Breathing

I just got back from a 5-day trans-provincial roadtrip to visit both sets of grandparents. We used to do this sort of trip regularly when my sister and I were younger and still living at home, but I can't even remember the last time the four of us went together. It was a pretty intense weekend and I'm planning on writing a post about it after I process a bit and scan some epic pictures of my one Opa when he was younger (and much more stylish) than me. But for now, I'm posting a short film Anna Österlund of Ravishing Mad did with her husband Truls Bråhammar and composer Mikael Karlsson. It's a bit disturbing, but it somehow reminds me of the first half of this weekend's trip, in more ways than one. For more info on the film, read Anna's blog on it. Among other things, Anna is such a fantastic writer. I could read her posts all day.

Ravishing Knees

So, as I previously mentioned, I barely bought anything in NY, besides many a bagel and a fabulous pair of Ravishing Mad jeans. I knew that the International Playground store would be a good stop anyway on my shopping day (yeah, I really only planned one), but the reason I wanted to go there was to find out if Anna was really right that her curved waistband jeans might be too tight for me. I mean, I had walked off a few pounds already by that point, so it couldn't hurt to try, right? Good thing Virginia pointed me towards some Ravishing Mad jeans meant for men. As far as I know, Anna hasn't tried marketing the smaller sizes of the Marv jeans (above left; please forgive the poor quality screen shot) towards women looking for a different high waisted skinny jean, but she should! As Virginia said, the tighter the better. I got a size 30 in these in a fantastic blue wash (4th one down in the colour pile, below right), and they're perfect. I would still like to get a pair of Anna's big pocket jeans (below left), which you may remember is what got me hooked on Ravishing Mad nearly a year ago, but I might also need a pair of the new S/S 11 inseam jeans (above right)...

Anyway, the point of this post, if you find it needs one, is that the Marv jeans have knee pleats (can you see them?). And though this isn't something I was looking for directly, especially as I've found in the past that knee pleats look ridiculous in pants and are only needed in work-/gardening-related clothing, my mind is now open to such stitch work (and my knees also appreciate the extra room). Therefore, since buying my first pair of Ravishing Mads, my eye has been zeroing in on knee details, and so these new A/W 10/11 'Jeanne d'Arc' pieces from Hungarian designer Dóra Mojzes have obviously got me going. 

I think they would look rather smashing on Queen Michelle, though I think it would be best to experience them in person, so I could stare at the knees as their wearer walks. I'd even be willing to wear them myself, though I'd have to walk with a friend just so I don't run into any light posts or the like whilst staring down. I'd also be more than willing to wear this cardigan, because it's, well, perfect. 

By the way, if you're wondering if you've heard Dóra's name before, perhaps her fantastic origami-inspired graduate collection rings a bell?

Sigh.

I'm so out of the loop...

There are so many new Etsy listings, blog posts, and fashion show photos that have come and gone that I wouldn't even know where to start to discover all the wonderful things I've missed reading and posting about. Not to mention the fashion show invites that I received for events happening after my plane had already landed back in Coldsville, Canada. Sigh. What I can tell you though is that Anna over at Ravishing Mad has been working hard, both creating and modeling a new collection. Here's a sneak peak at some of those new pieces that will be shown next month at Paris Fashion Week, as captured by Caleb Eike Smith. Aren't they/Isn't she lovely? By the way, Ravishing Mad jeans are the best jeans ever. Ever.

Let it disintegrate

In another life, I used to love drawing and art class. However, I feel like I'd have to quite thoroughly brush up on my sketching skills before I even thought of attempting to be a designer. I am very impressed by designers who can convey the feeling of a piece and a collection with a few strokes of a pen or brush, and these sketches from Anna Österlund do just that. As do these words from Anna on the next Ravishing Mad collection: 

This collection is all about going back to the core of my work, and become more true to myself. I used to do darker stuff before, but have recently felt that I lost parts of that, not listening enough to myself. It feels like a huge relief and like I can finally breathe again. My work now evolves around embracing the darkness that I have within and not putting on a happy face. I believe in letting those emotions out, even if some might be frightening, instead of suppressing them. I wrote on one of the sketches:

"I'll show you the darkness 

Don't crawl and hide in dreams

Edges soiled

Don't hide in dreams of flesh and blood

Let it disintegrate

Scratch it, burn it, lick it, need it" 

I want to take you to that secret place and show you how special it is. Those words that I wrote explains it so well and became almost like a manifesto. I've almost only been inspired by music and have been listening non stop to the Pornography album by The Cure, and Crime and Punishment by No Privacy. I know, Pornography has the reputation to being on of the most depressing album ever, but to me it's the quite opposite. I really want you to know that this is not about being depressed or sad, it's about embracing all feelings and thoughts and refuse to pretend. It's about living in true moods and seeing the strength in that.
...soon there will be a collection filled with this beautiful darkness. It's just reality.

