mon Dieu 007 – b0ka

Text Maren Serine Andersen

mon Dieu Sound has the pleasure of introducing b0ka, three producers and two jazz musicians based in the Norwegian capital Oslo, where they create the fun sound of Spacedisco. In the middle of a cold winter night in an intimate studio on the upper west side of the city, the creation of their mon Dieu mix took place. If the mix awakens your appetite for music, you can look forward to b0ka’s track release through Manchester label Paper Recordings this fall.

In the mix, contrasting elements are blended impressively together in b0ka’s rare style. Among the sound selection, seductive Polish disco is combined with humorous Norwegian Electroclash, quirky Swedish dance stimulus and Japanese Art-Pop. The result of such a massive sound experience is an advanced narrative that escalates in intensity to a nearly exploding finale that culminates in heavenly voices. This kind of embrace of soft, dreamy melodies and also plenty of childish playfulness is delicately balancing off the high tempo and roughness of the mix.

b0ka was aiming to collect their all time favorite dance tracks, and this makes it possible to identify influences to their characteristic Spacedisco sound. Another intention was to rediscover forgotten gems hidden in their music archive as many talented producers are overlooked in today’s flood of artists. In b0ka’s opinion, a music mix should be based on the wish to present forgotten quality music to new listeners. This is why they have chosen to include Norwegian producers Elektrofant from Stavanger and Sannheiser from Bergen. Mixing them with hip producers like Kornel Kovacks is one of the reasons why the mix is experienced so well-built that it makes a quite challenging listening fun and exciting.

Tracklist:
Sannheiser – Intro
Ptaki – Krystyna
Sannheiser – Klaus
b0ka – Players Club
Spirit Catcher – Threesome
Kornel Kovacks – Pantalon
Cole Medina – Buffalo Bill
Mungolian Jetset – Moon Jocks N Prog Rocks (Todd Terje Remiks)
Elektrofant – I Gotta Be Me
Greenskeeper – Man In The House (Pepe Bradock’s Underwater Playgroud Mix)
Cornelius – Another Point Of View
Elektrofant – Whatever You Do It’s Allright

Craig Green x Björn Borg

Text FREDRIK AUSTAD Photos CRAIG GREEN x BJÖRN BORG

Craig Green, the designer known as Britain’s new rising star, has teamed up with the Swedish sports brand Björn Borg for a capsule autumn winter 2016 collection.

Green graduated with a Fashion MA from Central Saint Martins in 2012 and showed his first solo show at London Collections menswear in 2015. From the early beginning the brand has been focusing on fabrics and techniques, showing unisex clothing with a diverse range of silhouettes.

The Björn Borg collaboration features highly technical garments playing on the contrast between light and shadows. Quilted oversized hooded ponchos were mixed with perforated sweats and sports jackets. Wide silhouettes were shown side by side with tight drawstring jackets hiding the models under the hoodies, giving us associations to some kind of protection. This is Greens first street wear collection, but we also see clear lines to his fall winter 2015 menswear line shown earlier this year, consisting of pieces strapped firmly around the body in in stripes, light grey and army green.

 

“The Craig Green x Björn Borg Collection marries my conceptual fascination with light and shadow, with the utilitarian beauty of Björn Borg’s heritage. The idea is to have a multifunctional garment for both men and women that is not really gender-specific. Functional components become a distinct design feature, and a bold logo is replaced by a single circle – a development of the whole motif I often explore”, said Craig Green about the collaboration.

The capsule collection consists of 20 pieces of clothing in off-white and black, and will be sold globally as of October 2016.

Photography AMY GWATKIN, EMMA SVENSSON
Set design SAHARA WIDOFF
Styling CRAIG GREEN, VINCENT LEVY
Make-up MARINA ANDERSSON
Hair HANS NILSSON

Chronicles: Preface

Text Maren Serine Andersen Photos Luca Sorheim

As he appeared from the dark and frosty evening outside, the silhouette of Knut Bry synchronized with Maren Serine in enthusiastic fist pumping to the beats of Nightcall. After keeping on going a while longer than usual for ironic dancing, the playful and exuberant photographer greeted her with his characteristic crab-like handshake.

