Ravishing Mad

Borrowing designer clothes

2011-12-12T13:35:00.001+01:00

Whenever stylists needs to borrow clothes for photoshoots or to dress up celebrities they usually visit showrooms to borrow designer clothes from all over the world. These showrooms are usually financed by the designers themselves with a monthly fee for the space the collections occupies and the showroom staff is supposed to help you speak for the brand and make sure it gets into as many magazines as possible. I have worked with showrooms in many different cities over the years but after I took over the lending out business myself things have really started to move, so I must say I'm pretty happy about the decision of not being represented anymore.
Nowadays the stylists contacts me in person and gives me the details about the photoshoot or event they have going on and I can Fedex whatever they need the same day. They choose from online catalogues and have it delivered the next day to their doorstep and return it when they're done. The only disadvantage is that they won't stumble upon my collection when going through their favourite showrooms, but hey I let them stumble upon me on the internet instead! There are so many stylists that check things online nowadays and the quality of the press clips I get from this is way higher than the incredibly boring "copy the celeb outfit" in the weekly gossip mags I used to get a lot of.
Berlin stylist Valerie Oster found me on the web earlier this Autumn and she borrows Ravishing Mad every now and then. She has the perfect relaxed yet cocky and androgynous Berlin style that I love so much and I was thrilled to see this Look At Me feature of her in Fashiondaily TV showing her favourite outfit right now. The vest with the long pockets are actually the upper part of the Ravishing Mad assdoor jumpsuit from SS-11!

Oh hello what am I doing?

2011-12-08T17:27:00.001+01:00

Berlin Fashion Week is treating me to do my own fashion show in January, thank you, satan is now behind me! I'm spending the day draping and it looks like a vehicle canopy, this thing that I'm shaping...and this awesome soundtrack is on repeat.

My own evolution, Darwin and I we're like this tight

2011-12-07T10:51:00.001+01:00

I made these sketches last Summer and they have been pinned to my wall for quite a while now together with the DIY stencil that I used to make custom shopping bags for the pop up store. It has become all shiny, hard and curly from all the spraying and gets more beautiful for each time I use it.

Shooting with Joy

2011-12-06T19:25:00.002+01:00

A really cool girl named Joy Liljegren wrote me this Autumn and asked to join in this little world I have going on. I liked her way and I loved how she instantly dug into anything I threw at her. Last week I asked her to interpret Ravishing Mad by styling a photo shoot with any clothes she wanted, with any brand and any accessories. I especially liked the black dog bones and the liquorice necklace she came up with and while the storm was torturing everyone else, we built our own world in...yes of course a basement. You know I have a weakness for basements and imagine my lucky grin when I found this 100 year old basement with secret chambers and labyrinth like passages covering a whole block under my friend's house. Agnes was so perfect, calm and fun, melancholic and crazy, anything I asked for. See more of my photos here.

Stylist: Joy Liljegren Model: Agnes Madsen

Photo: Anna Österlund

Who's beat?

2011-12-06T16:31:00.001+01:00

Dearest Truls, my love, was as I completely beat after painting all the jeans and on top of that he bravely got into those fresh lowrise ones and threw himself in a trashy corner of the forsaken old shopping mall that we had sieged for the past week. What won't we do for a pretty pic?

Hand painted for Hong Kong

2011-11-29T12:57:00.001+01:00

Photo: André de Loisted

When I was in Paris I met the buyers from the huge store D-Mop in Hong Kong and they fell in love with all the hand painted styles I had in the collection. They asked me to make them a special in-season production for them on these limited edition styles and oh am I glad the edition was...limited? Last week we sent them off and right now feels like a vacuum after all the hard work.

The idea of painting the outlines and all the seams originally came from a text that I wrote when sketching the Screaming Collection.

If you ever find me,
make me paper thin,
pin me up and leave me,
or sit on me with all your weight
with no restraint so I can't breath.

If you ever find me,
draw my outlines thick,
define me with a marker,
in any shape and every shade,
plastic lines of reds and greens.

But if you ever find me
I'll throw my weight on you,
with borrowed force I kick and scream,
tearing, I will wear you out,
biting, breathless still.

I hope you'll never find me.
I'll do my best to hide from you,
I have become what I most fear,
drop this cup that spills.

The garments I made were white and I thought that if one stands close to the white wall no one will see you. I bought a huge black marker pen and by drawing black outlines and even adding green and red, the world would turn into 3d and you would be seen. The new outlines would be a way to define a new start when one friend helps another.

Last month we put six different jeans styles in production for Hong Kong and except for all the black machine dyed ones, we hand painted over 70 pairs for them plus some tops. First we washed all those white jeans with black seams in the laundry room in our basement, dried them and drove over to the Leonard garage where we did the fashion show this Summer. Mitt Möllan let us lend a huge dirty old room in the mall that used to be a super market and we started by putting up wires where the painted jeans could hang dry and we spread out big plastic sheets over the floor. Truls came to help me after work in the evenings and we did the light grey wrinkled wash that made me think of how one would look if shaped as a thin paper that someone had wrinkeld and thrown in the corner. The black outlines on white turned out really well and I especially liked the the gorgeous dappled industrial grey jeans with sloppy black outlines. After a week we were finished and fixated the colour in the enormous oven at Konstnärernas Kollektivverkstad and then awaited the worst work so far of sewing on all the tags.

I really want my customers to not be afraid of changing my fashion into their own fashion, I think it's a pitty that so many people think of designer clothes as holy, so I put a little note on them encouraging the future owner to not washing unless necessary and to do whatever they want with their new garment.I'm hoping it will lead to someone putting paint on them or cutting them off or whatever.

It was quite silly how I made this tag, it pretty low tech in every way possible. I wanted to make a graffiti stencil out of the Ravishing Mad logo and the easiest way, yeah I know, would have been to print it and cut it out with a scalpel. The last part I got right but since the printer was out of ink I pencil traced it from the computer screen. I went outside with the stencil and a piece of paper and sprayed the black limited edition logo and wrote some well chosen words with the great big marker pen and then I asked the print shop to reproduce the tag for me so we could attach it to the back pocket of the jeans.

We did over produce and right now our living room has boxes of seven fantastic styles that will enter our webshop next year in all the coolest colours...

Ravishing Mad SS-12 Catwalk show

2011-08-23T23:02:00.000+02:00

Pics of my Darwin Collection from the fashion show last week. Producing 14 different jeans styles in lots of sizes for men and women in all kinds of garment dyes and spray can effects. Unisex one-off tops in stiff denim with raw edges or burn marked soft matt silk with pilling and on top of that hundreds of meters of shoelace and plenty of heavy spikes. The one-offs will be sold sometime around the turn of the year and yeah baby only one unique piece per style!

Mikael Karlsson composer

2011-08-23T22:28:00.000+02:00

Last week I showed my SS-12 Darwin collection at the new fashion scene 38minuter in Malmö to music from the extremely talented Swedish (NYC based) composer Mikael Karlsson. His music has been performed at cool places like Carnegie Hall and he has collaborated with Kleerup, Lykke Li, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet among others. His music has moved on to video games like Battlefield Bad Company and he has received a long line of awards over the years, this being still under the age of 40.
He has a darkness in his music that I just love and best of all he's extremely active in questioning and developing classical music into contemporary in a kinda punk way. We have been sending each other a whole lot of e-mails back and forth the last week and I think I've found myself a soulmate! Today he sent me a fantastic little tune for our next collab and we have already started brainstorming the storyline for the video I'll be make him in September. Until then, he's treating all of you RM fans out there with a free download of three of his albums (including the piece Ends that I used in the fashion show). They will be available to download on his homepage under the news section (under title: 38minuter) and on dropbox until August 30 and I hope you'll love it as much as I do!

Fashion Show Press Release

2011-08-15T10:41:00.002+02:00

Here follows a Swedish press release for our Malmö fashion show on Wednesday:

Photo: Anna Österlund

Malmö har många talangfulla modedesigners som är på väg att bli stora på ett internationellt plan. De vill visa Sverige och världen att detta är en stad att räkna med nu och i framtiden men det har saknats en arena som sammanför dem med hemmapubliken.

Därför har tre internationellt erkända svenska modedesigners verksamma i Öresundsregionen gått samman för att högkoncentrerat och storslaget med en modevisning visa sina vår/sommar-2012-kollektioner för Malmöpubliken.

Det behövs aktörer som stödjer sina lokala designers på samma höga nivå som Stockholm och Göteborg gör genom modevisningar, modemässor och andra evenemang. "Närheten till den stora modestaden Köpenhamn borde vara en fördel i jämförelse med de andra svenska storstäderna, ändå ligger vi långt efter i antal event som hålls", säger Anna Österlund designer för Ravishing Mad. Hon fortsätter berätta att hon länge tänkt på att mode i Malmö har inte fått lika stort utrymme att visa upp sig live som musik, dans och teater och att det nu är dags att ta saken i egna händer. Anna ser det här som starten på en profilering av Malmö som modestad.

Tillsammans med Jenny Grettve är Anna Österlund initiativtagare till den nya modescenen som går under namnet 38 minuter. Eventet koncentreras till att visa mode i sin renaste form samtidigt som samarbetaen över olika konstnärliga discipliner är en viktig del. -Därför har vi valt att inte skapa en festkväll med bar och mingel. Det blir snarare en form av ”pop-up-event” som under 38 minuter är sprängfyllt av mode och kultur för att sedan tystna igen och därefter återkomma varje säsong för att växa sig starkt, berättar Jenny Grettve.

Detta är starten på en modedag som återkommer gång på gång för att bli en av de modescener i Sverige som branschen och modepubliken räknar med. 38 minuter äger rum hos Mitt Möllan, som omvandlar före detta Leonard Butiksgata på Claesgatan till ett hus för konst, kultur, design och mode.

Var? P-huset Leonard, Claesgatan 6, Malmö den 17 augusti 21.00, insläpp 20.30, begränsat antal platser och gästlista i dörren. OSA på www.38minuter.se

Vad? Jenny Grettve, Ravishing Mad och MAXJENNY skapar en kväll som samlar Malmös invånare och modebranschfolk och visar bredden av Malmös rika kulturutbud.

