The Kasper Stromman Design Blog

Marimekko in Vogue, 1965

Ever so often we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog will take a closer look at a thing that is groovy and 1960s and totally far out. This week that thing is Marimekko in Vogue, a 10-page leaflet reprinted by Marimekko as marketing material in 1965.

Many of the patterns of the clothes featured inside look really familiar to the modern consumer. And we also heard this photoshoot was done by dropping the model from a high altitude to achieve that effortless pose. This was however okay at the time since the 1960s was all about tuning in, turning on and dropping dead. But reading the text how are the boots $20 if the bikini is $35? 

Marimekko clothes are today sometimes critized for being too “baggy” and to appeal primarily to the mature consumer. Not so in the 1960s.

Also, are these really Marimekko shoes? They definitely remind us of another brand.

Hanging out in felt clothes in the forest must have been so much fun, but we still can’t stop thinking about how many mosquito bites the model must have had at the end of the day.

All in all, not much seem to have changed in 50 years – the cuts may have changed but clothes are still marketed by dragging models out in the forest for that Scandinavian mystique.

To the next 50 years of Finnish models being bitten by mosquitoes!

Making a fashionable tie for the festive season

The festive season is coming up, and if you’re anything like us here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog you like to dress up a little for the occasion.

A tie is a festive piece of clothing. But ties can be expensive. That’s why we decided to make our own, using a plain white tie as a canvas.

We did not, however skimp on the quality. That’s we chose a blank tie by Tie Rack, the world’s favourite tie manufacturer. Available at an airport near you.

Of course Tie Rack ties are ususally no good when you buy them. But if you have the skills you can give them the design treatment, like we did.

Don’t know about you, but we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog like pretty flowers. So that’s what we went for on our design garment.

Looking good. Can’t go wrong with pretty flowers.

One must of course remember that design blog head designer Kasper Stromman is indeed a trained illustrator. Were not expecting just about anyone to pull this off.

And there we have it folks, a higly fashionable, flower-y tie!

Let the festive season begin.

Top 3 charity shop T-shirts for Tuesday

3. The only gay Volkswagen driver in the village

The way we see it here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog there are two likely scenarios why the previous owner would get rid of this nice shirt: he moved away from the village or went straight. Either way it’s up for grabs now for a cool euro.

2. Fun corset tee

With this updated version of the gentlemen’s tuxedo tee it’s Oktoberfest all year round. Wearer required to carry around two pints of beer and a pretzel at all times though. We imagine previous owner was too drunk to remember why she got rid of it.

1. Tosi nainen ei valita*

A great shirt to wear when giving birth or having your leg amputated.

Or wait, maybe this used to belong to a gentleman? In that case it’s just weird.

*A real woman doesn’t complain

My fantasy clothing line

When you give birth at Kätilöopisto they give you a hospital gown upon arrival: pink for small, yellow for medium or blue for large. This no doubt saves the nurses several seconds of time when the mother arrives, but also results in this fun effect where the mothers to be are suddenly organized into three different sizes. So now you can go “hey, there goes a medium sized mother” whenever you see something yellow flash by at the other end of a hallway.

So what if I started my own clothing line using this same philosophy? I could go, say, orange for small, brown for medium and lime green for large. No, I’m serious: every single size S item of clothing I’d manufacture would be orange. Each and every one.

The fashion community would no doubt love my bold statement. “It’s so honest”, they would say. “And so brutally transparent.”

And I would go: “Yes. I think it’s about time someone shook up this stale industry.”

I would then be hailed as some kind of genius, which would puzzle me at first, but then I’d probably get really into it.

But soon the problems would start. Some women wouldn’t be happy with their lime green outfits and start dying them orange in a move to appear smaller than they actually are. Other fashionistas would obviosuly call them out on this. And me? I would be furious. How dare they alter my clever fashion statement?

But this would make the fashion industry turn against me. ”Puh-lease”, they’d say. “Don’t you think you’re taking yourself a little bit too seriously?” And that’s where my downward spiral would begin.

But it sure would be a fun ride while it would last.

Finnish fashion brands #1: Fiorella

Fashion conscious teenagers on a limited budget are typically known to shop for clothes at one of the major chain stores, like H&M or Gina Tricot. But an often overlooked fact is that there’s a domestic alternative with no less than five different shops nationwide: Fiorella.

The good thing about shopping at Fiorella is that no one will ever accuse you of being too fashionable by wearing the clothes. Sure enough, the website helpfully provides a ‘trends’ section and urges visitors to “remember to check back regularly for hot fashion tips” – but as of autumn 2011 the site lets us know they’re “still waiting for the spring/summer 2008 pictures and will update as soon as possible”.

So, what’s the secret behind this pocket sized fashion emporium? Maybe the trick is simply to provide clothes unavailable anywhere else; as fashion cycles become faster and faster, is it actually possible that Fiorella is just so ridiculously ahead of everyone else with their Eastern European chic that no one is getting it?

Fiorella; let it be hereby be known that the Kasper Stromman Design Blog salutes you and your affordable clothing manufactured in the Far East.