Knut Bry is awarded for his powerful work that includes fashion editorials portraying icons like Grace Jones. He also contributes with humanitarian projects like «Water for Everyone» which aims to illuminate one of the results of global warming: the challenge of clean water accessibility for all people. Knut Bry has also appeared in front of the camera himself. His fashion model debut was nothing less than wearing one of the first men’s collections by legendary fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. Now he was curious about the fashion shows that mon Dieu had covered at Oslo Runway and wanted an update.

First Maren Serine showed him the official promotion video shot by her friend, Wesley Garcia on the main venue, The Oslo Opera House. She told him to pay attention to the guy in the video that is soon to be the newest member of mon Dieu Personae.

Then she told him about the show at F5 Concept store. She described how the intimate store space, as well-balanced contrast to the quite overwhelming main venue, and the collections of the resident designers felt contemporary, fresh and effortless. When the beats of Begging you stopped after the show she was both thrilled and relieved for the Krystad Marthinsen brothers and Filip Wibe, founders of F5 Concept Store and designers of the brands GRAA and ARCT. Set aside the joy of seeing these friends and mon Dieu collaborators succeeding, the ARCT logos sprawled over a denim jacket had made her feel an extra glow of pride for Art Director of the brand and mon Dieu Editorial team member, Luca Sorheim. And some curious footwear showpieces that gave an illusion of soles floating under feet down the catwalk by resident designer Aúma was a detail that also had to be mentioned.

Knut Bry suspiciously guessed that Maren Serine had been placed front row to promote the show so gloriously. His wary frown transformed into a grin as she explained that this was a mystery forever to remain obscure as she had been late and the doors had been closed at her arrival. The grin advanced to laughter when she revealed that she on the other hand had been smuggled inside through the backdoor and ended up with a really great spot to see the show. However, his front row comment reminded Maren Serine of something interesting that happened.

There was one show where the mon Dieu editorial team was separated, and in a funny way it resembled being picked for football teams in gym class more than being there together to create a presentation of the fashion event. One editor was placed on front row, one on second row, while one was actually left to stand in the back until the event organizers wanted to fill the empty seats on the edge of show start.

Knut Bry with long experience in the fashion industry laughed, rolled his eyes and cooed: «Look at me, look at me!». He explained that the front row is often more about hunger for fame and money than about reflecting over the collections based on interest for the aesthetics and fulfilling important responsibilities of an influencer, like promoting sustainability solutions as a top priority. Coincidence or not, Maren Serine could confirm that the mon Dieu Editor placed on front row was actually the one that had gathered most attention on social media, and so the Fashion cliché was revealed to be real. A following silence moaned their mutual discontent.

Maren Serine broke the silence by describing the most aesthetically pleasing experience of them all. «Nothing can cure the soul but the senses», as this effect has been called – and just like that, the mood brightened at once. She explained how Admir Batlak’s Show in the Opera House Foyer was intriguing for several reasons. Luckily the designer offered quite liberal seating options so that the mon Dieu Editorial team got a great spot from where they could document and discuss the collection. They placed themselves right in front of the fascinating installation «The other wall», by artist Olafur Eliasson that elegantly embraced the neon resembling extremities of Admir Batlak’s harmonizing color palette dominated by cold shades.

Knut Bry was familiar with Olafur Eliasson and started to explain Maren Serine about the installation that consists of white and green light panels integrating daylight, artificial light and shadows. In this way the geometric patterned wall is capturing individual movements and the notion of temporality. She assured that the installation made a poetic and natural backdrop for Admir Batlak’s lively, idiosyncratic collection. Even though nothing was done else than showing the collection with attention focused towards the installation, this created a unique visual dynamic that involved everyone present in the surroundings. When Eliasson’s installation was brought up, fashion was quickly forgotten, and they went over to admire photos of other amazing art installations.

The recently late David Bowie simultaneously concluded their conversation: Fashion, turn to the left, fashion, turn to the right.

The Chronicles from Copenhagen Fashion Week F/W 16 and Oslo Runway F/W 16 is coming up.

