Renewing its penchant for abstraction, Spring juxtaposed feminine floral references with bold graphic motifs. It stuck to conformity with a sluggish look forward.
Marimekko is a big brand that prefers small gestures. The Spring collection it showed at the Opera Park of Copenhagen put in sharp relief the friskiness of some of the ready-to-wear paraded elsewhere today.
Sounding a lot like a Scandiphile’s creed, creative director Rebekka Bay called her new offering a “non-restrictive philosophy where a garment lives in, or even runs in, showcasing petal-like references in draping, layering as well as in material characteristics.”
The designer’s focus, as always, was on volume. Gowns were at once stricter through the hips and breezier through the legs than they were last season, and menswear had a modern swagger thanks to vibrant silhouettes, relaxed shoulders, and denim bottoms.
“In our Marimekko archive, we have more than 3,500 prints, and through this collection we wanted to celebrate some of the lesser known motifs; we have celebrated Unikko, which is our most recognisable one, last season and we wanted to continue giving stage and inspiration to some of the lesser-known flowers,” Rebekka Bay told GLASS post-show.
“We have been working with an ample bouquet of prints this season, and I think what they all have in common is a great vibrancy and energy; something we really wanted to pick up on for the show, and we also wanted to celebrate the heavy contradictions which very much inform the way we work,” she explained, adding how “the flowers—with their bold stripes—juxtaposed with the music, which was super fast, dynamic and energetic, I think they represent something super nice in this aesthetic or something that’s inherently feminine and pretty, able to create a context that’s really dynamic for us.”
A reason, she detailed, “why we were thought of putting all the unknown flowers out on parade, as a celebration of the company’s creative thinking.” For news, there were watered-down aqua blues, rosy reds and cool spearmints, which were delightful. To keep growing the brand in a more innovative direction, Bay should continue to broaden her repertoire. It’s Copencore, after all—bring on more prints.
by Chidozie Obasi
All runway images are by James Cochrane