1-2-3-4

1) Fog. I love the sound of fog. My 2 AM walk home last night/this morning was the closest I've come to hearing complete silence in the last 1+ year of constant ear ringing. And the sky looked like this shredded tee by Urban Revisions. Sigh. I could've walked home for hours.

2) Ravishing Mad. RM's Anna is a genius (and quite brave). Her newest project is called 'Paraphrase', which is a series of ten different Ravishing Mad interpretations of well-known photographs. Each of these photos are also accompanied by a new breed of fashion video, which follows the photo shoot and features some lovely Ravishing Mad designs, even if worn ever so briefly. The first one is a paraphrase of Annie Leibovitz' photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono that was on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1980, starring Anna and her husband, Truls Bråhammar. It's a bit nekkid for my blog to post in its entirety, but do go see both the full poster and the video here.

3) Limi Feu. She just showed her A/W 10/11 collection in Paris today. I'm not nearly as keen on it as I was her previous collection, but I'm just happy she's still around.

4) Damir Doma. Today was his greatly anticipated A/W 10/11 WMNS Show. I'm incredibly excited, as you know I'd gladly wear much of Damir's menswear. Google has provided me with these brief glimpses, via Twitpic. Enjoy.

Links à la Mode: The Anti-Fashion Week

Already tired of NYFW? Okay, so it only starts today. But here's some great non-fashion week related posts from my fellow IFB members, including my interview with Anna Österlund of Ravishing Mad. Click on!

The Anti-Fashion Week

Edited by Dramatis Personae

That isn’t to say that I’m against Fashion Week… but more that this week’s Links á la Mode just really isn’t focused on it. With amazing interviews from kaKofonies Of si(gh)lens, Fashion in My Eyes, and Eternal Masquerade to great features on vintage clothing from Retro Chick and Unfunded, there’s as much fabulousness on off the catwalk as on.

Maybe it’s bitterness that I’ll be missing out on NYFW for the 3rd season in a row or maybe it’s my gentle heart preventing you all from Fashion Week burnout too soon…which it is, I’ll never tell.

Note from Editor : Please be sure to check out the IFB Conference at NYFW : Evolving Influence

Links à la Mode: February 11th

• 39thandbroadway.com: – How Designers Really View Their Customers
• A Typical Atypical: – I chat about how hard it must be to love fashion and be blind, and I question whether there ought to be a charity dedicated to helping people feel good about how they look even if they can’t see it in the mirror.
• Cafe Fashionista: – Style Secrets: Symbol of Style. A how-to on creating your very own trademark/signature look.
• dramatis personae – How to Pack for Mardi Gras!
• Eternal Masquerade: – Interview with young designer, and Teen Vogue/CFDA/Target scholarship winner, Jennifer Huang.
• Fab Blab: – Even after all these years, we continue to differentiate between dark and fair. How does this affect the fashion industry adversely?
• Fashion Cents: – Seven Style Basics that EVERYONE should know! Make sure you are not committing these style “sins.”
• fashion in my eyes: – Fashion is supposed to be fun! Interview with designer Arina Varga.
• Haute World: – A Mad Tea Party? An exclusive look at how 9 luxury designers interpret Alice in Wonderland for French department store Printemps.
• Instant Vintage: – Blood, Sweat & T-Shirts: Learning the true cost of that cheap and chic outfit you just scored.
• kaKofonie Of si(gh)lenS: – Interview with Anna Österlund of Ravishing Mad
• Model Max: – Are ‘respectable’ fashion writers insecure with ‘upstart amateur’ fashion bloggers?
• Oranges and Apples: – Is fashion oppressive or fun? Some belated thoughts on Tanya Gold hating fashion.
• Rags to Reverie: – Vivienne Westwood showed that fashion forwardness could be inspired by the past.
• Retro Chick: – Top tips to on the spot dating of Vintage Clothes
• THE COVETED: – Devil’s Advocate : blogging and corporate seeding
• The Fashion Planner: – DIY: How to Make Naughty Granny Panties for Valentine’s Day!
• the musings of ondo lady: – Back in 2006 Slave to Fashion, a three part documentary was aired on Channel 4 which took a really good look at the fashion industry.
• The Recessionista: – an hour ago Rebecca Taylor & Milly: Fashion Week Inspiration
• Unfunded: – Photos and thoughts from the Vintage Fashion Expo in Santa Monica, CA.