F5 Concept Store – Oslo Runway

Text FREDRIK AUSTAD Photos Tuva Winslöw Dyvik

Practical streetwear meets fashion in AÙMA’s latest collection. We saw a big oversized sweater with three front pockets, a couple of long wool pieces and a full blue menswear set in honey comb knit during their show at F5 Concept Store. A camo pattern was shown on a long sleeved crop top, a menswear coat and a fuzzy backpack in something that looked like boiled wool. Capturing the attention of the social media world AÙMA had designed two see-through trench coats in PVC that quickly became a hit online.

 

Graa is a Norwegian menswear label founded by Benjmain Marthinsen and Filip Fjellberg. Inspired by and made for the modern Scandinavian man the collection played on masculine fabrics, such as denim, and wide silhouettes. Classic pieces including light denim jackets, dark wool coats and a bomber with oversized front pockets were paired with suit trousers and jeans in different nuances. One of our favourites were the accessories: necklaces with big stones in different colours.

Designer Christina Ledang had a feminine colour pallet that included orange, a deep blood red and a sheer light pink. Massive met simple with a big oversized scarf sweater piece styled over a body shaped orange dress, also to be found in a delicate pink fabric. We also spotted menswear inspired coats and warm chunky knits.

 

Black silhouettes and leather styled with ribbons, reminding us of car safety belts, were key elements for ARCT’s autumn winter 16 collection. The brand was founded by the brothers Alexander Marthinsen and Emil Krystad Marthinsen, and has for this season taken a new path going towards high fashion, with the help of mon Dieu’s Luca Sørheim. A pinstriped set, a cracked leather dress over a pair of flared pants and a raw edged denim logo jacket were favourites among the outfits shown during Oslo Runway.

Oslo Runway (Day Two)

Text by Fredrik Austad Photos Oslo Runway

Admir Batlak, earlier known from Batlak and Selvig, is considered a veteran in the Norwegian fashion industry and surprised us with a maximalistic collection merging the Scandinavian with references from the past: mystery’s of the Middle East and Balkan folklore. Mint and flounces were shown side by side with leopard print skirts and cat printed tops: in a mix of patterns, embroidery, and sequins. We also want to mention accessories such as the interesting neck pieces, looking like fringes on a carpet, and a white and golden fake fur belt bag.

 

byMagMaLou by Marthe Kveli Valeberg and Andrea Johannessen delivered a easy to wear evening collection inspired by Scandinavian simplicity and the modern northern woman’s wardrobe. The signature jumpsuit is for this season without sleeves and in a midnight blue velvet fabric, pared with a light blue polo neck sweater and menswear inspired shoes. Our favourite was the olive green suede coat styled with a belt and knee high boots.

 

Elisabeth Stray is a young Norwegian designer known for her signature pieces in heavy wool, inducing long coats with visible stitching and scarfs with oversized pockets. For this collection these items were mixed with wide wool pants in camel, modern knits and bold colours.  Layering techniques and belts were used to style the autumn winter collection, accompanied by a beautiful cello playing in the background. The cello player sported a delicate red wool bustier also seen on the catwalk in blue. Also worth noticing was a black and white checked coat and a blue fringe skirt with double split styled with a see-through black lace top.

 

Cord and fur jackets mixed with dark flower prints and crushed velvet were some of the key elements for the Fall Winter Spring Summer presentation. Modern and young, the FWSS women dares to dress the part no matter her age, as the presentation showed with a diverse model casting with women in different ages. The collection also included wide grey wool pants, pointy shoes and fake fur cuffs.

 

Holzweiler, known for their checked wool scarfs, showed their collection in the painter studio at the Norwegian Opera. For the occasion the models wore low Converse shoes splashed in paint, connecting them to the present room. The collection played on contrasts with heavy knits together with thin laser cut skirts and long sleeved basics without visible seams. A light pink wrap around trench softened the collection and we were to ask ourselves if one of the main inspirations was traveling, as the models wore nomad inspired headpieces and bags in different sizes. Holzweiler did also stay true to their signature heritage with big scarves draped on the models like skirts.

