Friday, October 29, 2010

Ravishing Mad & the Darkness Within

The Spring/Summer 2011 Collection is an exploration of the darkness within. It embraces loneli­ness and the relief that comes with living in whatever mood that comes along. We don’t like pleas­ers, and we don’t put on happy faces. The collection offers 10 different denim styles in 7 colours like bright red, black, print/wash out combination blue, and airbrushed grey. Ravishing Mad is well known for the draped big pocket jeans with an extremely high waist, and this season further incorporates draped cuts. Oversized plaid shirts with drunken buttoning are combined with unisex ass-door jumpsuits and mesh hoodies with huge sagging pockets.

The Swedish fashion label Ravishing Mad was founded in Malmö, Sweden, in 2008 by designer Anna Österlund. Ravishing Mad is a denim based punk rock label that works closely with musicians, artists and film makers and these collaborations are equally important as the fashion that is part of the Ravishing Mad lifestyle. Everyone involved in the RM projects are frequently switching places and either modeling, contributing with music or standing behind the camera. Anna is keeping Swedish design traditions: high quality, clean lines and stressing functionality, but going further, incorporating strong accent colours and straying away from the strict. The collections offer women‘s, men’s and unisex styles, both in ready-to-wear and more extreme versions.

Henrik Vibskov was one of the first to discover the RM denim and has stocked them in his stores in Copenhagen and Olso since the first collection. Anna is educated at the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås, Sweden, and graduated in 2006. She now runs the company together with her husband Truls Bråhammar.

“... I don’t like to divide my life into sections, I live it blurred. Work and fun can happen at any time, so I really don’t think there is any need to label it. I go play with my friends, or work, we might sometimes call it work and sometimes not. It evolves into music for some of us, or photos and videos, and some in clothes, or we just mix it all. I love these collaborations and look for them everywhere! I also do two major collections a year under the label Ravishing Mad (and denim is my thing). I show them at the fashion weeks of Paris, New York, Copenhagen and Berlin, but prefer the guerilla way, the anti fashion way, the fun way.”

View the entire look book here.



Photos & text Copyright Ravishing Mad.