DANISH FASHION / NOW - A REVIEW

-An exhibition, I was looking forward to see, just opened at BRANDTS yesterday. Sorry to say, it actually turned out to be quite disappointing. . .

First of all, my good friend, Tinah and I, was really surprised to see the big crowd - people you normally don´t see or notice, that was attending this opening. Where were they coming from ?

I guess it was partly because of the royal dresses and the celebrity-style that was on display. -And because an exhibition like that, doesn´t come to town often.

The Curators selection of celebrity- and royal dresses was very conventional though, as well as the way it was presented. Of course there were nice dresses, but no surprises and no real vision.

Especially the more commercial part of the display with contemporary retail-designers was hided/ covered up in different printed/transparent textile "walls"/compartments. Because the Curators chose to let one of the known fashion designers stage the display. And again -  poorly selection of clothes for the most part, but with a few exceptions.
Some of the Brands even had staff there to tell people that it was their latest collection and it was available in stores now.

Note! - we were surprised to see how disrespectful some people were touching all the clothes. But maybe they are not used to go on exhibitions. . .

What I missed also, was the lack of information: what was special about each brand and putting the clothes into a context of today.

For that I had to look into the exhibition catalouge, where I found one interesting feature from Maria Mackinney-Valentin. Obviously she knows what she is writing about - and is able to reflect and put fashion into context. She had some good points.

Another part of the exhibition displayed 10 different "fashion-personalities" and their relation to fashion - some of which were already shown in a tv-program with Chris Petersen, one of the Curators. A bit uninteresting, I have to admit.

The exposure of himself in the exhibition was also it bit overdone, for my taste.

All in all - We were not impressed and had to poor it all down with a drink afterwards.

But, go and see and judge for yourself.

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FROM FASHION & BACK TO COUTURE

In my eternal search and refinement of my real task - I decided to change the name of this blog to what I really like and love to do.

I realized that lately, when I wrote about fast fashion., that I am more into the opposite - "slow fashion", the Craftmanship, quality and style, that will last.

With the result that some of my regular readers lost the link to my blog. I´m sorry for that, but I didn't anticipate that would happen. . .

If you still want to follow my blog, you will have to link back again. Hope to see you all soon and welcome new readers at the same time. 

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A ROYAL FASHION PROMOTION

Photo: EPA

We were in Montreal at the same time as an official visit of the Danish Crownprince and princess, including a Danish fashion delegation were visiting Toronto and Ottawa the 17-19 of September. 

 The official purpose was to strenghten the relations between Denmark and Canada, as well as the partnership between companies. The focus was on health, food, architecture / construction and fashion / design. 

Photo: Martin Høien, Billed Bladet

But, as we were checking the Media during the week, we were surprised that we didn´t hear anything about it at all in Montreal. Afterwards, I only found something on a few blogs and Daily Mail online.

Maybe more important things were going on in Canada or the preparations were not in order. I don´t know. But at least I hope it payed off somehow.

ONLINE FASHION SHOPS

I’ve done some reflection about online stores, after my experiences with ETSY and Amino.

On Etsy, there are really big price differences on the products, depending on where in the world they are produced. There is no doubt, that it is difficult for us here in the West to compete with the price of goods produced in the East.

Of course the cost of living plays a role; they do not have the same hourly wage as we have here. 

Another competition parameter is of course the quality, which also depends on the hourly wage. For me to see, the quality is not same at all. But the price of their goods must of course fit into their home markets.

Obviously, of course, there is not much to loose us, if we buy goods from the East and it does not meet our  expectations. I would, however, hesitate to order a dress made in the East if you want to be sure of the quality and fit.

However, the signal value is not to be mistaken if they want customers from the West. They can also sell their items too cheap. Because in the west we expect the price to be related to the quality. Low prices we connect with poor quality. If you’re out to save money, that is of course to your advantage. 

Of course, that also applies the other way around. Our significantly higher prices may seem unattainable for the most part.

In some way you can be so and so international on the internet. But, when far from all places can trade together, due to the different economies, what is the point?