RAVISHING MAD
Den respekterade tidningen Collezioni Sport and Street utnämnde redan 2008 Ravishing Mad till "reinventor of denim". Höga midjor, draperade silhuetter, målade jeans istället för blekta. Designern och mångkonstnären Anna Österlund har på olika sätt fortsatt att utveckla nyskapande dam- och herrjeans parallellt med en mängd film-, foto- och konstprojekt. Ravishing Mad samarbetar gärna och ofta med musiker, konstnärer och dansare för att både bredda och ifrågasätta vår syn på mode och identitet. Kollektionerna visas på modeveckorna i New York, Paris och Berlin och det första tillfället att se SS-12 är under Stockholms modevecka 9-11 augusti. www.ravishingmad.se info(at)ravishingmad.se

JENNY GRETTVE
Jenny Grettve visade sin första kollektion i augusti 2010 och sen dess har hon uppmärksammats mycket för sina klassiska plagg med annorlunda skärningar. Jenny är utbildad arkitekt och det syns ofta i hennes sätt att konstruera och tänka kring mode. Märket arbetar för att vara ekologiskt hållbart genom att närproducera och använda alternativa material. Jenny Grettves vår/sommarkollektion 2012 kommer att visas under Stockholm Fashion Week samt i New York i september. www.jennygrettve.com info(at)jennygrettve.com

MAXJENNY
MAXJENNY art fashion and style är ett innovativt koncept konstruerat av designern Maxjenny Forslund. Maxjenny arbetar intuitivt som modedesigner och använder inte traditionella sätt för att komma fram till sin form utan arbetar direkt i tyget och på kroppen. Hon arbetar med metoden direkt drapering -detta tillåter henne att improvisera, följa tygets karaktär och använda dess hela vidd, vilket också medför extremt lite spill. Detta nya sätt att jobba, tänka, hennes spontana säkra bruk av färger och förmågan att ständigt utvecklas framåt i nya material har blivit hennes signum. www.maxjenny.com info(at)maxjenny.com

TACK TILL!

hår och smink:
Big Hair Mama - Är en Ekologisk hårsalong på Kristianstadgatan 13b, vid Möllan. Fixar håret på MAXJENNYs modeller.
Matilda Lundahl Genko hårdesign - Håller till på Friisgatan 12, vid Triangeln. Stylar håret på Jenny Grettves modeller.
Blissiz - Ligger på Tessins väg 10c i Slottsstaden och erbjuder dig behandlingar inom hår, hud och kropp i en behaglig miljö under ett och samma tak. Gör hår- och makeup för Ravishing Mad.
Makeupartist Anne Hanson - Arbetar professionellt med alla typer av sminkningar och gör makeup på Jenny Grettves och Maxjennys modeller.

eventdesign:
CTED - Kreativ studio med fokus på möten, utställningar och event. CTED utformar och designar catwalk, ljus och bakgrunder till 38 minuter.

eventteknik:
INFORMATIONSTEKNIK - med kontor i Malmö, Köpenhamn, Århus, Oslo och Stockholm är en av Skandinaviens mest kompletta leverantörer inom audiovisuell kommunikation. Teknikleverantör till 38 minuter.

lokal:
Mitt Möllan - Omvandlar före detta Leonard Butiksgata på Claesgatan till ett hus för konst, kultur, design och mode.

stolar:
Lunds tältuthyrning - Levererar helvita, stilrena och fräscha tält med den inredning ni behöver. Finns på Järngatan 31 i Lomma och bidrar med stolar till visningen.

dj:
HMWL - House Music With Love är en house-blog av musiker och DJ:s och sköter musiken på visningen.

hemsida:
Truls Bråhammar - Arbetar som webbutvecklare på Inka Interactive i Malmö

video:
Anna Österlund - Har fotat bakgrundsbild och video.
Jenny Grettve - Musik till videon
Camilla Dueholm - Arbetar som koreograf och voguing/waackingdansare i Köpenhamn.
Mary-Anne Buyondo - Modellar och dansar med tyg i videon.

dryck:
Ceethree’s iO - är en unik energikub baserad på grönt kaffe, nyttiga superfrukter och uppiggande örter. iO bjuder på dryck under 38 minuter.

tilltugg:
Larsa Foods - bjuder våra gäster på osten Oriental White, en genuin smakupplevelse från östra Medelhavet.

modeller:
Epic People - Är en castingagentur som vill ta till vara på människor med karaktär, utstrålning och juste stil i Malmö och Öresundsregionen. Epic People har castat modeller till visningen.

dansare:
Moonwalkers - Malmöbaserad dansgrupp som öppnar 38minuter med uppträdande till dubstep.

Greatest fashion show ever in Malmö - 38 minuter modevisning

2011-08-03T22:38:00.001+02:00

I felt someone had to do something about the non existing fashion scene in Malmö...Loads of great brands and designers run their own brands here and show their collections on fashion weeks around the world! But Malmö is a small town without its own fashion week and the designers live here incognito until they suddenly pop up in New York, Paris or Berlin. I have no idea of how it's even possible that this town, that even lacks a proper design school, is filled with so many designers. Anyhow, it was just a matter of time until we got together and did something about it all!

Soo...Jenny Grettve and I decided to show our home audience what they didn't know excisted. We decided to open the SS-12 season together with designer Maxjenny by creating a big fashion show on the same level as we would on our international shows. If you ask me, this is already tradition: let's always open the season at home, no matter where we live!

Jenny, who is also a musician and an architect is used to working with different media and I, who love my camera and have been dancing a whole lot my entire life, got together two weeks ago to film a teaser video together using the sum of all our experience from different art forms.

We asked ourselves: how to show fashion without showing clothes? Easy, it's all about statement and image, fashion is so much more that just clothes. Actually, not showing our collections in this video was more important! You'll have to come to the show to see them!!!

Professional Danish Voguing/Waacking and House dancer Camilla Dueholm came over to Malmö and did her wicked moves in my basement. My basement is a good place, remember the other vid we shot there? And then we met up with cool Mary-Anne Buyondo (who has square hair and is a naturally born dancer without any training which is confusing and enviable) and made her skinny dip in the sea and dance naked in the middle of the night in a huge soccer field.

Jenny made a tune with a cool industrial feel to it and we played it loud and nice in the basement and soccer field locations that night. Yes, I brought giffles from Pågen, I cannot work without them! And I filmed and took snapshots and danced a little. Jenny danced too, it was a fantastic night.

38 minutes fashion - teaser - upcoming show in Malmö from Ravishing Mad on Vimeo.

We talked to a whole bunch of good people and asked them to help us out and now the show is fully sponsored by all the coolest companies in Malmö! We talked to the casting agency Epic People for example and they got us 30 fabulous models, and 3 different hair salons: Blissiz, Big Hair Mama and Genko Hårdesign will close down their businesses that day just to help us out. Yeah baby, and Mitt Möllan let us lend their parking garage emptied from cars (you know I have a blistering weekness for raw environments, right?) My husband Truls who works at Inka made us a homepage, Lunds tältuthyrning got us the chairs, music collective House Music With Love aka the people behind Skandinavia's biggets house and techno blog will dj and set up the sound system, makeup artist Anne Hanson and her crew will do their thing and we got light from Highway ljud och ljus. And even more companies are signing up as I write this post...!

So watch the video and spread the word! And btw, don't forget to rsvp asap, there is a limit to how many we'll let in. WWW.38MINUTER.SE

Model casting in Malmö

2011-07-13T16:50:00.001+02:00

Hey, you don't have to be an experienced model as long as you are gorgeous in any odd or obvious way and think this would be a lot of fun!

We're arranging some majorly bigly and cool-ey fashion shows in Malmö in August and need loads of models, if you're over 173 cm tall, send me an e-mail at info[at]ravishingmad.se to book your casting on the 1'st of August and don't forget to slip me a headshot, your size and length! Oh, and we still need to book a few more makeup artists and hair stylists for both events...please send me a link to your online portfolio if your interested!

Documentary about fashion

2011-07-01T12:53:00.000+02:00

Sally Levi behind the film production company Film Trolley and Swedish Film/TV producer Peter Wirén recently asked me for an interview for their exciting new project called After a Fashion. A documentary about fashion and identity featuring two girls, Sally and Elsa, travelling to India, Sweden and USA to explore how identity creates fashion or vice versa. By visiting different cultures like a nudist camp, Sami inuites, and letting an Indian princess switching places with an Indian shopgirl, they ask themselves whether personal expression can be either oppressed or enhanced through fashion and how differently people are received depending on what they wear.

Their journey is supported by interviews with people with different takes on fashion and that's where I come in together with Roger Dell from The Farnsworth Museum and Harvard University, Indian fashion designer Ritu Kumar, and American fashion designers Christian Joy and Ralph Lauren.

The pilot is set but the full documentary isn't ready until 2013, here's what they came up with so far, watch and enjoy!

Ravishing Mad in Faction Mag

2011-06-01T12:06:00.004+02:00

Our SS-11 photoshoot with Caleb Eike Smith is now published in the Kansas City based fashion magazine FACTION!

Open publication - Free publishing - More carman stalker

Last year I took Mårten with me on a road trip from Malmö to Stockholm. In June it was, no maybe it was in July, I can’t remember anymore, but it was on a Friday. He brought his tiny guitar and played for the other cars driving by on the highway, and eleven stone Buddhas. I brought some potato and chicken with little red dots that put us into hypochondria mood for at least the following 24 hours. I also brought the collection and a very old pair of welding goggles.

The six hour drive took nine hours cause we didn’t bring any car nazi to tell us not to stop at least once an hour. But that was not a problem, Mårten took his DJing task very seriously on my crappy stereo, and played bands like Pixies and Suicide. Frankie Teardrop was with us the whole time and is part of my crowd now.

We slept at a friend’s place when we got to Stockholm. But before we went to sleep, Mårten lined up his Buddhas on the table. It was for our protection he said. The morning after, when the sun was already unbearably hot, we both got into our striped ass-door jumpsuits that we designed together just days earlier. It was the first time I co-designed with him, always kept that process to myself before. So we went into the woods looking snazzy, Mårten in his white framed shades and me in my shutter goggles. Sat down on a perfectly placed carpet-beating rack in the semi-shade. I trimmed his hair off and we then rushed to the nearest gas station to buy coffee and cinnamon Gifflar. We lived on those ultimate ugly-buns. Never ever trying too hard to please, ugly and flat, impeccable taste.

Few moments later, at Caleb's place, we had some more of those necessities before we packed the car with everything we’d need for the next day and night. Caleb in his magic boots with his cameras and pieces of cardboard. Mårten, all he needs is the hello kitty guitar and his fags. I bought more Gifflar, and the collection was already back in the trunk. We had no plan, we drifted from place to place all over Stockholm, and knew we had to end it all 30 hours later.

Caleb told us about a place he knew under a bridge. We walked for a long time and climbed through a fence, that only our slim bodies could be squeezed through, then down on a ledge at the bottom of the rock wall right by the channel where all the boats passed by. We waved at some of them and eventually found ourselves under the big rumbling bridge. The bright sun reflected on the water and threw a surreal light into our cathedral. A foot road lead from the bridge abutment and as we spotted it we realized that our little adventure was rather banal. But that magic concrete palace became our home for a few hours, we explored every inch of it. Climbing up on secret shelves, retiring at the top of a crossbar, chasing each other in the gravel. I sprained my ankle, and from a nearby restaurant Caleb got ice that we attached to the foot with Mårten’s old mesh hospital t-shirt. It didn’t matter, we lived in a magic world now.