Interview with Anna Österlund of Ravishing Mad

As you know, I've been on and off the hunt for the perfect pair of jeans, as the selection available to me has been quite disappointing. And so, I instantly fell in love with the high waisted draped pocket pair by Swedish label Ravishing Mad. After perusing the RM website, I became quite intrigued with the designer behind the label, Anna Österlund. Anna's vision behind the label is to empower both men and women to have individual style, to escape reality, and to be free to dream - all the things which I personally look for in my own wardrobe. Ravishing Mad has slowly been taking the fashion world by storm, as it's now carried in shops both in Europe and the US. So I feel quite honoured that Anna took a few minutes to answer my questions. And, I must admit, the result is quite a good read. 

***

What is the very first piece you remember designing?

I was sewing clothes for my doll together with my grandma a lot when I was about 7 years old. I also remember a horrible long sand coloured linen dress that I made when I was about 13 or so, and I sent it to a design competition run by the fashion designer Gunilla Pontén. I wasn’t even placed, so I guess she didn’t like it either!

Do you wear your own designs?

Yes, all the time, they fit so well...!

What is your most treasured piece of clothing?

It must be my satin leopard bomber jacket that I bought a couple of years ago. I have worn it almost every day since: in the summer it’s perfect over a tank top, and in the winter I use it as lining in my leather jacket.

How did the Ravishing Mad label come about?

That was actually also the name of my graduation collection at the Swedish School of Textiles in 2006. I used to design female, elegant collections when I first started out and one day I was just fed up with it and with myself. I decided to not try to be so perfect and please everyone else anymore. So for my graduation collection I only allowed myself to buy cheap fabric and do ugly experiments. I went to IKEA to buy their cheapest black fabric and I used glue as starch in some garments and I just loved this new way of working. Ravishing Mad was an allusion of the new concept of my new way of working. It referred to the expression raving mad and to the contrasts I love: being outrageous and yet stunning, clean but not strict, dirty and oh so powerful.

As the founder and designer of Ravishing Mad, what exactly do you do?

I own the label together with my husband and he helps me out a lot. We always discuss the look and concept of the collections and he has written some of the texts that describes my work, but otherwise I do everything myself. I design everything from the collections to the hang tags, neck labels, washing advice labels and catalogs. I make the order instructions to the factories and sew the sales samples and sometimes part of the production, and I also travel a lot to visit factories, fabric suppliers and so on. The collections are still kept pretty small since I do it all myself, but I like being in control...! However, I do look forward to the day I can employ an assistant so I can concentrate more on the creative process instead of all the paper work.

You know that I love your high waisted jeans, and it seems that many other people do as well. Are you surprised at the response to this piece? Do you think they'll be around in your future collections for a while, or will they disappear when the high-waisted trend dies down a bit?

The first season I showed my label, in the beginning of 2008, lots of labels made high waisted jeans with extremely wide legs. A major fashion magazine came up to me at the showroom and asked me surprised: “Are you still making skinny jeans, why?” There are so many fast trends that come and go and that particular trend of wide jeans lasted for a year or so and suddenly boot cut re-entered the fashion scene instead. I don’t mind those trends at all, but I don’t follow them either. I follow my instinct. I just like skinny jeans and high waists even though some may say it’s out from time to time. That first season I also made those big pocket jeans that you like so much, but there weren’t any shops that wanted them. I wasn’t sure if they looked good or if they were just weird, but I decided to give them one more chance. When I started to show at international fashion weeks, I brought them back into the collection, and people loved them! That just thrills me and it’s so inspirational. I assure you that I won’t cut the high-waisted styles unless I simply don’t like them anymore!!!

Who do you have in mind when you design RM pieces?