Since our products are more expensive, I think we have to compete on the quality of design, crafts, materials and service, not the least, if want to make an impression. 

 

Do you have any experiences, dealing with the above mentioned or similar places? Share your thoughts!

 Pictures from my Jubilee Exhibition 2010, Photos: Daniel Clément

A NEW SALON

Since I / we haven´t been lucky looking for a new workshop/showroom, I decided to rearrange my workshop and showroom and move it into our living room, to have it more presentable.

The Salon Collection is displayed here. I´m open for business and have some very good offers, if you or you and your friends would like to take a closer look and try some of the dresses. Just get in touch and make an appointment.

 Photos: John Frantsen

Read more about what I can offer in Services and take a look of some of the dresses in the Dress Gallery. I´m looking forward to see you.

LOCATION - STILL NOT FOUND !

PhotoArt by John Frantsen 2013

We were already excited about our newly found location, but things took another turn again. We changed our minds after we had read the Contract.

Even though the location was perfect - a nice sized shop with a workshop and a big window display, the conditions of the rent and terms, were not in our favor. 

So we decided to change our focus and will now concentrate on our production and build up a new blog with all that we have to offer. So stay tuned, if you are up for special offers in the future.

NEW BLOG LAYOUT

Photo credit: Karl Lagerfeld for Harper´s Bazaar 2011,

 reworked in Photoshop

I have changed my Blog layout - Let me know what you think.
Here on top, there is now a menu that describtions About me, what I can offer. . . like Customer service, Dress Archive, Consultations and classes etc.

In addition to that, I have decided to offer Personal Consultations, that suits you. If  you want discretion or you don´t have the possibility or time to pay me a visit, I can offer to pay you a home visit.

Orders are very welcome, but I can also offer you assistance in Pattern-making, Sewing Technics and fittings.

I wish you all a very nice weekend and hope you did like my new Lay-out and can only encourage you to explore all the new features.

Update! - the Lay-out has changed a few times since this post.

THE "GIVE AWAY" WINNER

As announced last week, the thrilling moment has finally come to reveal the winner of my Easter Give Away.
The Winner of the Corset is Frk. Svelmøe. Dear Frk. Svelmøe, please mail me your address and I will post  it as fast as I can. 

Thank you all for your patience ! New Give Aways will appear in time, so stay tuned. Coming Up: Fashion News and Inspirations from a Master.

COUTURE SALE!

Some time ago I went through the racks of dresses that have been there for a while. 

 

Since I have closed my profiles on Facebook and I need more room for new dresses, I´m going to show the first 4 "One-of-a-kind" dresses I have on offer here on my blog.

 
All dresses are quite classic in bright colors and special fabrics. But since I want to have more cohesiveness in the collection selection - they are too different.

They can be yours for half the price, if you are the right size.

Silk Brocade corset and silk organdy skirt. Size 40. Before 3000,- Now 1500,-

Dupiony silk underlined with silk organdy. A tall Size 40. Before 4800,- Now 2400,-

Red velvet evening dress. Size 38. Before 4000,- Now 2000,-

Silk Brocade cocktail dress. Size 42. Before 2000,- Now 1000,-

Notice! -This is just a part of the selection. The sizes are European and the prices are in Danish currency.

If you or somebody you know are interested, don´t hesitate to make an appointment to take a look and try them on.

DANISH AWARD DRESSES

Danish Fashion Award, the Fashion Event of the year here in Denmark, took place a few weeks ago at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen.

Danish Fashion Award was founded 5 years ago by Uffe Buchard and Kim Grenaa, to celebrate and promote Danish fashion industry, since it is the 4. biggest industry in Denmark.

They are also the founders of the fashion magazine DANSK, that just celebrated it´s 10th Anniversary with an Exhibition at Danish Design Centre.

This year they finally succeeded in making Aqua-singer, Lene Nystrøm a Co-Hostess.

Ten designers/brands were appointed to dress her up for the Event. Among them, three stod out in my opinion.
Unfortunately I only found this photo of  the very nice dress from Designers Remix, that looked contemporary.

