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Per Götesson, Rave Review and Lazoschmidl: three emerging Swedish labels to keep an eye on
Young Swedish fashion has the wind in its sails, as shown by the latest Stockholm Fashion Week, which welcomed a number of original new designers. Three emerging labels stood out in particular: Per Götesson with its experimental menswear, Lazoschmidl for its delicate, sexy clothes, and Rave Review, which upcycles interior decoration fabrics. The latter is also currently showing in Paris, together with eight other emerging labels selected for the Swedish Fashion Now showroom, hosted by the Swedish Institute until October 2.
Womenswear label Rave Review was created a year ago by Josephine Bergqvist, 30, and Livia Schück, 27. After graduating in 2016 from the Beckmans College of Design, Bergqvist and Schück got off to a quick start.
“We began by observing that there was a gap in the market between high-end fashion and recycled apparel. Our idea is to produce fashionable items with a high level of quality, using second-hand clothes and fabrics exclusively. We started by utilising interior decoration fabrics, to see if we could do anything interesting with them,” the designers explained to FashionNetwork.com.
Lace doilies, curtain offcuts, throws and rugs: anything goes for the two designers, who love fabrics with a history, able to add a homely or nostalgic feel to the clothes they make. After presenting their debut collection in Paris last February, they showed for the first time in Stockholm at the end of August, supported by the Swedish Fashion Talents programme, and introducing a very summery collection mostly made out of terry cloth.
It featured short summer dresses with frayed hems, or hats and towel-dresses in colours which seemed to have been washed out by sunshine and sea water. Not to mention a superb bathrobe-trench coat! The wardrobe was completed by dresses made with a patchwork of printed fabrics, and items with a more structured build, like the trousers-and-top set in beige cotton with slits and maxi pockets.
Per Götesson, 32, is another graduate of the Beckmans College of Design, and is included in the Swedish Fashion Talents programme, as well as being supported by the British Fashion Council. He is actually based in London, after studying at the Royal College of Art, and in 2016 he launched his own label in the British capital, where he also shows.
Götesson’s fashion is bursting with new ideas, hovering between Scandi style and unbridled British creativity. He likes to invent new volumes, as in the denim jacket with hugely bloated sleeves, the draped top which leaves the back bare, or a pair of gigantic trousers and a gilet overflowing with pockets, plastered blister-like on the torso.
“Usually, flowing clothes are reserved for women. I’m trying to redefine the male silhouette through my couture streetwear. I like to look at people on the street and experiment. It all comes from my observations,” said Götesson, whose label is currently distributed by five multibrand retailers, among them Parisian concept store l’Eclaireur.
Lazoschmidl works instead on a completely different register, featuring a glamorous approach to menswear. The label was founded in 2014 by the Swedish-German designer duo of Josef Lazo and Andreas Schmidl. It is already quite successful, and is hugely popular on the New York club scene.
Its ethereal models, clad in lurex jumpsuits and uber-sexy shorts-and-knitted-top combos did not go unnoticed on the Stockholm catwalks. Lazoschmidl’s brightly coloured clothes are a must-see for their delicate blend of see-through and glittering effects that go beyond gender, with more than a touch of the subversive.
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