ROLF EKROTH

Having split with his backers Rolf Ekroth made his debut as an independent designer last season. His spring collection is very much a sequel to the last, in ways material and thematic. The designer continued to mine his interest in rustic Finnish dress vernacular, and found new ways to used pre-existing pieces and fabrics, including collaborating with Aalto graduate Aleksandra Hellberg to use natural dyes (onion skins from grocery discards, madder, and the like) for tie-dye-ish effects

Ekroth’s starting point was Finnish Midsummer, which he filtered through his favored hobby horses, horror films, and sci-fi. Lore has it that if a woman places seven flowers under her pillow on the summer solstice she dreams of the one she will love. Ekroth took that tradition and created metal pins with a flower motif and applied them like amulets on a suit. Overall, Ekroth succeeded in evoking the pagan and the futuristic at once.