But a black and white dress by the very talented Ann Sofie Madsen and a futuristic fairytale-dress from Trash Couture by Ann Wiberg looked stunning too.

The rest of her dresses were a little bit out of touch: some quite ordinary and not very well fitted, as was some of the attending guests. 

-An Exception was the TV-host, Signe Lindquist, who looked quite stylish and radiant in a vintage-dress from F92.

Photos: ScanPix

INFLUENCES – FASHION, TEATER & MUSIC SHOWS

By Malene Redder Ruby from RedderRuby Costume Design 

 

I have always been attracted to the spectacular and dramatic ways of costuming. Whatever performance you are making, you better make sure that you will be remembered or else, do not make the show. There are plenty of ways to be remembered.  

As a Costume designer I have always, ever since I was a little girl, been noticing the dresses and the costumes of the musicians, the actors and the models at the runways. Especially the ones that were spectacular!
I love to look at fashion shows, I adore going to the cinema looking at history or adventure movies. I am a “theaterholic”  for attending cabarets and musicals, and like many others, I just love watching great award shows and the red carpet events!

In February 2010 I watched the Danish song contest “Melody Grand Prix”. Two years later, I only remember one of the competitors Kaya Brüel, and she didn’t even win! However, she wore the most spectacular dress, probably ever worn in that Danish song contest.
The dress was made of 92 metres fabric, thousands of Swarovski stones, and during the song she was lifted up 3 metres from the ground, so her dress suddenly became one big installation at the stage. The dress was designed by Grith Rahbek and she was inspired by the great Christian Dior in making this dress. 

I do not know if Grith Rahbek was inspired by exactly this dress from Christian Dior’s New Look Collection from 1947, but she might have been.

Kaya Brüel, Melodi Grand Prix 2010. Photos: Wouter van Vliet/EBU

In March 2011 I went to the Copenhagen Puppet Festival and saw many different puppet shows, which was a great experience for me, and an eye-opening introduction to a new world of theater.
I mainly remember one of the plays. We were all waiting outside freezing in a dark backyard in Copenhagen. When the doors were opened, we went inside to the sight of a very tall and sad white bride, who was playing the ukulele.

We had to descend some stairs before we could be seated in the dark rough cellar. I guess the bride was about 4 meters tall and she was very beautiful. When we were all seated, some of the skirt was folded to the side as a theater curtain, and the play of evolution and love took place inside of her dress between her legs. It was a fabulous play and the puppeteer is extremely talented.

The puppeteer has afterwards told me that she was inspired by the stilt walking buskers from the big cities.

Photos from www.stilt-walkers.co.za and Flemming Mieritz at www.phosee.dk

“Lilith” by Astrid Kjær Jensen. Photos by Thomas Puschmann, 2011.

The 1^st of October 2011 the Dutch designer-duo Viktor & Rolf launched their summer 2012 collection, by making the models enter the catwalk through the 4-5 meter tall tulle skirt of the two performing French singers The Brigittes. Viktor & Rolf love making dramatic and spectacular runway shows, and you expect to get entertained when you see their shows.

I think this tall gown installation was a beautiful way to surprise the audience and to make sure that all the busy runway editors would remember this show. I would have loved to see the show live!

I don’t know what inspired Viktor & Rolf to make their tall entrance gown, but the picture below might have inspired them.

Models on Stilts Present "High Fashion" on the Famous "Jungfernstieg" Boulevard in Hamburg, Germany, from www.allposters.dk

Photos from www.glamourmagazine.co.uk and www.shoewawa.com 

Was Astrid Kjær also inspired by the dress of Kaya Brüel when she developed her play “Lilith”? Was Viktor & Rolf inspired by Astrid Kjær when they designed the catwalk entrance for their prêt-à-porter show SS 2012? They might have been, I don’t think so, but I do not know it!

