Finland’s fashion style will be represented by the bright colors and bold patterns of the country’s best-known brand, Marimekko, at the House of Finland pop-up exhibition, Sept. 11 to 14 at 286 Gallery in New York’s Chelsea.
The iconic design house will be joined by emerging fashion labels such as Chaine, Riikka Ikäheimo Couture, Mem, Mori Collective and Shy Vibes Club, among others. Part of the point of the exhibition, organized by the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce, and Finnish Tech, Design and Art, a non-profit that promotes Finnish creativity in the U.S., is to showcase the country’s range of styles, creativity and innovation.
Riikka Ikäheimo Couture’s sexy white lace dresses and purple lace gowns are slit to within a centimeter of good taste. Mem, Paula Malleus’ avant-garde collection, is created from textile waste. Revolt, her 2017 collection made from post-consumer denim, features long gowns with elaborate draping, jumpsuits and high-collared jackets.
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Ivana Helsinki is an 18-year-old brand designed by Paola Ivana Suhonen, who also directs films and music videos and writes children’s books. Suhonen, who is given to romantic statements such as, “My world is for the ones who love moonlit fields, pirates, dark forests, crummy motels, champagne states of drunkenness, fragile butterflies, passionate relationships, cowboys and guardian angels,” when describing the brand, is leading the renovation of the original Sokos Hotel Presidentti, which has 494 rooms, a restaurant, nightclub, meeting rooms and auditoriums.
With this year being the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence, there will be events such as a birthday celebration Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at Gray’s Loft on West 36th Street, featuring a cross-sample of Finnish culture with singers, dance improvisation, live painting by Susanna Sivonen, and scanography by Kira Leskinen.
A Finnish Street Fair on Sept. 9 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. will be held on Bleecker Street in the West Village, and an authentic traveling Finnish sauna on Sept. 10 will be parked in Red Hook, Brooklyn.