It’s fashion week time again. This year Tallinn Fashion Week organisers decided to give it a go in spring too in addition to the regular autumn fashion week. First of all kudos to the organisers for choosing a very presentable venue. The black box at Kultuurikatel is million times fashionable than the autumn’s hall at Telliskivi Creative City. Well done! Secondly, million thanks for accrediting me.
OK, now to the fashion that i saw yesterday – day one of two of the spring fashion week.
First up was Althea by Thea Pilvet
The screen said this was A/W 16 collection and it felt very autumny and grey. I have to come clean and reveal that I didn’t know anything about the brand beforehand. This collection was decent. I loved that many of the dresses had pockets and models were put into flats that gave the collection a feeling of ease, though the dark lip threw me off a little. Like in all collections there were few hits and some misses. The bigger issue of Estonian fashion revealed itself in this collection as well – trying to appeal to every market segment and age group out there dilutes the brand focus. So who is Althea for? Dunno. Simple minimal dresses vs weird material combos vs old lady skirt suit. Identity crisis much? Though, if I look at the pieces separate from the show I can see young professional women buying them to mix and match with the stuff they already have in their wardrobe. Good effort. Better focus next time! I’ll be looking forward to see where this is going – minimal or superfluous, young or old.
Next up was Denim Dream
Denim Dream is a denim focused store that launched its own brand a couple of years ago. E for effort! After the show I was a little confused what did I see. Was it someone’s old wardrobe? It felt chaotic and boring – like someone found their mom’s old Burdas and decided to make a collection from her findings. I don’t know. Boring with the capital B. I can bet millions on the fact that most of Denim Dream’s consumers already have these pieces and outfits at home already from the years back. I know that women can have hundreds of variations of the same stuff but I believe there’s a limit to it. Am I wrong?
For me this collection lacked freshness. The pieces were nicely made. Pretty flowy and bodycon dresses, colourful like spring and summer is supposed to be, but nothing that I haven’t seen on the streets summers before. Sad. With such a cool brands in their stores I would have expected much more fashion out of the collection. This seems like a missed opportunity.
The three menswear looks in the collection followed the same idea path as the womenswear. Meh!
Anyhow, judge for yourself. I might be completely wrong.
Second slot of the shows was kicked off by Piret Ilves
Classic Piret Ilves. Simple silhouettes, neutral pastel colours and black. She knows her woman. The dresses are made for wearing. No frills. You can dress them up and down as need be. Beautiful as always, but I feel like it is time to step out of the comfort zone and introduce the Piret Ilves vol. 2 to the world. I would like to see what she could come up with starting from scratch.If she’s afraid of scaring off her loyal customers then I’d suggest developing a subbrand for the crazy idea testing. Otherwise this is getting borderline dull, still beautiful.
Next up was Iris Janvier
Pastel blast! Iris Janvier’s shows are always filled with the most looks and backed with energetic beat. Lot to see in a short time span. A little schizophrenic styling made the overall collection feel less successful than the previous one for me. Nevertheless she has found her voice among the ready-to-wear designers in Estonia. Again lots of variations for the young professional who wants to add a little individuality to her everyday look without trying too much. If you take the styling out of the equation there was a lot of pieces that could become commercially successful. So keep up the good work Iris Janvier! Next time put a little more effort to the styling, though.
First day was closed by Liina Stein
Colourful! Feminine! Dresses for the grown up Disney princesses as my friend Helene put it in her instagram. Ms. Stein knows her colours and her woman. The shoutouts and applause from the audience was proof of that. Though, in some of the lace pieces and dresses I felt a kinship with Kristina Viirpalu‘s couture pieces. I think Ms. Stein is stepping up her game to disrupt the reign of Ms. Viirpalu in the uber-feminine couture gown realm with bright colours being in the frontline. Lets keep an eye out to see what’s coming next.
I have to say this was the best styling of the night. From shoes to hair everything complemented the looks making the clothes the stars of the night.
On top of the colour blast Liina Stein launched her Bridal range with classical beautiful wedding dresses that I know women would love to get married in. Ok, maybe the wedding-bodysuit needs a special character to pull it off in the church.
That was the first day of the spring fashion week in Tallinn.
Photos by Erlend Štaub / Tallinn Fashion Week