We are all influenced by the contemporary trends and sometimes two designers come up with almost identical ideas at exactly the same time without knowing each other. All people have a certain amount of needs and a certain kind of needs, therefore many get the same ideas. But the way of bringing the idea to life can be very various.
I am sure that Kaya Brüel, Astrid Kjær and Viktor & Rolf all had different thoughts and visions for making these tall gowns. The look of the dresses is also very different though they resemble a lot. I adored all of the three gowns because they are spectacular, dramatic and taking the way of stage dressing to another level! Thanks to all of you!

 

 

“Lilith” by Astrid Kjær Jensen. Photo by Thomas Puschmann, 2011.

The Dress of Kaya Brüel, 2010.

 

Victor & Rolf entering the Runway show SS-2012

THE WINTER JACKET

 As promised last week, here are a few pictures of the finished Coat, that are going on a journey tomorrow. I always underestimate the time it takes to finish something like that, but I made just in time.

I will try to keep up posting here, while I´m away. Enjoy the Holidays.

FROM SKETCH TO DRESS - PART 2

-Is another project I have done. The assignment was to create a small denim-collection and present it for the class.

I was inspired by this piece, that I have done earlier on and decided to develop the idea into this collection in white denim.

Design and Copyrights: John Frantsen

-Which eventually inspired me to do the "Spiraldress", that you can see in a previous post here.

FROM SKETCH TO DRESS

During my formal education, we went to London on a study trip.
When we returned, we had an assignment that was to create a small summer-collection, inspired by our impressions.

I ended up using my very first sketches, inspired by a visit at the Donna Karan flagship-store and some fabric-purchases. Here you see a few sketches from the collection of five pieces i did.

-And the final result turned out like this. The three models wearing a red, a brown organdy tunic with black pants and a black linen-tunic with a red organdy-skirt, at our Fashionshow 1998.

DANCING WITH THE STARS

Like almost every other country, Denmark has it´s own very popular Dance competition, called "Vild med dans".

I´m not going to comment the competition, but I have to say: - the way the Hostess, judges and dancers were dressed last night, surprised me. 

I wonder where their sense of style were? Usually the Hostess, Christiane Schaumburg-Müller looks great.

But the long t-shirt dress in a Snakeprint and rows of feathers by danish designer Benedikte Utzon, did not do her any justice at all in my humble opinion. -Of course, it is a matter of taste.

Photo: Camilla Rønde

The two male judges looked quite okay, except for the jacket of Nikolaj Hübbe. It looked too tight and bad quality.
Jens Werner looked elegant, but when you looked closer at the details, the suit looked like it was made in China. Recognizable by the way the Lapel was pressed flat.

The Show has a team of dressmakers attached. But for once six designers from Denmark were assigned to design dresses for one of the dances.

I have to say, it showed. The dresses looked more like designer-dresses than real dancing-dresses. I was not impressed. But from experience I know it's not the easiest task to do either.

"SAY YES TO THE DRESS"

-Is a TLC reality series which follows events at Kleinfeld Bridal in New York City. 

-And "What Not to wear", are programs  I have been watching while in Montreal. But now TLC appears here in Denmark too, as a program you can select, after a free viewing period.

It´s funny to watch as a professional, because you get a glimpse of how things works over there.
Watching the first one from the famous bridal shop today, made me wonder about how woman shop for their wedding gowns.
 

Women wants to feel very special on their wedding day. So, a One-of-a-kind dress should be their first choice.
But I guess most women wants a big selection to choose from and that is what Kleinfeld´s is offering. They have the largest and finest selection of designer wedding gowns in the world. Of course that´s great, except when you don´t know what you want. The bigger the choice, the harder it is to choose.

In case you didn't know, I can make The One-of-a-kind wedding dress, if you know what you want. Just give me a call and make an appointment without any obligation.

AN EARLY DESIGN PROJECT

Model: Margaret, Photo: John Frantsen

Before I started my formal education, I attended a computer-course for fashion-professionals at IN-Design in Copenhagen.

One of the projects was to design and create an outfit, to get through the whole process from idea to finished product. I don't remember what inspired me, but it turned out like this asymmetrical two-piece.

My commitment at the course led to a one year working experience as a teaching-assistant and further on to my formal education.