I knew of another bridge leading over polluted water from an industrial area and shipping port, to a beautiful green island. In the sunset it seemed like the end of the world. We were the last survivors and the evening breeze started to get cold. Stepped into the sea in those wonderful jumpsuits. The cold water did wonders to my ankle and I tried not to fall on the slippery stones.

Back at Caleb's apartment we met Hanna and while we waited for total darkness, she unpacked her wonderful jewellery that she kept in a very old brown suitcase. We were all in a rather quiet and almost manic, bordering to apathetic mood, and floated in time. Suddenly the darkness was there and we walked to The Hole.

Caleb had passed it by a hundred times before and was always fascinated by it, but never went down into it before. The Hole he found at the corner of a park right by the street, a fence hid an overgrown staircase leading deeply down to an old bomb shelter closed by an enormous metal door with hinges larger than our heads. We walked up and down the stairs, barely talking occasionally, and sometimes resting on the railing. Tried not to burn ourselves on the nettles. Hanna dressed us with her heavy jewellery and we didn’t even bother to mind that it was pretty fucking cold wearing only the draped mesh garments. Caleb folded his cardboard pieces into different shapes of interesting looking cylinders and taped them onto the flash to steer it’s light.

We were all eager to catch the sunrise as it started to get lighter around maybe two in the morning. At an empty parking lot by the containers in the shipping port we saw the first light of a cloudy day and we didn’t say a word. Caleb’s arms were aching and he started shooting from the hip. Hanna fell asleep in the car and Mårten couldn’t find his fags. I had some more painkillers.

Neither of us wanted to stop and there was no one there to tell us when enough was enough. But at five, the memory card was full and we got four hours of sleep back at the apartment.

When we woke up, Caleb made pancakes, and photographed us all over again in the basement of the artist collective he’s a part of. We threw balls at each other, screamed, leaped through the air the highest we could, did just anything that crossed our minds. And Caleb shot from his hip.

See the whole collection here and click on Spring/Summer -11.

Don't speak softly

2011-05-31T13:48:00.000+02:00

A while ago I started posting random photos that I like...on yet another tumblr blog...I call it Don't Speak Softly.

What is fashion?

2011-05-27T17:19:00.000+02:00

Some time ago someone asked / probably stated that I wasn't really that into fashion, right? -I guess...was my answer, the so called question confused me. Actually I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a very thought through question or even a dare. It was merely a try to converse and maybe that’s why it didn’t trig me and I let it be. What annoys me now is thinking of it long time after, I don’t like that lame excuse for an answer.

Calling myself a fashion designer yet possibly not being into fashion is a hell of a contradiction. I’m seemingly spending most of my time making fashion so I ought to like it… I mean, you know me! There is no stolidity connected to anything that I do even in the simplest everyday doings. I care all the time about everything and anything and it’s moving me fast forward under fun circumstances. But you’ve got a point: I don’t talk much about clothes…However I am into fashion but we fucking define it differently you and I.

Materializing feelings, extending my personality into visual is what I do and when I choose to use the body as my forum or canvas I call it fashion. Fashion and style as a form of self-expression and clothes as one of my tools. I have an urge to mold my feelings and thoughts into shapes that are touchable and concrete. My inside needs to be visualized in order for me not to burst. It’s an emotional and stubborn mind that keeps me so busy thinking and feeling that it would be a shame to waste it or to let it destroy me instead of profiting on it in some way. I sometimes put them into spoken words, or poems and lyrics, and sometimes into sketches and photos, structures…and clothes.

Clothes in general often don't inspire me much, I find it excruciatingly boring to browse for “must haves”, today's outfit or being told what seasonal colours every wardrobe needs. That’s just a commercial trick and something used to profit on people’s insecurities and possibly the worst side of the fashion industry.

What inspires me is the language we are able to speak through the way we dress. When I start creating a collection, work on sketches, or for that sake deciding what to wear today, I don’t think in garments I think in concepts, silhouettes, and social markers. Just as a thought can be put into music and sounds and be listened to, fashion is to me an expression used on the body visible for the world to see, judge or love. Portraying my inside on my outside, I get to choose which part of myself to show or hide. I think of it as a power tool that allows me to constantly reinvent myself. Buying a dictated outfit in the seasonal colour doesn’t interest me, hence an interest for clothes doesn’t always equal an interest for fashion. I love the language of fashion, not talking about clothes.

Shootin'

2011-05-27T12:01:00.000+02:00

I shot some pics of model Otto Lundbladh in various Ravishing Mad clothes the other day, just for fun...check out more and follow me on tumblr!

Men's jeans to die for

2011-05-21T11:25:00.001+02:00

He fell head over heels for these Ravishing Mad drop crotch jeans called Marv and jumped into them right away!

The outlet continues every Saturday in May 2011 at Mitt Möllan hours 12-4 pm at Clasgatan 8 in Malmö Sweden.

étincelle magazine

2011-05-17T13:56:00.001+02:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More fashion

Just recently five 16 year old girls decided to make their own printed street fashion magazine as a school project. So they hit the streets and started shooting people and that's how they bumped into me few weeks ago. Soon after, we sat down in a café for a chat which resulted in a long article about my thoughts on fashion plus some incredibly kind words about me. I'm flattered to say the least but most of all fokkin impressed by the amount of work they are putting into this. I don't know about you, but back in the 90'ies when I went to school, the school papers didn't look anywhere close to what they've come up with! Read the online article above on page 17 or here and run it through google translate if you don't speak Swe ;-)

Anna Österlund fashion photography

2011-05-10T14:41:00.003+02:00

I've always loved working with the camera and now it's time for me to get out of the closet and start showing you my work. If you like it, don't forget to tell me...or hire me!

clothes by jenny grettve
link to my photo blog

Pics by Jet and Leslie

2011-05-10T14:15:00.001+02:00

The very cool New York based photographer Leslie van Stelten and gorgeous stylist Jet Olivia fell in love with this Ravishing Mad dress and we decided to do a campaign with it a few weeks ago. The outcome of their work is grrrrrrreat and I love these photos!!! Check out the beautiful pics they shot last time they borrowed my stuff.

Anette

2011-05-10T13:52:00.000+02:00

She walked by Truls and saw him in his Marv drop crotch jeans and thought wow! So she came over and tried them on, but in the dressing room she became friends with this other girl that was trying on a pair of Big Pocket. -I'll let you try them on if you promise to give them back...!
*AAahHrg agony! what to chose?* she thought, both jeans looked wicked on and the question was: was there even another pair in the right size? Yeah baby there was, so she went for the Big Pocket and I asked her for her number. Now she's a model.

Fashion and vintage outlet in Malmö

2011-05-06T11:38:00.000+02:00

Every Saturday in May you can find old collections and samples at gooood prices from Ravishing Mad at the outlet at Mitt Möllan in the center of Malmö!!!
Lots of other brands from the store Hi On Life like Kuyichi, Flying A, Julian Red, Uniforms for the Dedicated, and local brands like Rossling, Robert & Blad, FEJ Clothes, 80'ies & 90'ies second hand by NKOTB, kitch from Miss Juniversum and much more. WELCOME!!!

Opening hours: every Saturday in May 12.00-16.00 at Claesgatan 8

Local Press This Week

2011-04-08T17:23:00.001+02:00

Our Ass-door Jumpsuit in Tidningen City Malmö/Lund

Interview in Galore Weekend

From last weekends catwalk show in Sydsvenska Dagbladet

Sneakpeak AW-11 Collection

2011-03-07T00:07:00.000+01:00

photo: André de Loisted

Ravishing Mad in Paris at Capsule

2011-02-28T15:38:00.002+01:00

Photo: André de Loisted

This week I'm going to Paris Women's Fashion Week to show at (capsule) and I hope to see you there! Come by the showroom in Marais where I'll be with my good friend A-K/C. Opening hours are 10am-7pm March 5-7. Welcome!!!

(capsule)
Garage Turenne
66 Rue De Turenne
Paris, 75003
March 5-7 2011
10am-7pm

Kulturplats Lagret - Pimp ur clothes

2011-02-27T22:46:00.001+01:00

Two weeks ago this 15 year old boy Kevin called me up and told me how he and two other kids were about to arrange a fashion workshop for other teens. They wanted me to join them for inspiration and for fun and how could I say no to that?

Wednesday evening we had a creative clash for a few hours at the youth center Kulturplats Lagret in the old chocolate factory in Malmö and lots of other cool kids came by. They had collected plain white t-shirts and caps, piles of zippers, rivets, metal chains, glue on badges, and loads of markers in every colour possible. I brought a couple of sewing machines and it was pretty damn cool how fearlessly engaged they were in turning those t-shirts into personalized garments. Not even the kids that arranged the whole thing were used to sewing, so all kudos to them for trying out something new! I showed them how to sew zippers, screen print with open frames on wrinkled garments and so on and incidentally I asked if they by any chance had any spray cans. As it turned out they had a big cabinet filled to the rim with all colours imaginable and we started spraying like crazy. We had so much fun, I so wanna do something like this with them soon again.

Lagret is an awesome place for teens that I had no idea excisted, they can come there for free two evenings a week and realize any creative ideas they have and it's fully equiped with a recording studio, screen print equipment, lots of space, a chill out corner, good music, and anything you could need to draw, do graffitty, write, film, you name it. The best of all is that the projects are run by the teens themselves with a little help from a couple of grown ups.

I got this rage

2011-01-30T22:46:00.000+01:00

I hope you'll never find me.
I'll do my best to hide from you,
I have become what I most fear,
drop this cup that spills.

Ravishing Mad Press

2011-01-26T00:30:00.006+01:00

I've been really bad at updating my homepage with the press that I've received, but I can only improve from here, right!? Here is some of it and there's more on the homepage and I have a lot more left to scan and post...I'll try my best...

And yeah...here is a long interview with me by wicked Steff in Canada, kind words about the SS-11 collection from Italian Frizzifrizzi, and also from Francesco di Maio - the editor of the first and only Egyptian men's wear magazine Uomo Moda.

Basso

Stockholm Street Style

Trelleborgs Allehanda centerfold

Slitz

Damernas Värld

Camino

Plaza Kvinna

City cover

City

Sydsvenskan cover

Trelleborgs Allehanda cover

City

City cover

Pop up store in Vienna

2011-01-24T11:07:00.002+01:00

This week it's the last chance for you boys and girls to get some Ravishing Mad threads in Vienna from the Pop up store concept MODE:BLOCK

Find the pop up stores at the following 3 addresses:

07.Bezirk_Homebase POP-UP Store
Zieglergasse 40/ Ecke Westbahnstrasse 22
tu,we,fr 12-19h/th 12-20h/sa 11-18h

05.Bezirk_Samstags POP-UP bei Mein Design
Kettenbrückengasse 6
sa 10-18 Uhr

16.Bezirk_Showroom &Sop Window Project
Gablenzgasse 116/7/R3
mo,tu,th 09-18h, fr 09-12h

The Video Store Conversation

2011-01-06T22:12:00.003+01:00

Right about when I had turned 15 my parents were out of town and I invited my friend, who was quite an innocent daugher of a priest, to stay over. We had planned to take the bus to the big video store in the city to rent our first horror film and I, who had done my research, knew that The Tenent (Le Locataire) by Roman Polanski was the proper film to start out with. I did not know how many films the video store would have, but had reflected upon the fact that it would be hard to choose from a big quantity if we came unprepaired.

