Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2011, Side 32

32
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 4 — 2011 Missed RFF 2011? No worries! Head on over to www.liveproject.is/
rff to experience it all [via photos and video clips]!

A beautiful book that covers the ambiance,
food and location of 32 restaurants in Reykjavík
Seafood, steakhouses, vegetarian, innovative
cuisine and more . . .
Enjoy
dining out
www.salka.is
My first impressions of the second
Reykjavík Fashion Festival were of a
well-run and well-organised event.
Gone were last year’s queuing and
outdoor toilet fiascos. Instead, guests
piled in an organised fashion into the
very spacious and very fitting setting of
the Reykjavík Art Museum. With ample
room for a bar and a perfect catwalk
podium, this year's RFF seemed profes-
sional at any standard.
However, rumours certainly flew
high during the festival. Mostly they
regarded purported discontent within
the ranks of young local designers. For
instance, there was the fact that busi-
ness mogul Jón Ólafsson—of Iceland
Water fame—had purchased the event,
and in the process forcing designers to
exclusively use models from his own
agency, Elite. Secondly there was the
fact that all partaking designers had
to pay a substantial participation fee
(substantial at least with regard to the
limited budgets of young and strug-
gling designers), thus possibly alienat-
ing certain designers. Despite this un-
dercurrent of criticism ( just or unjust as
it may be), this second festival certainly
placed Reykjavík permanently on the
international fashion map proving that
there is a blossoming scene in Reykja-
vík for bright new talent.
A diSAppoinTinG fiRST niGhT
The first night of the festival, Friday
April 1, I took my ten year old daugh-
ter along for an honest second opinion.
The opening day’s shows included de-
signers such as newcomer Vera, who
featured unconvincing tulle capes,
E-label, with their classic collection
of black leggings and dresses and
streetwear/snowboarding label Nikita.
Designer Eygló was pleasing as ever,
with her fabulously cut feminine silk
sheaths, and Royal Extreme’s designer
Una Kristjánsdóttir followed up last
year‘s collection beautifully wowing the
audience with a rich and luscious co-
lour palette and beautiful attention to
detail.
Sonja Bent produced a pastel-hued
knitwear collection that reminded me
of Marc Jacobs-style concoctions from
a few years back, with the overall feel-
ing being a little too sugary. Sruli Recht
presented some interesting coats in
his collection, but Forynja failed to im-
press me with too close of a kinship to
Nü-Rave and too much bizarre detail-
ing. My little assistant whispered half
way through the Friday shows that
she wasn’t overly impressed with the
clothes and that the shoes were ugly.
I had to agree on some level, thinking
that more attention to detail and bet-
ter styling would have lent the shows a
more professional air.
fRom GoTh To diSco
Saturday’s creations were infused with
a heavier dose of the WOW factor than
Friday night’s offerings, with a refresh-
ing rock and roll injection. Rey were
pretty in black, Andersen and Lauth
conjured up a very British feel with
beautiful silk and chiffon fabrics, em-
broidery, Wellington boots and cash-
mere cardies accompanied by a Joy
Division-esque soundtrack.
impeccAble And clASSy
Kalda made me smile with their over-
the-top goth show. Models wore long
black sheaths with bondage elements,
black Chelsea boots with black knee
high socks and heavy graphic eye
makeup, walking like zombies to an
eerie soundtrack consisting of monks
chanting over a death metal guitar riff.
A beautifully austere, simple, and very
wearable collection.
Newcomer Ýr gave us a heady mix
of heavy metal versus disco inspired
outfits, fabulous eighties style cropped
silk jackets with dominant shoulder
pads, skinny velvet trousers, sexy cat-
suits and dresses that brought a kind of
Studio 54 feel to the catwalk.
GliTTeR TRAineRS And SnoW
mAchineS
My all-time favourite show of the night
was the flirtatious and immensely fun
collection by designer Hildur Yeoman.
Last year she staged a successful show
that focused on accessories, but this
year’s collection was far more clothing-
orientated. Fabulously sassy models
sashayed down the runway to ’The
Runaways’ ‘Cherry Bomb’ and Alan Ve-
ga's ‘Jukebox Babe’ wearing skin-tight
bicycle shorts, chiffon bikinis, fabulous
embroidered capes that spread like the
wings of some glam-rock butterfly and
glitter sprayed high heeled trainers. Big
hair and punky make-up completed a
look that was part Joan Jett and part
Juliette Lewis. Hildur Yeoman certainly
managed to inject the fun back into
fashion.
The final show on Saturday was that
of Iceland's young wunderkind Mundi,
a kind of Vibskov-esqe design-school
character that has made knitted pat-
terned jumpsuits popular for Reykja-
vík’s male hipster contingent. I am not
a fan, but his show was pretty damn
cool in every sense of the word. A snow
machine dusted models wearing heavy
ski boots and round pink goggles with
huge fake snowflakes. A quirky take on
snowboard/skiwear with lots of tech-y
knits combined with white ‘Piz Buin’
lips. Sportswear meets Mad Max, or a
Jeunet flick.
In retrospect, RFF 2011 was a well-
organised festival that confirmed Ice-
land on the international fashion scene
and will probably score lots of write-
ups from the hoards of excited journal-
ists attending.
fashion | "The Iceland Airwaves of..."
What stood out at Reykjavík fashion festival 2011
AnnA mARGRéT bJöRnSSon
AlíSA KAlyAnovA
Jukebox babe