Maikel Tawadros AW16

Text FREDRIK AUSTAD Photos CPHFW

The Danish brand Maikel Tawadros is known for playing on contrasts and a diverse mix of materials, this season being no exception. Delicate see-through pieces with green velvet and fox fur were mixed with leather and masculine tailoring. Our favorite was an oversized long jacket in grained leather decorated with a silver colored zip.

Bare skin and androgyny’s male models made the collection question the gender barriers that are highly discussed in today’s modern world.

I’m inspired by the military uniforms, Maikel Tawadros told mon Dieu before the show, feeling as a natural step for the brand cause to previous collection showing only strong female characters. Mentioning the war uniform made us ask ourselves if Tawadros made the collection with the global conflicts our world is facing today in the back of his mind. This topic was said to be a main inspiration for many of the designers showing during earlier menswear fashion weeks.

Tawadros also wanted to blend the strong soldier with the post-war woman, the one that likes to dress up and feel pretty. We notice a see-through dress with straps and a green velvet part at the bottom pointing towards the late 40’s feminine post-war fashion. There was also a beautiful smooth silk skirt worn with red lipstick seen on Scoop Models hotshot Vincent Biber.

See the backstage photos from Maikel Tawadros AW 16 collection here.

Happening: RUN RUN RUNWAY

Text Maren Serine Andersen Photos Luca Sorheim

«All fashion victims have a right to die. Giorgio Moroder: “And the highest mountain is the one that you have climbed.” Sentiments of occasions were its just right here right now. The compulsion to repeat is the one that also constitutes really deep friendship. You have only one or two friends in your whole life. Nobody is perfect, but in a friendship you have to really set aside your contempt and fear for your friend to stay loyal and dignified». – From Bjarne Melgaard’s text for the exhibition.

The other day mon Dieu went by Gard Eiklid who is hosting the exhibition «Run Run Runway» that has its opening tonight at Rod Bianco Gallery in Oslo, Norway. The mood there feels casual and refreshing just like last time’s visit to the appealing locations with beautiful lighting. Like from a photographer’s dream, as some has called it.

Raul Nieves warmly welcomes from the white floor surrounded by colors, including his bright blue leather boots that he also came across in pairs of red, yellow and mint green, home in Mexico. He enthusiastically explains his influences and techniques when he is asked about his creations with symphonies of materials and color palettes heavily rich in nuances taking its forms for the exhibition. And he actually makes shoes too. Lena Henke is leading the arranging of her sculptures on the wall connecting the two rooms of the exhibition space. The partly translucent sculpture cubes displaying other sculptures are moved back and forth in an intense and dizzying choreography until they are placed with precision in the way that feels right. In the meanwhile Marie Karlberg is entirely focused on chicken wire transforming to beautiful busts accompanying her collages on mirrors.

RUN, RUN, RUNWAY is works by three artists curated in one space. To mon Dieu this seems like a combination of three personalities that balance each other with quite different extremities. The exhibition offers a harmonic visual experience with contrasting details and interesting themes. mon Dieu congratulate with the Exhibition and appreciate the fascinating and friendly preview.

Appropriation art

Text Maren Serine Andersen

The message Une catastrophe planétaire est certaine d’ici mille ans (A global catastrophe is certain to find place the next thousand years) is quite a straightforward heads-up of challenges that humanity seems to quite blindly strut towards within the limit of a millennium. Reading such a headline might cause immediate feelings of concern. But then again, a moment later a snapchat message or a notification on Facebook probably distracts the attention away from the unpleasant mood and everything is back to normal.

Stephen Hawking, the man behind this warning is likely to be one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein. He further calls us to show caution during these times, to recognize the dangers following our unstoppable progress and learn to control them. Panic is in any case usually useless and Hawking optimistically believes that we can adjust. A bright future is however depending on that we get aware of what truly is important and learn which tendencies should be avoided.