This was the first time I ever rented a film so I approached the counter in a quite formal manner and asked for the VHS copy as my friend waited by the entrance. The man sneered at me and asked me if I was sure. I nodded quickly and he got up and pulled it down from one of the top shelves and handed it to me. I started counting the money my friend and I so neatly had collected, when he looked at me and said: -I'm going to have to see your ID card, you know you have to be 15 to rent this.
-Oh. My heart sunk. I don't have any yet...
-Well, have you rented anything here before then?
-...No, I whispered and looked down.
-You're going to have to come back some other time in that case, he stated and reached for the film in my hand.
I turned around and embarrased I stepped outside to break the news to my friend. We looked into each other's eyes filled with hopelessness and we sighed.
-No! I suddenly said and declared to my friend that this wasn't good enough, we simply had to see this film.
-I will not return home empty handed!
We came up with the brilliant idea of letting someone else rent it for us and immediately returned to the jittery and determined mood we had just lost. I stopped a young and moderately handsome man in the doorway and asked him to rent the Polanski film for us and promised with the hand on my heart that I was fifteen. I quickly pulled out my library card and anything else I could come up with as proof and he laughed entertained.

-Why would you girls wanna see such an old film? He shook his head and easily continued. -But sure why not, you seem to know what you want, just make sure to return it on time!
-Yes I promise you and thank you so much you, you have saved our lives, I chattered.

We returened home in triumph and made slightly burned popcorn on the stove after which we excitedly sat down in the sofa and turned on the film.

A man moves in to an apartment in Paris recently vacated by a woman who committed suicide. Slowly he begins to suspect that the other apartment tenants are conspiring to drive him insane and he begins to play along in an attempt to gather evidence against them. Paranoia overwhelmes him and the creepy neighbours makes you wonder what really happended to the deceased woman.

The slow tempo, the oh so typical Polansky soundtrack, the mocking of the lead character's total desperation and anguish made me a total wreck! Or was he trapped in his own fantasy? I was terrified, could not sleep for weeks, I still think of it sometimes. I can count the psychologically frightening films I have seen since on my one hand.

Read the book store conversation too.

Man oh man

2010-12-31T02:01:00.001+01:00

This one must be the best one I've ever done and it's not even ready yet. I can't wait to show it to you guys...I'll upload some of the sketches right after New Years. It's so intense everything right now, and yeah on top of that the mix tape is just enhancing the whole situation. I feel so much and as if that's not enough I steal the feelings of others too. It's all channelized into shapes, texts, lyrics, concepts, drawings, clothes and a whole lot of other ideas. This flow is groovy, can't stop it, can't help myself, everything has turned clear.

Yeah baby yeah!

2010-12-31T00:07:00.000+01:00

The creativity coming out of this shit is wicked and divine, so fuck you all out there for fucking with me.

Vice Magazine / Ravishing Mad Christmas Gift

2010-12-24T12:27:00.001+01:00

Merry Christmas friends!!! Vice Magazine Denmark is giving away a pair of Ravishing Mad High Rise Jeans and Marv Jeans today. Log on to Facebook and write a comment to this photo on their wall and maybe you'll get lucky this very white Christmas Eve!
We still have some left in the webshop in case you fall in love with them...

Lots of Christmas love from Vice and Ravmad!

Blackbook

2010-12-20T13:12:00.001+01:00

Thank you Rac boutique in Toronto for being so cool! You are promoting Ravishing Mad as hell and it seems lately we get cred everywhere and anywhere thanks to you!!! :-) I just found out that you mentioned us as one of your "up and coming designers" in the bit about your shop in the new Blackbook with Kristen Dunst!

Image from Blackbook

Ravishing Mad at (capsule)

2010-12-19T17:05:00.004+01:00

We have booked to show at (capsule) during next Women's Paris Fashion Week March 5-7 2011, at 25 Rue Toudic, 75010

Rav Mad Blog

2010-12-15T20:32:00.000+01:00

I needed a somewhere to collect all the wickedness I find on the interweb, so I started one more blog were I'll post links and clips to the best music, art, films, fashion and so on. Call it Rav Mad.

Your opinion on jeans sizing?

2010-12-10T13:22:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,
I need your help! The last couple of months things have fiiiiinally changed and normal sized people are giving me some love! So let's do this, let's together decide on the sizing.

Ravishing Mad is still a small brand and it's oh so expensive to produce a stock of jeans in all our different colours and styles. The first couple of seasons most stores that bought from us were only interested in women's sizes 26",27",28",29" and they even started asking for smaller sizes. I did produce size 30" anyway but rarely sold any of those until just recently (and now I have only 1 pair of 30" left in the webshop). This phenomena seemed incredibly odd to me, but then again I couldn't afford to keep a stock of something that no one showed any interest in.

So, will you please be a sweetheart and give me some suggestions on sizes for High Rise? Legs are always long to make sure they fit as many as possible, it's easier to shorten than lengthen, right? Waist size last season was 25",26",27",28",29",30" and I'm adding 31" and 32" for sure, but the question is: is there any interest out there for more sizes, and in that case which???

Please fill the comment field below with all your thoughts (at the bottom of this post), and you'll MAKE MY DAY!

As lonely as I

2010-12-07T05:30:00.000+01:00

I grabbed your arm, and you let me steer
I bet that you knew, where it would lead
pulling and tearing, I knew what I wanted
why do you tease me, tease me to pieces?

You can’t read my mind, mysterious skin
well truth is darling, I got it all wrong
cause I want what you have, and I have what you need
but the need that you have, is not to be needed

I will tear you up, and scream out loud

face all fears, till the air runs out
I wanna hit real hard, and shake you well
have you ever felt lonely, as lonely as I?

I am sorry for fooling, those who were sorry
for upward and forward, for turning to sorrow
strong and fulfilling, I marched to your beat
so sorry for wanting, what no one expects

Disregarding the fact, that I am still here
reject or unwind, oh silence shreds
miming or whispering, at the top of my lungs
have you ever been lonely, as lonely as I?

Ravishing Mad Webshop

2010-11-30T16:33:00.000+01:00

Yeah baby yeah, the webshop is finally up! My husband Truls has programmed it to perfection and we'll keep filling the stock with new cool styles along the way. We want happy customers so of course we offer free shipping worldwide and all transactions are made through the secure PayEx service.

Lady Gaga's Ravishing Mad dress in Malmö Sweden

2010-11-18T23:06:00.010+01:00

Lady Gaga is coming to town this weekend so the local newspaper Tidningen City here in Malmö decided to dedicate a little project to her. They asked me and two other local designers to spend a couple of hours each making her a crazy dress from secret material. We were separately given different materials to work with the day before yesterday and I got turquoise and gold coloured gift wrapping paper, the designer at Din Favoritpolack got a couple of cabbage heads and Robert Och Blad coffee cups, coffee filters and cake accessories.

Gaga's most outrageous costumes always seam to have a very clear theme no matter what it is and I found some images from her visit to Japan where she dressed as a crazy geisha. I thought to myself that since she's coming to Sweden I'd better make her something that reminds one of that. And what about the theme...well, I didn't find any outfits of her dressed as neither a flag nor a wrapped gift and I made a quick decision on what to do.

The dress, it had to be short. Gaga likes short, very short. I wrapped her in blue paper and made a huge shiny rousette in the front, cut the gold paper into a ribbon and tied her just as you always do ie like a cross all around the package. Never mind her head and crotch, Gaga doesn't give a fuck about conventions. And then loads of little cute parcels all over the skirt. The square foundation around the hips I made from an old shoe box I found in my wardrobe. I spent 4 hours with my glue gun and vóila! I named it GAGA GIVEAWAY.

Ida Annie Kyllerman, model and makeup artist, came over the following day and together we came up with a wicked makeup and hair style. I thought of the dress as a contrast between a young and cute birthday girl verses a fearless stage show artist. I curled her hair into lots of cork screws, Ida did an amazing job with the makeup. She enlarged her eyes with huge eylashes under the eyes and made graphic shapes of pink around the eyes and cheeks. Her bleached eyebrows fit perfectly into that crazy look.

Photographer Mårten Svemark took some vicious shots of Ida in my elevator and journalist Tara Moshizi wrote the article. They told us the editorial staff had turned Gaga crazy from the project and didn't allow any other music at the office that day. And when all the other City editions in the rest of the region of Southern Sweden heard of it all they decided to run it in all the editions today.

The dresses are displayed this weekend in the huge windows at street level of Tidningen City Malmö/Lund at Stortorget in Malmö.

Ravishing Mad S/S-11 Collection

2010-11-17T18:10:00.008+01:00

The SS11 collection from Ravishing Mad sees the brain child of Swedish designer Anna Österlund take determined steps towards a more sinister expression, embracing elements of d.i.y. punk and urban dystopia in combination with the tongue-in-cheek avantgarde flair of previous collections. It is a "fuck you very much and goodbye" to good manners and to any habits of putting on the happy face.

Inspirations draw from the raw and passionate anger of "The Decline of Western Civilization" to the pounding melancholy of The Cure's "Pornography" over the slacked-off aesthetics of grunge rock and the mad beat genius of Allen Ginsberg. The collection offers 10 denim styles in colours like bright red, black, airbrushed grey and print/wash combination blue. Well-known for the draped big pocket jeans with extremely high waist Ravishing Mad continue to incorporate the draped cuts. Key garments include oversize plaid shirts with assymetric "drunk buttoning", unisex ass-door jumpsuits and mesh hoodies with huge sagging pockets. Prices are in the upper mid segment and the collection will be out in stores in February 2011.

Ravishing Mad is a denim based anti-fashion brand that works closely with underground musicians, artists, photographers and film makers alike in devotion to experimental creation for the benefit of every party involved.
People involved with these, often hilariously entertaining, and indeed ravishingly mad design projects are frequently switching places and either modeling, contributing with music and/or in charge of the camera documenting the process.
Although adhering to Swedish design traditions of high quality, clean lines and stressing functionality, designs are deliberately pushed further, incorporating strong accent colours and straying from the strictness of traditional cuts. The collections offer both women‘s, men’s and unisex styles, in ready-to-wear as well as more extreme versions.

The label was founded in Malmö, Sweden by designer Anna Österlund after graduating from the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås and the first collection was presented in 2008. She now runs Ravishing Mad with her husband Truls Bråhammar.

Explaining the philosophy behind Ravishing Mad, Anna Österlund states:

“... 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.”

