As part of the YFI (Young Fashion Industry) awards at Stockholm Fashion Week, several up-and-coming native designers showed a handful of their designs on Tuesday evening. Plenty of talent - like the London-based Emma Lundgren - impressed but there could only be one winner in this competition. Johanna Pihl, a disicple of both Sweden's Ann-Sofie Back and House of Dagmar, impressed with an extensive use of leather, crafted in refined and intricate ways through piping and cut outs.
Having studied for her Bachelor degree at London Collge of Fashion, before moving back to Sweden, Pihl managed to mix the harsh urbane London style with the more serene and simple aesthetic of life up north. Light colours (beige, white, blue and off-white) dominated in a collection that was almost architectural in its build and machine like in its technical details. Last year's YFI winner is now on the Stockholm Fashion Week official schedule, and no doubt that will be the case with Pihl when we return next season...
Dazed Digital: What was the starting point for your collection?
Johanna Pihl: I started looking at plastic surgery... I read a few articles and some friends spoke about it... and that led me to think about human bodies and our anatomy. I wanted to show that the body is designed to work in a certain way and the surgery can't change that. So I compared that to machines and perfect they work, how everything is so thought out and works well. That can also be applied on my patterns and how I construct clothes. I wanted to put all that on the outside of my clothes
DD: Tell me about the colours of the collection?
Johanna Pihl: The black and white represents the X-rays screening, the light pink is the colour of our skin and the blue is there to capture the metal shades...
DD: How has London affected you and your designs?
Johanna Pihl: In a great way... it's just generally good to go and travel, see the world, but London in particular is such a multicultural place that influences you but also teaches you about people and how they work across the world...
DD: Any favourite pieces in the collection?
Johanna Pihl: This light grey leather jacket with piping and cut-out holes. The holes represent the pieces cut out during plastic surgery. The piping is more about the machines and the pipers used to make them work.