A more vague but still challenging moment outside the dripping bubble of wealth and perfection, in which Western society floods itself, can also be experienced through appropriation art – a bit more abstract form than dramatic headlines. To avoid academic arrogance, a short introduction is appropriate to begin with; In the visual arts, appropriation is when an artist intentionally borrows, copies, and makes alterations of preexisting images and objects. The first artist to successfully demonstrate a form of appropriation was Marcel Duchamp with his piece Fountain. Simply by asking the viewer to consider the object as art he was appropriating it. In this way he devised the concept of the readymade, which basically is that an item is being chosen, signed and repositioned into a gallery context by the artist.

In the world of art there are to be discovered a wide variety of artists within the movement of Appropriation. Some of the very popular artists, like Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman, are present in the mainstream. Others, like Richard Prince, are less fond of public attention and live quite isolated but still creates cool stuff like the cover he did for Purple Fashion with a local waitress from the only diner in the area (Watch video below). Then some of them, like Charles Ray, are even so far from the mainstream that they are nearly forgotten.

Appropriating artists have surely stirred the shallow waters of Fashion. Jeff Koons reached out to new admirers through his collab with H&M. Another famous version of the domesticated mammal by Koons is his Puppy, a floral sculpture of a West Highland terrier outside the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao that actually inspired designer Raf Simons to create floral fashion show stage designs and a giant blue flower hill as fashion show set for Dior.

The artist Cindy Sherman has among many other characters been mimicking super model Jerry Hall and done a series of photographs for Balenciaga where their looks were worn by Sherman posing as various characters: the fashion victim, the aging doyenne and the delirious clubber.

What is mutual for artists within the appropriation art movement is that they manipulate familiar objects to new presentations and open for new readings and meanings. Their bodies of work are generally treating certain grand themes like life, death, passion, sex, consumerism, modern society and its obsessions.

Astrup Fearnley’s exhibition Good Morning America illuminates how an important group of American artists developed a new artistic language in the end of the 1970’s and 1980’s. The exhibition can be experienced for two more days at Astrup Fearnly Museet, and mon Dieu advice you to look for three aerial basketballs as well as that we hope there might be some left of Felix-Gonzales-Torres’ candy.

Bror August

text Fredrik Austad photos Jakob Landvik

Launching his debut collection last December, the young Norwegian talent Bror August Vestbø has shown himself as an interesting up and coming fashion designer. Sheer garments in nuances of orange worn by dancing models are immortalized on screen by Ori Hay Bachke for his SS15 collection. mon Dieu’s associations by watching the film immediately pointed to Gucci Cruise 16 which also portrays a house party with people moving around in the collection and with a stage design blending nostalgic elements with modern expressions.

We asked Vestbo some questions over mail to get to know him and his brand Bror August.

When did your interest in fashion first appear? Is there a special moment or event that made you want to work as a fashion designer?

I’ve been interested in clothing from an early age, and I can recall having the aim to become a  designer since I was eight years old. It has actually been quite limiting to have such a clear goal from so early on. It’s hard for me to try to develop my ideas in other medias because clothing is so worked into my system. I take a subway ride that lasts about 45 minutes every day, and it’s basically an intense session of me analyzing every detail of what people are wearing: all the way from the shape and the materials of the garments, down to every stitching detail.

What is important for the brand Bror August?

Right now it’s important for me to let the brand develop with me personally. I don’t want to force the concept and the clothing to be beyond my age and where I am at the moment. That’s why my clothing is going to be about things that obviously concern me as a young person.

It’s not important for me to create a brand where I stand proudly behind every collection when I’m 50, because it has some sort of cohesive politic or concept. I am interested in the process of developing the history of my brand, as it will reflect my own very personal history.

film Ori Hay Bachke choreography Solveig Ylva Dagsdottir

 

What do you want to tell with your design?

A typical question you will get is how do you express yourself?, and people will often mention some sort of creative expressions. I definitely mainly express myself verbally, but for the things I do find hard to say, I will tell trough my clothing.

Please elaborate on the fabrics you like to work with and the use of orange.

By using only one color, you give more space for the other elements of the clothing to interact. Quite typical Scandinavian, usually in more discreet colors: black, grey, beige or white. I think orange is very interesting, because it maintains very undefined associations in compressing to almost every other color. For instance: a red garment will easily read very similar to a big group of people.

