, bruising herself black-and-blue. At the same moment, while crawling on the floor, she got an emergency phone call from her Mum, saying that her very dear grandmother had just died. That’s why Backlund calls her Fall 08 collection “Last Breathe Bruises.”

Shortly before her latest solo catwalk show in Stockholm, Sandra returned from Italy which she participated in an international project in Florence sponsored by an Australian wool producer. She was personally selected to take part by Franca Sozzani, editor in chief of Italian Vogue. The other four exhibitors were picked by Karl Lagerfeld, Paul Smith, Donatatella Versace and Calvin Klein’s senior designer.

To suggest that Backlund is on a fast-track internationally would be a vast understatement. She is a brilliant star rapidly rising, and no one has any idea how far she will go.

Day One of the Stockholm Fashion Weeks also included runway shows of urban street wear by Acne; chic designs by always-reliable Filippa K; Carin Wester’s youthful frocks for both men and women, the sheer, otherworldly visions of Liselotte Westerlund as well as the sophisticated sensual styles of Karin Rodebjer, winner of the Golden Button Designer of the Year Award in 2005.

Getting an overall handle on the shape of the Stockholm Fashion Week isn’t easy, since it is actually a large number of separate events taking place in different venues, all competing for the attention of local and international buyers, media and an exclusive group of high-end consumers.

The main organizer of this bi-annual fling is the Swedish Fashion Council (Moderådet), which schedules designer shows, trade sites and showrooms all around the city. This group has recently been challenged by an upstart with a progressive profile called +46, which has assembled some 60 brands, including trendy names like Julian Red, Bea Szenfeld, Ulrika Sandström and Weekend.

Unlike the much larger fashion week in neighbouring Denmark—attracting tens of thousands of visitors – virtually all of the fashion events in the snobby Swedish capital are by invitation only. A few notable exceptions open to ordinary mortals are the Rookies show of young and upcoming designers, held February 1-2 at Hotell Scandic Anglais at Stureplan. Another option is an exhibit called “Crack the Fashion Nut” staged January 30 by the University of Art and Design, Konstfack, at its home-base at Telefonplan.

Hardcore fashionistas are willing to murder their mother-in-law for the top- ticket of the 2008 fashion season: The glittery Elle gala at the Grand Hotel (where else?). That is the place where the best-dressed-man and woman of the year, best designer of the year and similar luminaries will be duly anointed on Friday, and the glamour aristocrats of the city and their silvery minions will have a chance to strut their stuff in the spotlights.

FASHION

Paris exhibition celebrates 100 years of French Vogue

A new exhibition in Paris will tell the story of 100 years of French Vogue - from the post-war 'New Look' of Christian Dior through the sexual liberation of the 1960s to the dangling-cigarette waifs of the 2000s.

Published: 7 October 2021 08:21 CEST
French Vogue celebrates 100 years
French Vogue celebrates 100 years. Photo: Thomas Olva/AFP

But as well as celebrating the magazine’s storied history, the exhibit comes at a time of turbulence for the publication.

Just last month, it was confirmed that its editor of 10 years, Emmanuelle Alt, was out and wouldn’t be replaced.

She was not alone.

Looking to cut costs, owner Conde Nast International has axed editors across Europe over the past year, and put international Vogue editions under the direct control of global editorial director, Anna Wintour, in New York.

New York-based Anna Wintour now has overall control of French Vogue. Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Like much of the media industry, Vogue is struggling with tumbling sales and ad revenue in the digital era.

But the latest twist is also part of the endless push and pull between New York and Paris going back to its early days.

“The whole history of French Vogue is one of back-and-forth with Conde Nast in New York – growing more independent for a while, then being reined back in,” said Sylvie Lecallier, curator of the new exhibition, “Vogue Paris 1920-2020″, which opened this weekend after a year’s delay due to the pandemic.

The Paris edition was often the loftier, more bohemian sibling to its more hard-nosed New York version.

But it was also the hotbed in which much of 20th century style and womenhood came to be defined.

“Paris was the place to hunt out talent and content and bring it to New York,” said Lecallier.

The exhibition charts the evolution from art deco drawings of the 1920s through the erotic image-making of photographers like Helmut Newton in the 1960s and 1970s.

Its last peak was under editor Carine Roitfeld in the 2000s, who brought back a provocative Gallic identity by ridding the newsroom of foreign staff and becoming a fashion icon in her own right.

Her successor, Alt, was a quieter presence, though she still oversaw key moments including its first transgender cover star, Brazilian Valentina Sampaio, in 2017.

But internet culture has created “a perfect storm” for Vogue, says media expert Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis.

“The first 80 years of Vogue’s life, it had the market to itself, it was the bible for fashion,” McCabe told AFP.

“But online today, there are so many other ways to get your information. Influencers, Instagram, YouTube — everyone’s a threat.”

In a world where new fashion trends can blow up around the world in seconds, it has become much harder for a monthly magazine to set the pace.

“It’s not that they can’t survive for another 100 years — but they will be differently sized,” McCabe said.

Vogue has tried to branch out into different areas, including events.

“I used to work for a magazine, and today I work for a brand,” Alt said on the eve of French Vogue’s 1,000th issue in 2019.

But the big money was always in print, and Vogue Paris sales are dropping steadily from 98,345 in 2017 to 81,962 to 2020, according to data site ACPM.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the new top job in Paris, redefined as “head of editorial content”, went to Eugenie Trochu, who was key to building the magazine’s online presence.

She declared herself “thrilled to be part of Vogue’s international transformation”.

For the curator of the exhibition, it is ironic timing.

“We had no idea it would end like this when we started work on the exhibition,” said Lecallier.

“Who knows where it will go from here.”

The exhibition Vogue Paris 1920-2020 is at the Palais Galliera in Paris’ 16th arrondissement. The gallery is open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays. Tickets for the exhibition are €14 (€12 for concessions and under 18s go free) and must be reserved online in advance. 

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