My husband once said: “If you are going to be different, be so different that it matters!”. The feeling of independence and individuality is what I want people to feel when they wear Ravishing Mad. I want them to match and mismatch my clothes as a part of their own style, rather than wearing RM as a label. I don’t have a special person in mind and not even the gender. Many styles in the collections can be worn unisex and I leave it up to you to decide what you’d like to wear. I have received e-mails from lots of different customers that say I have inspired them to be more daring or more confident in looking apart from the mainstream. Quiet little mice that suddenly start to scream at the top of their lungs are constantly on my mind.

Your collections are produced in very small quantities. Do you think you'll continue this way even when the label gains more international attention?

I do know that I’d like to get a salary every month, hehe! I need to increase the production a bit at least, because I can’t always reach the minimums from my suppliers and in those cases I have to sew some things myself. It would be so good to just leave the production to the factories so I can concentrate on the creative process and develop a more experimental line too. I keep all of my production within the EU in order to be able to visit the producers and to keep the high quality. That is much more important to me than a big and cheap production elsewhere.

What are your main sources of inspiration for your work, life, etc.?

Stereotype characters in stories that I find in music, films and literature inspire me a lot. I make up little stories in my head when I’m sketching and I collect characters all the time that I later visualize in the garments. The Struggling Musician, for example (pictured to the left), was a very dejected man who played at clubs in the film Downtown 81. He rarely received the attention he so longed for. He always showed up early at the night clubs so that no one would see that he carried all of his instruments himself. I made him a long brown/grey cardigan with sagging pockets and a sad silhouette in one collection.

Does being from Sweden affect your style/inspirations at all?

My style is not always recognized as Swedish. Black, grey and depressed has been the ruling style within Swedish labels for a while now, and I do think my design is a bit of a reaction to that.

Do you listen to music while you work, and what are your favorites?

I can’t work without music! Right now I listen a lot to The XX, Muse, The Cure, Cold War Kids, Marilyn Manson, The Dead Weather, and The Kills.

What's a typical outfit for you while out running errands, grabbing a coffee, etc.?

I wear my low Getta Grip steel toe shoes to almost anything, anytime. I love the funny clumsy silhouette I get when I wear them to the High Rise skinny jeans. With that I often wear a black leather jacket and off course the satin leopard jacket underneath. I love ties and bow ties and I always look for them in second hand shops, so it’s not unusual that I wear that with some kind of a collar shirt. My heart shaped sunglasses are always with me and some funny earrings like a plastic cherry on a branch or a star or so.

If you weren't a designer, what do you see yourself doing for a career?

I studied political science and sociology for a couple or years, but I can’t see myself in any kind of job connected to that. I’d probably lose it working in an office. Maybe photographer would suit me, or psychologist. I think a lot....But I believe that if I weren't a designer, I'd have most fun at work if I got to organize some kind of events. I love to fix stuff!

And finally, what is your favorite piece from the S/S 10 collection?

It has to be the Big Pocket Villain (pictured above to the right), the black riding style pants with big draped pockets in the front.



***

Make sure you stop by Ravishing Mad tomorrow (Monday) to witness the unveiling of the new online shop! Perhaps the best news to rival that fact that you can get your own pair of RM high waisted jeans is the fact that Anna is offering international shipping for free! Oh, and visit Anna's blog for some fun updates too. 


Edit (late Sunday night): The Ravishing Mad webshop is now open and has not only some fantastic pieces, but some extremely reasonable prices. It would be a crime to not pick something up for yourself...

Carrots are good for you

And speaking of Finnish clothing (although I'm certain this is of the highest quality), I'm rather excited that some of Maria Matintytär Maattola's work will be available online very very soon, including those wondrous 'carrot' pants of Jaana's (similar brown ones pictured above). While I'm waiting though, I'll be oogling these gorgeous high-waisted, drapey pocket, carrot-ish plaid pants and jeans by Swedish Anna Österlund's Ravishing Mad label. I'm pretty sure these are the most perfect jeans ever, as they combine the curved waistband of my dream pair of Diesel jeans, the skinny legs of my Buffalo jeans, the drapey pockets of Georgy Baratashvili's pants, and Maria's carrot-shaped pocket pants. I'd buy those jeans in a second if they were available, and perhaps in a different wash. I wouldn't be tucking my shirt into the jeans though - my high-waisted pants are for coverage and comfort, not...high-waistedness.

P.S. Check out more of Ravishing Mad here.