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.

Ravishing Mad Fashion Videos!

The word is out—Ravishing Mad is launching fashion videos! The Swedish fashion label has announced a new project called “Paraphrase.”

A Ravishing Mad paraphrase entails an interpretation of known photographs—10 in all—which will be accompanied by a video.

The first paraphrase presents the photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono by Annie Leibovitz, which starred as the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1980.

Ravishing Mad collaborates with artists, photographers, musicians, and filmmakers to give the label’s audience an idea of the blurred world, of creativity in which the fashion designers work.

You can view the film here.

Photo Copyright Ravishing Mad.

Ravishing Mad is Ravishing Fun!

Ravishing Mad was founded by Swedish designer Anna Österlund, who lives and works in Malmö. In 2006, Anna graduated from the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås with a BA in Fashion Design.

The name Ravishing Mad encapsulates the label’s concept: “playful contrasts between the surreal world of fairy tales and harsh reality.”

Passionate about contrasts, Anna creates each garment as a tribute to individual style. “If you are going to be different, be so different that it matters!” is her motto.

Unisex in style, the collections make reference to the worlds of rock, punk, comics, and other contemporary cultural phenomena, while the pieces draw attention to specific parts of the body.

Ravishing is imperative; Mad declares the importance of fun.

Ravishing Mad—the collections for dreamers and antiheros.

Photos and slideshow Copyright Ravishing Mad.