Danish designer and multi-artist Henrik Vibskov was one of the first to discover the Ravishing Mad denims and has been stocking them in his stores in Copenhagen and Olso since the very first collection.
Since then Ravishing Mad has also been available at Urban Outfitters online, Delta in Tokyo, Rac boutique in Toronto, TG-170 in NYC, PotiPoti in Berlin, Bespoke Boutique in Norwich and many more.

Recent online articles about this collection:
Italian Frizzifrizzi
American This Heart's On Fire
Canadian KaKofonie Of si(gh)lenS
KaKofonie Of si(gh)lenS (again)
Egyptian Men's Fashion By Francesco

Outrageous sketching

2010-11-11T18:26:00.031+01:00

Who else do I know that would react like that if I threw a coffee soaked cloth in his lap? -Just smear it in, baby! He glanced at it for a sec and then instinctivly rubbed his tight white jeans into a stained and brilliant nasty old shade. I did it too, and the warm fluid soon stuck to the legs like an itching old woollen bathing suit. I force myself to imagine that at least...the first thought that came to my mind was something else. The smell was pretty damn good, though.

The secret chamber in my basement is starting to become a favourite place. (Remember, that's where I cut my friends hair late one night last summer.) We collected some stylish old rags from the -90'ies, brewed a bucket of coffee and went down there with our 3 mpx pocket cameras and had a swell time. Hands on sketching at it's best. We tried the rags on in all ways possible: upside down, inside out, leaping, jumping and dancing. It was caught in a thousand frames as proof of true narcissist artistic fanaticism.

After, we printed ourselves, cut and glued, painted, drew and sprayed it into a collection. The Autumn/Winter-11 collection was emerging.

RebekkaMaria wearing Ravishing Mad

2010-11-11T10:19:00.008+01:00

The groovy Danish junglepop/eskimopop artist RebekkaMaria just rocked the cult tv show Oslobåden in our Ravishing Mad leather gloves with fringes, check it out 14 min. into the episode!

Jet Olivia and Leslie Van Stelten

2010-11-10T21:50:00.011+01:00

Jet Olivia is a proper cool New York stylist that I've had my eyes on for a while now. She gives a true rock 'n' roll soul to anything she gets her hands on and you could imagine my delight when I found out that she used some of my Ravishing Mad clothes in one of her recent photo shoots. Check these photos of the unisex cardigan that I once named The Struggling Musician.
Photo by wicked photographer Leslie Van Stelten, who none the less is a true artist with a fearless mind.

Ps. I happen to have one of those cardigans left...

Ravishing Mad Autumn/Winter 2010 Collection

2010-10-29T18:40:00.017+02:00

The Autumn/Winter 2010 Collection from Ravishing Mad is influenced by the 1960’s mod teens and the expression “clean livin under difficult circumstances” (Peter Meaden, The Who’s manager). It’s an illusion or a sense of forward motion while having roots in the past, a simpler time. The collection is an exploration of clean cuts and lines and attention to details. A sharply tailored shirt with a yoke to thread the suspenders through, is combined with slim fitted jeans, a leopard bomber jacket, or a unisex bolero with thumb holes. It all embraces an androgynous look that is an obsession with the past, circumscribed to futurist aesthetics. Ravishing Mad has since the beginning been focusing on well fitted denim like the High Rise jean. It has a wave shaped waistband that emphasizes the body's curves and gives an illusion of lengthening the legs, which is further kept by the long back pockets.

To see the AW-10 collection lookbook, please go to: www.ravishingmad.se and click on collections.
AW-10 photos by André de Loisted

For more info:
Sales contact: Anna Österlund anna@ravishingmad.se tel +46706064626
Press contact: Truls Bråhammar truls@ravishingmad.se tel +46702655371

The jeans, thumb hole cardigan and big pocket trousers are available at Plezuro.

Ravishing Mad jeans at Henrik Vibskov boutique

2010-10-23T23:32:00.005+02:00

I guess you could say Henrik Vibskov was the first to discover the Ravishing Mad jeans. Back in 2008 during my first season I one day got into my bright red high rise jeans and walked into his store in Copenhagen. I asked if he wanted to stock them and within seconds I got a pen in my hand and was asked to write down their order. Since then they've had them in black, grey, red and blue both in the Copenhagen store and Oslo store. I feel proud to be part of his fantastic concept, and I tell you: If you ever come to any of those cities, do not miss stopping by. His world is a pretty damn cool place. Last week I sent the Oslo store another batch of the blue High Rise Jeans and Marv Drop Crotch Jeans. Hope you like them!

Ass-door jumpsuit is walking the streets of London

2010-10-14T11:10:00.008+02:00

And yes, it did happen: I forgot to close the ass-door after visiting a restroom.

AAhhh, could one ever get enough of her hair?

COCOONS - new Ravishing Mad video

2010-10-13T23:45:00.008+02:00

And here it is...finally. The short film about cutting a friend's hair late at night in basement.
Music by INvbaei (tune called Lmvuz2z, free download at illphabetik)
Photo by André de Loisted
Production, edit and text by Anna Österlund, Ravishing Mad
Read more about the film here

Ravishing Mad in London

2010-10-12T11:07:00.005+02:00

I'm in London until Thursday this week to show the ss-11 collection to some stores. Don't hesitate give me a call or text if you want me to come by! +46706064626

xo A

Anna-(K/Carin) Jonsson

2010-10-11T07:40:00.021+02:00

It’s time for me to continue telling you about my playmates. I started this spring and told you about Truls, Mårten, André, Kat and Hanna, and now I want you to know all about Anna-(K/Carin). It’s a bit confusing, her name that is. I once asked her about what she wanted me to call her and she had on clear answer. She sometimes uses the double name and sometimes not, and if you’d ask her or her parents about the spelling, they disagree. So let’s call her A-K/C cause it looks cool.
A-K/C is an incredibly good friend of mine and we can sit closely for hours, telling each other about very cool/strange things we saw or heard of that no one else understands. We share an obsession for steam punk, military uniforms and of course old broken things, we are soulmates.

I had been wanting to cut her hair for two years, and she had nightmares about accidentally falling asleep in my sofa and waking up with no hair. But this summer she finally was ready and asked me to do something cool. I photographed her (above) just to remember that day. There was no time to waste, but no time to find, she was fully booked and about to leave town just two days later. I felt I had to move quickly in order to not loose magic of the moment. However, neither of us had any other plans than sleeping the following night, so we came to the conclusion that a little get-together was a way better thing to do.
She came over to my place at a very late hour and I specified my plans. -Let’s film the whole thing and do it in the secret chamber I just found in the basement! Now, it might sound like I tricked her into this, but you should know that her mind works in mysterious ways too. She had brought some very blunt old fashioned razor knifes for our session, and immediately suggested we started out by trapping ourselves in fabric cocoons in the dirty old basement chamber.

In my studio we found some black elastic fabric that we sewed together into two cocoons. We lined up her razor knifes and some of my tailor scissors on the dusty floor and A-K/C placed a vicious old wind meter on top of an old radiator. The room was a perfectly claustrofobic old bomb shelter closed with a heavy iron door that had a proper lever that you had to turn to open. The chamber was never cleaned and was filled with forgotten things. It had a beautiful ragged old table in the corner, overloaded with brown glass bottles, spider web, cables and rusty tins.

By that time it was in the middle of the night, and André came over with his camera. A-K/C and I got naked in our cocoons and they were closed from the outside. We snaked around on the floor for at least half an hour, trying to get out, feeling like straightjacket prisoners. It was hard to breath with all the dust and dirt that was whisked into the air, and the line between excitement and panic was rather fine.

After some time had passed, I managed to make a hole in my cocoon and ripped it open. Getting out of it was such a relief. I then used the barber razor blade to cut A-K/C out of her imprisonment and started to cut off the long hairlocks covering her frightened face. I tell you, that was a dull piece of equipment! I had to saw to get through her curls, so I switched into the heavy tailors scissors my father once bought me in Rome. It had a beautiful sound and soon the sides of A-K/C’s head were groomed into a grey 6 mm cut. I saved a long lock in the front and one in the back, and in the end it all looked like a wicked dystopian mohawk of a Venezian courtesan.

Ravishing Mad featuring Charlie Campari

2010-10-01T21:06:00.005+02:00

Here is the latest of our vids! It's all of the 1100 photos Caleb shot of me and Mårten. The soundtrack is by Charlie Campari aka Mårten, RM wouldn't be the same without him.

Bestsellers

2010-10-01T20:30:00.017+02:00

We're in Paris showing at (capsule) and although the first day was slow, we got some orders. Believe it or not, but the unisex ass-door jumpsuit is a success! We already sold some and it works like a magnet to anyone passing by. My fav jean in the whole world, the big pocket one is going really well too. I'm delighted! We have it in many different colours and some guys have asked for a similar style for men. Who could say no to that? It's yours in a few.

Ravishing Mad at Urban Outfitters

2010-09-25T18:07:00.009+02:00

This Summer, Urban Outfitters in USA sold these Ravishing Mad jeans in their webshop and it went really well. They sold out pretty quickly!!!

...but if you wanna get a hold of a pair, you can still buy them at International Playground who has a store both in NYC and LA, and if you're in Canada, you can find them at Rac in Toronto.

Edit (later on same day): International Playground just told me they sold out in NYC, only a few pair left in LA. Hurry up folks!

Ravishing Mad at (capsule) Paris

2010-09-24T11:19:00.003+02:00

We are showing our Spring/Summer-11 collection during Paris Fashion Week at Capsule. Just drop by and see us, or send me a note: info@ravishingmad.se or +46706064626. Let's hope for a fantastic show ;-)

(capsule)
October 1-3, 2010
Garage Turenne
66 Rue De Turenne
Paris, 75003
Show hours: 10am-7pm

xo Anna

The most ravishing mad photoshoot

2010-09-22T09:48:00.066+02:00

I took Mårten with me on a road trip from Malmö to Stockholm. In June it was, no maybe it was in July, I can’t remember anymore, but it was on a Friday. He brought his tiny guitar and played for the other cars driving by on the highway, and eleven stone Buddhas. I brought some potato and chicken with little red dots that put us into hypochondria mood for at least the following 24 hours. I also brought the collection and a very old pair of welding goggles.

The six hour drive took nine hours cause we didn’t bring any car nazi to tell us not to stop at least once an hour. But that was not a problem, Mårten took his DJing task very seriously on my crappy stereo, and played bands like Pixies and Suicide. Frankie Teardrop was with us the whole time and is part of my crowd now.