In terms of fabrics I like to work with the combination of very exclusive and very cheap materials. Lately I have been into materials that have a lot of cultural references. It’s a funny challenge to try to make something new out of for example a fabric that the brand Billa Bong would use to make bathing shorts.

How did you come up with the idea to “Film Orange”? Will there be more films in the future?

For “Film Orange” I collaborated with artist Maria Storm Gran. We wanted to work with the concept of maximizing the impression of movement in imagery of the body, in something that is completely still to begin with. We combined this with different design techniques to make the images look even more moving: like draping prints of faces would make the face expressions look like they were in movement.

The idea is sort of how we work with the impression of something being free and the process of trying to control something and make it free. The film is contribution to the collection as a final layer of movement. The choreography plays with versions of the feeling of movement, how it can feel free and how it can feel controlled. Exactly as it can feel in life or as in this movie that aims to portray a surreal dance party.

Film is for me a very logical way of presenting clothing digital. What separates clothing from textile art is the sculpting around the body. With photography you lose allot of the life in clothing. I definitely want to keep on working with film, and I do have one that is coming up with the next collection.

How does a normal day for you look like? 

Ever since I moved to NYC I haven’t had any routine. Right now I’m having the most intense working period so far in my life. Sometimes when I’m on my way somewhere it just hits me how much I have to do and I start running. Or when I’m brushing my teeth I will suddenly become so stressed that I brush so hard that my gums starts to bleed.

How would you describe yourself?

My sign is Leo, and I’m mortified by how perfectly it fits me.

 

You’re currently based in NYC; have you considered moving back to Oslo to work on your brand?

I really want to be based in Oslo as well as New York. I think it’s important to create our own platform and industry in Norway, which seems to be happening slowly. It’s very hard to make it as designer in Norway tough, especially because the Norwegian costumer has a very specific taste.

Can you tell us more about your plans for the upcoming New York Fashion Week?

This winter is all about a warm attitude.

 

Where is Bror August in 5 years?

Sometimes I like to pretend that I’m an old fashion house that has all these traditions on how they make the clothing, and everyone wears a uniform and I have a crest and so on. Hopefully Bror August will be there, but a little less surreally.

Series 4 The Heroine by Bruce Weber

Text Fredrik Austad Photos Louis Vuitton

“Series 4 The Heroine” by Bruce weber is one of three movies in the new advertising campaign under the leadership of the French designer Nicolas Ghesquière, who took over as artistic director for Louis Vuitton in 2013 after Marc Jacobs. Taking the wheel in his own hands, Ghesquière has steered the iconic French brand into our digital era, celebrating the meeting between old craftsmanship and new technology. Great icons like Annie Liebovitz, Juergen Teller and Bruce Weber have shot the previous campaigns; set in a futuristic and minimalistic architectural tone.

For Series 4 we find three different movies showcasing the spring summer 2016 ready to wear collection and the new classics in the leather goods department, such as the Petite Malle and The Twist.

Like taken out of a Grimes video the models take Tampa, a town on the west coast of Florida, wearing sharp monogram printed leather wests and sheer blouses. They are young, independent and strong. Notice the painted leather jacket in a beautiful colour combination matching the new City Steamer bag in the same style.

Featured alongside three female models we find the young artist Jaden Smith wearing pieces from the women spring summer collection; challenging the conservative gender roles, which has been a big topic in the western part of the world for the last years.

“Only Bruce Weber can capture the energy of a group and orchestrate it in vibrant harmony. Why does Jaden Smith star in this campaign? He represents a generation that has assimilated the codes of true freedom, one that is free of manifestos and questions about gender. Wearing a skirt comes as naturally to him as it would to a woman who, long ago, granted herself permission to wear a man’s trench or a tuxedo. Jaden Smith conveys something very interesting about the integration of a global wardrobe. He’s found an instinctive balance that makes his extraordinary attitude a new norm. That really inspired me in the creative process for this collection.” – Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton

With these new unforeseen surprises we are sure to say that Nicolas Ghesquier is taking the French luxury brand to new exiting places and we are looking forward to see were this is headed.