Ekroth shows creativity and humour in a tongue-in-cheek show
This review is brought to you in collaboration with Bolou Fine Jewellery
Rolf Ekroth, Monday, August 5, 2024 at 5.00 PM, Poolen
Finland is famous for many things – Moomins, mobile phones and Sibelius to name but a few – but comedy is maybe not the first thing that springs to mind. Today however, Rolf Ekroth, a designer who revels in his Finnish heritage, showed a collection that mixed the allure of Nordic summers and the inherent melancholia of the nation with a very dark sense of humour. Focussing his creative attention on the rural dance pavilions scattered across the Finnish countryside, Ekroth remembers places that evoke a sense of wistful longing, budding romance and deep seated nostalgia. But if all of that sounds a little too bucolic, he throws in a nod to hukkumisbingo or ‘drowning bingo’ where bets are placed on how many drunken revellers will perish in late night lake swims. It’s the clash of traditional and contemporary, gloominess and high-spirits, feminine and masculine that makes Ekroth’s work so interesting.
To a frankly hilarious soundtrack of tub-thumping, beer swilling Finnish bar tunes (the local equivalent of schlager musik perhaps?) Ekroth showed that he had clearly predicted a low number in the death bingo game: the first few exits featured padded floral dresses that morphed into life jackets or swimwear inspired tops, no doubt preventing boozy Finns from sinking should they slip off the bank and into a lake. Bags that resembled floatation devices gave a similar vibe. Flower prints – either bold sunflowers or a particularly lovely daisy pattern – hinted at either countryside meadows or perhaps a bouquet given to a prospective date and worked particularly well in a shorts or anoraks (I guess Finnish summer weather is as unpredictable as Danish). Knitwear throughout had a homespun, folkloric attitude. Sometimes this veered a little too far into granny-knits (a couple of shapeless cardigans were not so flattering) but really hit the mark with crochet stitch skirts and hats and a great short sleeved sweater embellished in rows of pink daisies. And talking of embellishments, boy does Ekroth love them! Little embroidered talismans hang from a wet-look jacket giving a great balance of technical and handicraft whilst earrings, made in collaboration with heritage jewellers Kalevala, were placed on jacket lapels, studded across a dress or, cheekily, on the front of a sweater where they resembled nipple rings. They highlighted the interplay between masculine and feminine that Ekroth navigates so successfully (he has an uncanny ability to dress fresh faced young guys in long flounced skirts and headscarfs, knotted primly below the chin, without even a trace of camp).
But, as always, it is in outerwear that the designer really excels. It is when the florals and crochet gave way to tailoring and then kagules and coats, all made in lightly quilted shirt fabrics patched together in creative yet eminently wearable, pieces that Ekroth’s talent really shone through. It might have its roots firmly placed in Finland but this tongue-in-cheek, romantic and very covetable collection deserves a much wider international following.
See a selection of the show looks below and see the entire collection here.