We slept at a friend’s place when we got to Stockholm. But before we went to sleep, Mårten lined up his Buddhas on the table. It was for our protection he said. The morning after, when the sun was already unbearably hot, we both got into our striped ass-door jumpsuits that we designed together just days earlier. It was the first time I co-designed with him, always kept that process to myself before. So we went into the woods looking snazzy, Mårten in his white framed shades and me in my shutter goggles. Sat down on a perfectly placed carpet-beating rack in the semi-shade. I trimmed his hair off and we then rushed to the nearest gas station to buy coffee and cinnamon Gifflar. We lived on those ultimate ugly-buns. Never ever trying too hard to please, ugly and flat, impeccable taste.
Few moments later, at Caleb's place, we had some more of those necessities before we packed the car with everything we’d need for the next day and night. Caleb in his magic boots with his cameras and pieces of cardboard. Mårten, all he needs is the hello kitty guitar and his fags. I bought more Gifflar, and the collection was already back in the trunk. We had no plan, we drifted from place to place all over Stockholm, and knew we had to end it all 30 hours later.

Caleb told us about a place he knew under a bridge. We walked for a long time and climbed through a fence, that only our slim bodies could be squeezed through, then down on a ledge at the bottom of the rock wall right by the channel where all the boats passed by. We waved at some of them and eventually found ourselves under the big rumbling bridge. The bright sun reflected on the water and threw a surreal light into our cathedral. A foot road lead from the bridge abutment and as we spotted it we realized that our little adventure was rather banal. But that magic concrete palace became our home for a few hours, we explored every inch of it. Climbing up on secret shelves, retiring at the top of a crossbar, chasing each other in the gravel. I sprained my ankle, and from a nearby restaurant Caleb got ice that we attached to the foot with Mårten’s old mesh hospital t-shirt. It didn’t matter, we lived in a magic world now.

I knew of another bridge leading over polluted water from an industrial area and shipping port, to a beautiful green island. In the sunset it seemed like the end of the world. We were the last survivors and the evening breeze started to get cold. Stepped into the sea in those wonderful jumpsuits. The cold water did wonders to my ankle and I tried not to fall on the slippery stones.

Back at Caleb's apartment we met Hanna and while we waited for total darkness, she unpacked her wonderful jewellery that she kept in a very old brown suitcase. We were all in a rather quiet and almost manic, bordering to apathetic mood, and floated in time. Suddenly the darkness was there and we walked to The Hole.
Caleb had passed it by a hundred times before and was always fascinated by it, but never went down into it before. The Hole he found at the corner of a park right by the street, a fence hid an overgrown staircase leading deeply down to an old bomb shelter closed by an enormous metal door with hinges larger than our heads. We walked up and down the stairs, barely talking occasionally, and sometimes resting on the railing. Tried not to burn ourselves on the nettles. Hanna dressed us with her heavy jewellery and we didn’t even bother to mind that it was pretty fucking cold wearing only the draped mesh garments. Caleb folded his cardboard pieces into different shapes of interesting looking cylinders and taped them onto the flash to steer it’s light.

We were all eager to catch the sunrise as it started to get lighter around maybe two in the morning. At an empty parking lot by the containers in the shipping port we saw the first light of a cloudy day and we didn’t say a word. Caleb’s arms were aching and he started shooting from the hip. Hanna fell asleep in the car and Mårten couldn’t find his fags. I had some more painkillers.
Neither of us wanted to stop and there was no one there to tell us when enough was enough. But at five, the memory card was full and we got four hours of sleep back at the apartment.
When we woke up, Caleb made pancakes, and photographed us all over again in the basement of the artist collective he’s a part of. We threw balls at each other, screamed, leaped through the air the highest we could, did just anything that crossed our minds. And Caleb shot from his hip.

The book store conversation

2010-07-11T13:44:00.058+02:00

-Hey!
-Hey. He answers from the inner room.
-How are they sorted?
-Does one have to do that too? He says, followed by a sigh.
-No, I just wonder if they are somehow placed in sections...
-Aaaah, well it depends on what you're looking for.

Silence.

He looks up from his computer and adds a hint of interest for a second. -Boy George, whatever happened to him?
-Dunno, I answer and carefully move closer into the next room passing the big "personnel only" sign that is blocking the entrance to the other half of the shop . (I feel stupid standing over by the entrance yelling.)
-Suddenly one day he just disappeared, he continues.

I reflect for a second over the fact that he instantly thought of Boy George of all people as soon as he spotted me.
-But he seemed so fragile...Maybe he broke to pieces, I say and fiddle on just any book without paying attention to the title.
-I think he has the time of his life, probably on a mansion in England drinking wine and eating good cheese.
-Simply reaps what he sowed.
-YES! I imagine it's fantastic, his life! He states, and is again absorbed by the computer in front of him.

-So, what you lookin for? He asks me and seems a bit annoyed that I'm still there.
-Well...not sure if I'm looking for anything in particular. I'm interested in many things...
-How tiresome for ya, huh!
-Well, military uniforms, anything on old clothes...beat literature...
He answers with more silence and peers into his old fat computer and mumbles some unrecognizable words followed by tirades of self hatred.
I feel a bit like leaving, but can't seem to force myself to the door. This conversation is going some place I wanna see and I think to myself I just can't leave at this point. So I continue staring at titles, moving around the room like a ghost until he forgets I'm there.
-Military uniforms you say? I def have nothing on that subject, you're at the wrong place! He now talks to me without looking up, and continues to ignore me for another while.
-PATTY SMITH! he then exclaims.
-Yes?
-Have you ever read her?
-No, actually.
-He replies with another sigh...-Wanna see it?
-Yes, I'd love to! I feel excited our conversation is moving forward again and move myself back towards his messy office space in the back.
-Arrrgh, what a pain you are!
-So you shouldn't have said anything.
-Eh?
-You shouldn't have mentioned her if you wanted me to leave... I bite my lip, wondering if I went too far.
-Zed, zero...zero...He repeats a bunch of numbers and letters to himself and then continues:
-Just let me finish this, ok!

He mumbles something that sounds like his life is fucking heavy and that he hates it all. He gets up and passes me and the loaded table in the narrow middle room and gets behind the counter by the window in the first room and sits down heavily. He pulls out a book of poems by Patty Smith and hands it to me. I open it and read a few lines before I know it will be mine shortly.
-How much?
-Probably 150, he replies. He thinks for another sec, and changes his mind.
-No, you'll get it for a hundred, and I'll get rid of you immediately! He looks at me rapidly with a grin on his face and continues: -If you'd said you were only into clothes, I'd have thrown you out instantly. That's why I have the sign over there. People think they can just barge straight into the second room, when they haven't even checked out the first room. (He points to the "personnel only" sign in the middle of the shop) What's wrong with the first room? I have loads of books here! He shakes his head disgruntedly and gets up from his chair.
-Military uniforms you say?
I realize he just invited me to join his club and follows him back behind the sign. He hands me a big book on Swedish 17th century military uniforms.
-Well, I have this one of course! He says (and seems pleased by my surprised face.)
-This is pretty sweet! I get excited and tell him about a little book I have, loaded with sketches of uniforms from all the big European wars.
-Yeah, must be Uniforms in Colour, I had that one years ago, beats me whatever happened to it! He stands still and thinks for a moment.
-I have it in German. (I try to brag) Oh yeah btw, did you know there were a couple of laws in the 17th and 18th centuries controlling that soldiers powdered their hair and wore black mustaches? Boys who didn't manage to grow their own mustache had to borrow a fake one to attach with a string around the ears. And if they ran out of hair-powder, it was statutoried that nearest farmer handed out wheat flour for free. As much as needed.
-No shit! He scratches his forehead and gets a distant look in his eyes.
-No shit at all! Sticky as hell when it rains, he, he.
I feel so pleased about the connection we have somehow established. And I start to think of myself as an antiquarian bookshop groupie. He gives me another tired smile and says that he never heard that story before.

He then asks me what I do for a living. I say that I work as a designer.
-DESIGNER?!!! What is it with all people nowadays all going around calling themselves designers? I am a designer too. I designed this store. He spreads his arms to their fullest extent and sweeps them around the room with a proud and imperial gesture.
–So what you designing?
-Clothes.
-What, you have your own brand or so?
-Yeah, with lots of denim.
-So what’s it called?
-Ravishing Mad.
He gets that distant look in his eyes again and softens. –Fuck I wish I could do that!

Silence.

-Beat, you say. Well I have On The Road in Italian of course. It's nailed to the wall by the window over there.
I cross the room as I state that my Italian is a bit dodgy and then note that Kerouak actually is nailed to the wall. Straight through all the pages.
I turn to him and ask for the price on the military book and he says -A hundred for that one too. I tell him he'll get that immediately so he'll get rid of me once and for all. He looks me straight in the eyes for the first time and tells me that he's fuckin tired. -So many idiots come in here, he grins.
-You take care of yourself, I say meaningly and we tell each other goodbye.

I run off to the nearest stationery shop to buy a notebook and a pen. Really need to write this conversation down before I forget it.

Plezuro

2010-06-18T00:04:00.005+02:00

The store Plezuro in Stockholm is selling Ravishing Mad like hell. We started our businesses almost at the same time back in 2007 and the owner Johanna has ordered from every single collection. As you know we've done fun collaborations like the time when the band Street Fighting Man played at the Ravishing Mad night at Plezuro earlier this Spring. We also made some postcards together and we always help each other out in any way we can. I love that store, it's the perfect place to find brands like Odeur and Smiley Vintage and lots of other stuff that is hard to get a hold of.

She just did a very fun collaboration with Pierre Ropero: cut-out postcards of the Crown Princess Victoria who is just about to get married. They will be handed out for free...Read the press release in Swedish about what more she's up to.

Check out her new homepage and webshop! She ships worldwide and if you write the words NEWSHOP, you'll get 10% off and free shipping until the 24'th of June!

Scratch it, burn it, lick it, need it

2010-06-14T09:44:00.006+02:00

This collection is all about going back to the core of my work, and become more true to myself. I used to do darker stuff before, but have recently felt that I lost parts of that, not listening enough to myself. It feels like a huge relieve and like I can finally breathe again. My work now evolves around the embracing the darkness that I have within and not putting on a happy face. I believe in letting those emotions out, even if some might be frightening, instead of suppressing them.

I want to take you to that secret place and show you how special it is. Those words that I wrote explains it so well and became almost like a manifesto. I've almost only been inspired by music and have been listening non stop to the Pornography album by The Cure, and Crime and Punishment by No Privacy. I know, Pornography has the reputation to being on of the most depressing album ever, but to me it's the quite opposite.

I really want you to know that this is not about being depressed or sad, it's about embracing all feelings and thoughts and refuse to pretend. It's about living in true moods and seeing the strength in that.

...soon there will be a collection filled with this beautiful darkness. It's just reality.

Don't hide

2010-06-12T14:54:00.019+02:00

I'll show you the darkness
Don't crawl and hide in dreams
Edges soiled
Don't hide in dreams of flesh and blood
Let it disintegrate

Scratch it, burn it, lick it, need it

Delta in Tokyo

2010-06-01T23:37:00.009+02:00

I just delivered some garments like these jeans to the store Delta in Tokyo. So now Ravishing Mad can be found in the coolest capital in the world next to brands like Opening Ceremony, Won Hundred and T by Alexander Wang...that's appealing.

