New Arrivals - Starring Finnish Fashion
(Press release 12.6.2007)
Fashion – forever attracting with novelties. Fashion follows the pulse of the times and its changes reflect changes in society. Fashion designers need not only a sense of form and material but also the ability to anticipate things to come. New Arrivals, Design Forum Finland’s summer exhibition, presents the young designers and visionaries of Finnish fashion along with main developments in this field. The exhibition tells what is today’s luxury design or street fashion. How does creative design differ from luxury design? What is essential in Finnish fashion – uniqueness, boldness, originality or something completely different?
New Arrivals addresses the nature and ideology of fashion, and gives voice to the designer. The designers tell of their own starting points and ways of working. What is their inspiration? What stories are to be found behind the designs? This exhibition gathers an important group of young Finnish fashion designers, most of whom work for the international market. They will display fresh aspects of their output. Participants include Aki Choklat, CTRL, Samu-Jussi Koski/Marimekko, IVANAhelsinki, LAITINEN, Daniel Palillo, Minna Parikka, Rinne Niinikoski, Hanna Sarén, Saint Vacant Footwear, Anssi Tuupainen/Turo Red Label, Tiia Vanhatapio and Jarno Viitala/Nanso.
“We were asked to curate an exhibition on Finnish fashion design. A complex task, how to approach it?. Fashion manufactures perpetual newness. But every new thing comes from somewhere, has a history, a context, an origin. We wanted to make an exhibition that reveals these sources, investigates the processes, introduces the people behind the designs, and lets the visitor finally interact with the products in the most natural and exciting way - with their wallets.
"In the following months, we met 15 designers, discussed their work, made them fill out questionnaires, interviewed them on video; visited their homes, factories, offices, shops and studios; emailed, faxed, phoneconferenced, fedexed and started to call them by their first names. We asked them to tell stories, to fill boxes with things from their world, to take us behind the scenes, further than glossy pages, photoshoots, runways, clothes racks, and to show something beyond spring-summer and autumn-winter.
"Welcome to New Arrivals exhibition, into this incredibly dynamic field where art, industry, craft and commerce overlap. Buy the catalogue, see the exhibition, visit the temporary boutique and walk out with a bagful of New Arrivals”, Tuomas Toivonen, exhibition architect.
NEW ARRIVALS NOW IN A NET EXHIBITION!
New Arrivals – Starring Finnish Fashion
15.6.–2.9.2007
Design Forum Finland
Erottajankatu 7, Helsinki
Mon. -Fri. 10–19, Sat. 10–18, Sun. 12–18.
More information:
Design Forum Finland
press inquiries Aila Kolehmainen, tel. +358 (0)9 6220 8121,
aila.kolehmainen@designforum.fi
exhibition info (also during summer) tel. +358 (0)9 6220 8132,
info@designforum.fi
