Three-dimensional design
Mixing classic design structures with a variety of inspirations, H Fredriksson is a fashion label on the rise
By Britt Julious
Published: October 19th, 2007 | 2:30pm
It's hard not to notice the recent onslaught of designers from every walk of life in the fashion industry. While many have been pushed aside, some, like Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based Helena Fredriksson of the label H Fredriksson, is clearly breaking out of the pack to give the fashion industry exactly what it needs: beautiful, elegant, and timeless dresses, skirts, and pants that are built around an appreciation for the female form and nature.
Fredriksson can cite her unique childhood background as a building block for her future in fashion design. "I had a big drawer of vintage clothes under the bed in my and my sister's room when we were kids, we used to play dress up and do performances for all the grown ups," Helena says. "I think that drawer and my mom's fabric closet was my initial spark to fashion."
Although Fredriksson did not launch into the fashion industry with a design school background, her art school education more than makes up in terms of her approach to each collection. Fredriksson frequently uses photography for her designs; collecting photos when creating the graphics for her fabric designs or other H. Fredriksson materials. "I might see an old wall or building on my travels and think that this is how the collection should feel. I collect those moments until the concept image becomes clear in my head. I create and design the collection based on that image," Fredriksson says.
Fredriksson's inspiration in the past has run the gamut. For Fall 2007, the color and mood of Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers along with an art deco furniture exhibit at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris were particularly motivating. For Spring 2007, Fredriksson was inspired by artists Gerhard Richter and Francesca Woodman along with silhouettes of jungle plants and branches. It is this combination of the textual and cultural world that defines Fredriksson's work and makes her dresses, sweaters, and blouses so particularly enticing. The tradition continued recently for her Spring 2008 collection with Gen Art in New York City. Fredriksson found inspiration in the historic, decaying building of Old Havana as well as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiles' work from Vienna in the '20s.
As an emerging designer, Fredriksson notes the difficulty in breaking into the business. "It's definitely a challenge to be a small designer in the industry," she says. "I didn't have the network that fashion school designers might have after graduating, and had to build all my contacts and resources on my own which took time." However, her status as an emerging designer is also seen by Fredriksson as an inspiring benefit. "Sometimes I end up having a wider range of solutions because of [her status]. Thinking out of the box and having a different perspective from the overall industry can be a plus in certain situations," Fredriksson says. When looking at Fredriksson's pieces, it is evident that the designer is doing such, working within a personal framework to create beautiful, often complicated designs for a more unique, but still realistic customer, one that Fredriksson draws a close relationship. "I always design with the knowledge that people will live and breathe in my pieces, and I create the shapes so it can adapt to real life," the designer says. "I love the idea that there are so many stories being told and created from people wearing my garments in lots of different parts of the world."
Fredriksson's pieces have been described as a "mixing of opposites" and as much are evident through her high-waist and pleated plaid skirts, ultra-cropped pea coats, and floor-length dresses, often incorporating her signature screen printing. "I have always worked two dimensional as well as three," Fredriksson says. "I usually design a print or fabric for one or more specific garments, but sometimes a print can end up somewhere unexpected," she says, such as on a pair of leggings from her Spring 2007 collection. "Finding the beauty in the unexpected combinations of shapes, fabric, texture, color, history, or culture is something I find very intriguing,"she says.
However, the designer is not limited to just the traditional fashion industry. Fredriksson has also created outfits for Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters for videos and the band's world tour. "It's always fun to create with a specific person and situation in mind. It also gives me freedom when finding limited fabrics and ideas that I love but that wouldn't work or fit into the collection," the designer says. Her designs, though, are still representative of the H Fredriksson identity, one that is quickly becoming a favorite among celebrities and fashion-obsessive's alike.
View more of the collection online at hfredriksson.com
Issue #35
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