The interiour of the store is quite something...

My way or the highway

2010-05-24T18:33:00.005+02:00

As I read through this blog I realize that I have a way of sounding positive even when I’m not. That is fucking awful. I’m just like those moms I despise so much, you know the ones that put their kids on a pedestal going on and on about how perfect they are. Only I do it with Ravishing Mad. And the amount of exclamation marks is overwhelming. There has to be a change.
I think I have a problem admitting when things are not all well, cause I’m afraid of showing my weaknesses. A fact is that my temper is pretty up and down, and I think too much. Right now I’m in this period of my life where I have started to question everything that I do. So why not thresh the topic Ravishing Mad a little more? My work within the brand has been pulled in directions that I didn’t consciously choose, and in a way I feel that I’ve lost myself. This feeling has grown on me for a while and only recently I started to put it into words. There are a few things that I know for sure, and I’d better just write them down so it’ll be easier to charge me for manslaughter the day I go against them and accidentally murder RM.

Ravishing Mad exists because I want to work artistically with fashion without being IN the world of fashion where there are rights and wrongs, smearing smiles, high horses and above all the business expression “but that’s how it’s done, everyone else…” Second, I don’t care about the seasons and I wear the clothes that I like all year around. If the Summer is cold, a flannel shirt or wool cardigan is perfect, and if the winter is warm a denim jacket works perfectly well. I always like washed out black and bright red, it’s simply not a seasonal thing for me…just as the gender label people put on clothes. Half of the things I buy are from the men’s apartment and I love the idea of unisex styles. It has nothing to do with trying to erase gender, but I don’t think it’s defendable to refuse wearing something gorgeous or match things in a particular way cause it wasn’t meant to be that way.

Growing up, I always did things my own way, and it wasn’t always easy. I really need to remind myself right now that I like it like that, and I’m not happy when I let the surroundings control me. What I just realized was that I lately haven’t been doing things in that manner, so I need to rethink. I’m turning my world around with a little help from my friends and we make it right again…I’m going back to my roots and I feel love.

Hanna Hedman

2010-05-21T13:55:00.026+02:00

It has been mentioned that hiding some of my talents isn’t appreciated, so I thought I’d tell you about at least one of them since it also includes my friend Hanna Hedman. Back in the days when I used to hang about with Kim Gordon, we did some very cool gigs that were also recorded. Kim off course had a thing for singing, but the rest of us switched instruments whenever. Once, we hooked up with my friends Josephine Günther, Lina Torsvall, jewlery desinger Hanna Hedman, and ceramic crafts designer Joanna Günther. That was when I for the first time tried to play the drums, Roland D50 is where I’m usually at home. We called ourselves The Random Slippers, which kinda fitted our sound like a glove.

I think Hanna did the chorus on that recording, but if I remember correctly she was afraid of the mic. That explains the few moments of sound she manages to bless our ears with on this one.

Now it's time to cut to the chase, I want tell you more about this sweet friend mine, and her wickedly divine work. Check this out, here are some of my favourites from different collections she has made last two or three years. Metal sheets from silver, steal and powder coated copper with hand drilled holes, syntetic fibers, pearls and paint.

Her first collection Enough Tears To Cry For Two was heartbreaking with its dripping darkness and thewy anguish. I love it so much! It was followed by What You Tell Is Not Always What You Have Experienced, which was inspired by how stories change depending on the narrator and how a person’s personality can consist of as much fantasy as realism. Its contrasts between humour and melancholy is brilliant I think. Isn't that fish necklace the best ever?

Hanna and I met for the first time in Amsterdam two years ago, when we and some other designers were invited to show our work to celebrate the 25’th aniversary of the fashion fair Modefabriek. Hanna strikes you as pretty calm at first, but as it turns out she is also very cool and fast. Hanna is the girl that within only a few weeks: impulsively went to New Zealand, knocked out both her front teeth, was robbed at the supermarket, dropped out of school and came back, and made one of the most scaringly depressive and fantastic jewlery collections ever.

Her work is very well appreciated all over the world and it feels like she’s always out travelling. A few weeks ago she went to Mexico to attend the Gray Area Gris symposium in Mexico City, recently showed at the art fair Collect in London, did a single show at Soda in Istanbul, and all kinds of other exhibitions at galleries in Sweden, USA, Netherlands, Germany and Poland, Japan and New Zealand.

I very much hope to work with her soon, we have talked about it before, but now I have a project in mind that she hopefully can't resist. (Note how I consciously try to influence her answer by going public with my wish.) Have fun in Japan, Hanna, and let's talk when you get back!

Puma Street 2010 at Stapelbäddsparken

2010-05-19T17:38:00.019+02:00

On Saturday, I’m gonna be doing of a workshop for teenagers here in Malmö at the Puma Street 2010 at Stapelbäddsparken. Before I moved from Stockholm, I was working with kids, helping them how to sew at evening courses and I really have missed doing that lately. It’s so funny that this thing bumped into me only two days after I spoke with Truls and a friend about taking up teaching again.

I’m bringing some sewing machines and other stuff and there will be lots of things to work with in the so called vintage corner. I’ll help you pimp your old clothes (bring anything), and will supply you with buttons, rivets, zippers, wicked fabrics, textile print colour and off course loads of accessories, second hand stuff and puma gear. I love working with denim you know, so bring your old jeans or whatever, and let’s remake them!

There will also be stylists, photographers, dancers, bloggers, and secret guests performing or just hanging around to make this day the best ever. Bring your artistic work and photographies and get to talk about it or even win a prize. If you feel like it you are welcome to come try out working in the professional photo studio, or test your MC abilities, scratch, talk, rap or sing with DJ Clara Stjärna.

The day starts at 10 am with a street football tournament which will continue all day long, and after lunch some of Sweden’s best street football freestylers will show their skills. I’ll be there from 12 to 5 pm, Chords are playing live at 7 pm, and DJs Ras Schack, Rob Love, P. J., Americol, DT & Sindri, and M.E.S.S are performing too.

André de Loisted

2010-05-17T12:48:00.012+02:00

Another photographer once said to me: -he’s such a talent, you’re good at picking your friends! To tell you the truth, we hung out in the same crowd for many years before I saw any of his work. I think he should be a bit more proud of his achievements, everyone else is...Either he’s humble, or just plain stupid.

GWC (Guy With Camera), a derogatory term for an amateur photographer. It usually implies that said guy is only interested in photography in order to get hot ladies to get nekkid for him. Yeah, that’s his biggest fear to be called. I don’t really know where this obsession comes from, he’s probably one of the most trusted and hired photographers in Southern Sweden and freelances for all the big newspapers, and also does a lot of commercial work. André has many feelings, and he thinks too much.

We have so much fun together, and go play or talk about those good old feelings, and life, and art and everything else at least every week. André brings happiness to everything he’s involved in, he's very loyal, and his technical skills are absurd. I see it as my task to force him to do ugly and bad. That makes him explode from laughter and excitement.

The Paraphrase project is our latest thing that we have going on. It started out when André asked me and Truls to do our own version of the Leibowitz photo of John and Yoko earlier this year. Two days before we were gonna do it, I saw this fashion video that made me throw up. You know the kind with the young, sexy, naive model semi-porning around in an apartment,implying that she’s getting high even though she’s just smoking plain cigarettes and drinking foxy cocktails.

And hey! make sure she doesn’t show more than an occasional nipple, cause we don’t wanna risk upsetting anyone!

So I said: -let’s make a video of us taking that photo! And let’s do it in the total opposite way from that video we just saw, let’s just keep it raw, simple and true. I think the whole session took less than an hour, and the same with the editing. Later on that day, when we spoke on the phone, we chattered and cheered from exhilaration and came to the conclusion that this was just the beginning of something unstoppable, so we immediately started planning on which photos to do next. So far we’ve made these three paraphrases, and we have seven more to go. I’m loving every minute of it!

Mårten Charlie Stener Damgaard

2010-05-13T01:10:00.044+02:00

Mårten lives his life as it were a film. He comes from the world metropole of Sorø in Denmark, which has the staggering population of 7743 people, but don’t let that fool you. He is the RM maestro himself, has a heart of gold, and is one of my dearest friends.

This is the guy with the many alter egos. He differs between his names Mårten, and Charlie, according to mood, and you also might know him as my ‘in house model’, ‘meconium’ or ‘Charlie Campari’. For me, he goes under the name Mårten, and I know him in English...because my Danish ear sucks.

(Photo above: Mårten in Ravishing Mad AW-10 collection,
photo by André de Loisted)

Music is his tool, but he’s got some thrilling fashion skills too. He’s played in all kinds of bands from sad heavy metal, insanely cool indie rock, spasmic electro, and much more. His latest project, Sir Charles, is most of the time just him and his tiny guitar in a very cool and unpolished setting with honest lyrics and a pinch of humour and irony. Like honey with salt. Mårten has recently started sketching on some crazy clothes too, and is filled with ideas that we’re incorporating into my latest collection. In the end of August we’re gonna perform together in Stockholm.

He also wrote and performed the song ‘I luv horse’, that we used in the Justify My Love paraphrase video. We thought it’d be such a fun and unexpected contrast to combine that video where I’m smoking for the first time in my life, with a song that is about such heavy shit. The first time I heard this song, Mårten was sitting on the floor of my messy working space at 2 in the morning playing it, while I was sewing. There is something about working late at night that I’ve always loved, and this occasion was so very special to me.

(Photo above: Mårten in Ravishing Mad clothes,
photo by Mårten Svemark for Newspaper City Malmö/Lund)

(Photo above: Mårten and Ida Annie Kyllerman modelling in Ravishing Mad jeans,
photo by me Anna Österlund)

So here it comes: a fun little video featuring me in a first-time-smoking-session, accompanied by Mårten’s music, André’s photo and Ravishing Mad clothes. It’s the third out of ten paraphrases of known photographies that we’re making this Spring and Summer. This one is referring to the Madonna album cover Justify My Love and we filmed it at the Victoria Theatre in Malmö just a month ago.

Oh, maybe I should post the photo André took of me first. Yeah, it's the one to the right. This photo is what the fuss is all about in the video. I mean, I thought it kinda odd, unmotivated and fake to put a cig into my mouth just for a photo. If I was gonna do it, it had to be the real way, and then you get to laugh at me!

(Photo to the right: Me in a Madonna paraphrase, photo by André de Loisted)

Kat Boelskov

2010-05-13T01:00:00.031+02:00

I stumbled across this intimidatingly cool Danish girl on the internet only a few months ago. Even before I heard her music, I was sure I was gonna love it. And that assumption was made from just looking at one single photo, which I later on found out was to became the cover of her first album. Kat puts despair and loneliness into her music that just breaks your heart, and she is very brave both musically and visually.

