Fashion: Marimekko reveals next autumn collection

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By Sami Sykkö
     
      This was a long-awaited show. At the end of the week, Marimekko revealed its collection for next autumn at the Helsinki Cable Factory cultural centre. At the same time, the new artistic director, Samu-Jussi Koski showed what he feels Marimekko clothing should look like.
      First to step up to the runway was CEO Mika Ihamuotila, who welcomed the audience. The microphone would not work at first, so he cracked a joke.
      “I’m not a model”, he said, and got a laugh from the audience.
      It was a full house. Ihamuotila said that he was surprised by this. The audience was not. What Finnish fashion company would raise more interest at the moment than Marimekko?
      The brouhaha over dealings in the company’s shares, and statements made by the former CEO Kirsti Paakkanen have seen to that.
     
Last autumn the exhibition space was pure white, walls included. Now everything was black, and the stage was set up between giant trees, straight out of a story book.
      Ihamuotila said that the theme of next autumn’s collection is “Happy Conflict”. Ihamuotila waxed eloquent about how life is full of conflicts, and that people should learn to be happy about them.
      The words had a personal ring to them.
      They were spoken by a man who bought a company that was moving forward. This was immediately followed by an economic slump. That was followed by a public row with the other major owner, Kirsti Paakkanen.
     Conflicts indeed.
     
The collection itself is indeed full of conflicts, but certainly, not like Ihamuotila had intended.
     The beginning was magnificent.
     Stepping onto the runway were powerful colour combinations and magnificent sculpture-like coats, whose stitches seemed to be cut on a knife.
     These made Marimekko look modern in a new way.
     They were followed by a less even group, such as dresses with ball patterns, familiar from years past, which rarely go well with the female form.
     There were pre-wrinkled linen garments. There were also girlish silk dresses in magnificent colours, but similar ones have been seen on runways for many years.
     A few men’s outfits were also included, but compared with the women’s clothes, they were from a completely different opera.
     
Then things got better again. The women’s slacks, which brought to mind men’s long underwear, were amusing, and will undoubtedly look good on many types of women.
     The giant knits designed by Piia Rinne and Noora Niinikoski are humorous, and look like they would be pleasant to put on. One might imagine that they would appeal to younger Marimekko fans. they can even be used as dresses.
     The black and white graphic clothes underscored the new, and more robust direction. Similarly the jacket-dress and tops made out of simple striped cloth, which updated the traditional Marimekko for the 21st century.
      Another great moment in the show came with the blue-grey and moss-green velvet garments. The colours were refined, like in the paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck.
     The cuts and the prints of the clothes were more successful than in earlier years: timeless, useful, and interesting.
     
The show indicated that Marimekko has again moved slightly forward, and in the right direction.
     Under the new artistic director, advertising has become more interesting, and the style that has been chosen for the collection feels good. The clothes have simple cuts, but the colours are more striking than before.
     Nevertheless, the show could have used some pruning. A fashion show is an opportunity for a fashion house to display what it is capable of, and where it is going.
     With this in mind it is not necessary to bring out everything that is to be sold later in the shops. Putting the hottest players on the field, you know.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 25.1.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kirsti Paakkanen sells her remaining Marimekko holding (9.1.2008)
  Paakkanen “shocked” at state of Marimekko (5.1.2009)
  New Marimekko spring patterns: from Keane to Kalevala (16.12.2008)

Links:
  Marimekko website

SAMI SYKKÖ / Helsingin Sanomat
sami.sykko@hs.fi