Stylee Fridays: Q&A with Silas Adler of Soulland
- story Chioma Nnadi
Soulland designer Silas Adler is a young man with an old soul. He founded the Danish menswear line while still a teenager, and sharpens his quirky sartorial skills with every season. The new collection is called 5th and Events, and the lookbook is quite obviously a lesson in street-corner dressing. We spoke with Adler yesterday about the hybrid headgear, smoking pipe pendants and Sherlock Homles capes he has lined up for spring 2010; about the importance of cross-dressing and why the Copenhagen-based designer is leaving his hometown behind next season.
Ivana Helskinki Gets Horsey and Dotty for Spring 2010
- story Chioma Nnadi
Copenhagen Fashion Week wrapped up this weekend, leaving a trail of gorgeous new Scandinavian collections to get into. Designer Ivana Helskini’s show is a good place to start, just because we’ve been wearing holes in her tiger face dresses all summer long. The Finnish designer takes her soft spot for wildlife on to tamer pastures for spring 2010, covering her dresses in horsey prints and huge polka dots. It might have been a bit too cupcake-cutesy if it wasn’t for the raccoon-faced models and their evil clown make-up, looking like a gang of crazy fashion bitches on their way to sabotaging the birthday girl’s party.
Style TV: Soulland at Copenhagen Fashion Week
- story THE FADER
Silas Adler, the designer behind the Danish label Soulland, was a bit of a child prodigy (or teenage one at least) and has had a special place in out hearts since we discovered his awesome madcapness a few seasons. He started his menswear line seven years ago and only just turned 23, which means he was probably barely out of diapers when he started creating mood boards and styling his moms. The Soulland show was held in the eerily epic and abandoned Carlsburg factory, soon to be turned into a space for Copenhagen’s emerging art community and almost got lost wondering around the empty beer tanks on out way up to the show. We caught up with Silas after the show for a collection inspiration breakdown which surprisingly included ghostly mountaineers among other things. Listen out for the show’s closing track which was orchestrated by the man himself, and will be available free for download on the site.
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posted on Feb 13, 2009 in STYLE CHANNEL, STYLE INTERVIEWS SHOW tags Copenhagen Fashion Week, Soulland
Style: Henrik Vibskov’s Spinning Wheels
- story THE FADER
Henrik Vibskov is one of the greatest, most loopy and fantastic designers around, and we’ve always wondered what a stroll around the inner workings of his mind might be like. Last Friday, surrounded by man-sized rotating hamster wheels at his Fall ‘09 show at Copenhagen Fashion Week, we got a little peep.
Walking around his awesome red-walled store, filled with Vibskov goodness (crazy patterned tights, coogi-inspired laptop covers and brightly colored Vibskov strollers) in Copenhagen earlier that afternoon was just the right kind of prelude, although nothing could have prepared us for the hypnotic hugeness that was the show. Vibskov is never shy of color and prints — video game-inspired prints, gigantic polka dotted Aztec patterns or straight up jailbird stripes are all in there, and that’s why we will always love him. Aside from the rotating fashion madness (our girl Susie caught the action on film for her blog Style Bubble here), spotting all the kids in the crowd proudly wearing their favorite Vibskov leggings/pants/crazy poncho was probably the most heart-warming part of the night. That and seeing the four models trample for their dear lives on those wheels — some of them didn’t go the distance, poor things. If you look closely though, you’ll notice the hard-body Amish-looking model in the green suit isn’t even breaking a sweat.
Stylee Fridays: Moon Spoon Saloon at Copenhagen Fashion Week
- story THE FADER
There are lots of international designers that we’ve communicated with over the years but, alas, few that we’ve been able to meet in the flesh. Popping over to Copenhagen Fashion Week gives us a chance to catch up with some of the Danish designer we ride for on their home turf (Wood Wood, Henrik Vibskov, Soulland, Stine Goya…the list goes on! And Henrik Vibskov the big one tonight!) but also unearth some new ones too. Moon Spoon Saloon is a label we’d only really ever experience digitally (we’re very thankful for all those far-faraway designers who embrace the internet!) so seeing their show in a romantic, glass-covered auditorium for the first time was pretty magically. The space is usually a school hall, and quite fittingly there were a line of eagerly little girls in brightly colored headbands peeping their heads over the balcony (Danish kids get an education in fashion very early on, obviously). In fact the show had an air of child’s play about it–with huge building blocks on set and models trooping around in giant papier maché hats like old-school wooden toy marching soldiers. Speaking after the show, artist Tal R–one part of the design trio behind the line–explained that they’d taken a trip to Russia to source old military uniforms, deconstructed them and photographing the pieces undone. “Military uniforms used to be magnificent because potentially they could be the last thing a soldier wore. We wanted to re-create that last march,” he says. The results weren’t actually half as macabre as all that, although there was a little demonic flirtations– some firey red ensembles and stark black and white makeup for example. The emphasis though seemed to be on fun and play just as in seasons past, and it definitely looks like the MSS crew have fun during their avant garde-making session. The best part was spotting old-season MSS outfits in the crowd, like super oversized knits and suede dresses in primary colors. Just goes to show, the Danes just have a knack for making walking a little on the wild side totally wearable.