I kinda wish I’d had heard this already when I was 13 and sat up in the middle of the night in my room in the basement drawing and crying to music that got to me. It would have fit so well into the feelings I was going through at that point. Kat’s music brings out so much nostalgia in me. The song called ‘Everything’ is my absolute favourite track from her album ‘Amateur’ and is about the feeling of being in such a perfect relationship that is so wonderful and fantastic that it feels you’re gonna explode. So you need to get out of it. Don’t ask me why that brings out nostalgia in me, it’s a mystery. Being in any kind of relationship back then seemed at the time like a paradise I had no access to.

Kat wanted to make a record a year ago with a friend, but got tired of waiting for everyone around to get their thumbs out their arses, so she started writing an album by herself in the Autumn. Within a few weeks after she started posting her music on the internet at the turn of the year, she had quite a following of over 4000 people on FB from all over the world. I asked her if she wanted to do some kind of a collaboration. I mean, she is ravishing and she is mad, so I knew for sure I wanted her to come play with me.

I suggested we did the collaboration within my paraphrase project and that we did a photo of Carl Barât and Pete Doherty of the Libertines. I wanted Kat to play the part of Pete in our photo and she was both thrilled and surprised over what I wanted to do. The original was shot the same day as Pete got out of prison for trashing Carl’s apartment when looking for things to steal to support his cocaine addiction. After serving three months in prison, Pete met up with Carl at the music venue Tap ‘n’ tin in Chatham just outside London. Carl was very nervous about meeting Pete, unsure of how upset Pete might be from being sent to prison by his best friend. As it turned out there were no hard feelings and they played a gig later on the same night.
(To the right is the original Libertines photo, which was later cut and used as one of their album covers.)

When Kat and I met up with Mårten and André to make this video, which happened already within two weeks after we started talking about it, I'd barely met nor spoken to her before. Kat came over to Malmö in the afternoon of a weekday and we tried to find a nice bar where we could film it all. First we all changed into Ravishing Mad clothes and then I think we walked around for an hour or so because everything was closed, before we finally found a place that would let us in before opening hours. We spotted a red velvet couch through the window of the restaurant called Metro in Malmö, and the chef let us in.

(above: photo by André de Loisted)

There was quite some tension in the air all along. We didn't plan anything, just went along with the making of the photo in a somewhat stumbling way. I like to do it like that. In some ways I think we kinda captured the same nervous feeling that was behind the original photo. This was the second out of ten paraphrases that I've made together with photographer André de Loisted and friends and artists that I adore. We call it "to libertines".

Truls Bråhammar

2010-05-12T23:42:00.010+02:00

I fell in love with Truls the first time I ever layed eyes on him. That was back in 1998. He rarely spoke and was just being gorgeous and mysterious. I watched him take his shirt off and he had some long dark marks all over his back as if he had been whipped. It fascinated me. As it turned out, he was a climber and just burnt his back on the rope a few days earlier, but it didn’t really matter. I was already hooked.

We have now been together for 12 years and run Ravishing Mad together. He was the one convincing me to quit studying political science and start being creative instead. Truls is probably the happiest, most positive, calm, secure and loving person I have ever met. He keeps me grounded and takes the drama out of the blacks and the whites in my mood.

It’s kinda annoying that he’s so good at almost anything he tries out for the first time. Among his extraordinary skills really worth mentioning are: carpenting, computer programming, flamenco dancing, playing the guitar and singing, writing very cool texts, fishing, skiing, climbing, solving any technical problems concerning an industrial sewing machine, and not to forget his excellent cooking skills. He also says things like: “it’s the work of a fucking genious!” when he diggs something I made. Well, he knows how to keep the wifey happy!

My playmates

2010-05-12T23:05:00.016+02:00

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 often go play with my friends, or work, we might sometimes call it work and sometimes not. We talk about everything possible that concerns us...music we just found, funny people we read about, things that frighten us, love, our disorders, obscure little films, drugs, megalomania, sex, death, in all: whatever cool stuff we’ve just found, and we show each other lots of pictures.
And then and we wallow in the fascination of our discoveries...and we make drawings, try the ideas in photos and videos, make little collages and sketches and drape fabric on little dummies. It evolves into music for some of us, or photos and videos, and some in clothes, or we just mix it all. We rely on each other and wouldn’t wanna do it any other way. It’s so easy and fulfilling that I almost feel ashamed. I want to live and work through my life like this for ever and ever, and I will never allow my work to become a burden.

It wasn’t always like that, you know. The Summer that I turned 14, I was walking with my head dropped as always, and suddenly stumbled upon a big and lonely lucky clover. I picked it up and instantly knew what to wish for. I asked that, at one point in my life, I’d find someone to love and be loved by just as I am, and that I would become happy, and I meant really really happy. I was pretty realistic about it though (typically me), because I was also very thorough on pointing out that I was prepared to wait a long time for this, just as long as the wish came through…

I kept the lucky clover in the diary I had at the time, and now as I was looking through it the other day, it fell out. The day that I picked it is still so clear in my mind and I remember the feelings of longing as if it were yesterday. And to tell you the truth, the wish came true. I always had this goal of getting through my childhood and teens, so I could finally start to living my life as I wanted it. And I knew that if I only took one day at the time, or hour by hour, I’d eventually get out on the other side. It’s so weird to be there now, I just wish I could go back in time and give myself a hug.

With this in mind, I want to tell you about the loved ones I surround myself with now. Well, let’s simply call them my playmates. I don’t think I’d be able to breathe without them. I know who to begin with.

Ravishing Mad music

2010-04-16T11:18:00.020+02:00

Yesterday at Plezuro was sooooo good! i showed the three first films from my paraphrase project and it makes me truly happy that you enjoyed them. They're gonna be followed by seven more films before the Summer :-) Hahaha, it was so funny with all the sms' I received from you guys "I see you Anna!". We streamed the whole gig from the homepage and 134 people in total followed us. I know the sound and visual was so so, but you know cheap web cams...the day I'm rich and famous I'm gonna treat you with extra, extra, super, uber, proper quality broadcasts! For this gig I prioritized free beer for all the irl people
;-)

Here are some pics from yesterday when Street Fighting Man played with us, shot by Jesper Nyreröd, who does band gigs alot. Thanks for the pics!

Street Fighting Man are simply top notch. We immediately started talking about more collaborations! Eric Turner, the singer, wore the struggling musician cardigan and didn't want to take it off after, so I'm gonna make him one for their next gig when they're opening for The Sounds in Stockholm on the 29'th of April. I dressed all of the guys in in RM yesterday and they were so sweet and happy about it, I'm glad to have met them.

And we're gonna start making clothes together. Eric makes fantastic artwork for the band and I'm sure we'll make magic together. I'm meeting all the guys at the studio today to talk more about it! It's so funny, the person he visualizes being the actual street fighting man is a spitting image of my ideas of the ravishing mad man. He's a struggling, quiet, but yet solid hero with a heart of gold, walking the streets in his crazy clothes and fighting the army of conformity.

I've received lots of questions about the music and photage from the films I showed you yesterday, so here are some links:
first film "to john and yoko" music by meconium www.illphabetik.com
second film "to libertines" music by Kat Boelskov
third film "justify my love / or first smoke" music by Sir Charles (contact me for more info)
they are all photographed and filmed by André de Loisted, and I clipped them together with my husband Truls Bråhammar

The musicians are all unsigned and upcoming artists and they are also showing their pretty faces in the films. Kat Boelskov (on the photo) just released her first album in February and is becoming huge at the internet right now. Spread the word!!! Oh yeah, one more thing, if you're an upcoming artist yourself, don't hesitate to contact me! I promote everyone I work with like hell, it'll be fun!

The music that was on during the night was a five hour playlist I made on Spotify the night before the gig. It turned out pretty good so I thought I'd share it with you. You can find it here: ravishing mad playlist.

Thank you so much for yesterday, days like that make me wanna never go to sleep again!

The first of the three videos we showed last night is here down below.

Street Fighting Man & Ravishing Mad

2010-04-09T11:49:00.049+02:00

Press gig in Stockholm April 15, 2010
Thursday next week, I've arranged for probably the finest press evening within living memory together with the tiny boutique Plezuro in Stockholm. The proper cool band Street Fighting Man will perform and I'm gonna show you the three first videos from the Ravishing Mad paraphrase project. And never the less: there will be wicked clothes for wicked prices and treat-beer, could it be any better?
Read press release in Swedish here

However, since there's no room to swing a cat, there is a guest list. The band will take up probably 1/3 or the space, so write to me to get an invitation. The night will be streamed on the Ravishing Mad homepage though, so in one way or another you can all be part of this!

Street Fighting Man
It is early 2008 and one of Sweden's most hyped band at the moment, Street Fighting Man, has just released its first EP/single "Raise it". The highly acclaimed video by Daniel Kellerman was running hot on both ZTV and MTV and Street Fighting Man is drawing crowded houses when they during the Summer the same year enter the studio to begin the recordings of their debut album.
2008...
2009...
2010. One and a half year, two producers, a pilgrimage and countless fights later is it finally here. S.F.M:s debut album. The record no one dared to hope for.

The album (name tba..) is released June 11'th 2010, with single releases both before and after - again with videos in collaboration with Daniel Kellerman. The 29'th of April is S.F.M. opening for The Sounds at Debaser Medis in Stockholm.
www.myspace.com/streetfightingman

Ravishing Mad
The new denim brand Ravishing Mad has since the launch two years ago already been celebrated around the world by magazines such as Code Magazine, Collezioni and Sportswear International. The rock 'n' roll women, men and unisex collections have been described as "a reinvention of denim" (Collezioni Sport and Street) and consist of a unique combination of draped garments and new cuts.
The Malmö based brand was discovered already in the very beginning by Henrik Vibskov, who is selling the jeans in his shops in Oslo and Copenhagen. Ravishing Mad can be found in stores in Europe and North America and is shown at the fashion weeks of Berlin, Paris and New York. In Sweden, Plezuro is one of the very few places where the collections can be bought.

Ravishing Mad's video/photo project consists of a series of ten paraphrases of known photographs. Each film, á 3 minutes, shows the story behind the making of the photo and is made in collaboration with musicians, photographers and artists. During the evening, the three first videos will be shown.
www.ravishingmad.se

Plezuro
The tiny store Plezuro at Rörstrandsgatan is one of the most talked-about independent shops in Stockholm right now, and is cutting edge when it comes to mixing fashion, music, books, art and lifestyle. New brands such as Odeur, Ravishing Mad, Smiley Vintage and Edith & Ella, that are hard to get a hand on in Sweden, are well represented along side with unestablished artists covering the walls. Plezuro has been described as "like a sweet raisin in the cake" (daysinsweden.com) and "a little grain of gold that you gladly return to once you've found it" (whatsupsthlm.se).

The store owner, Johanna Westin, has since the start almost three years ago frequently arranged art exhibitions, music gigs and competitions, such as Plezuro Illustration Challange, and special guest performances by Anna Järvinen among others. Stylists and press are welcome to borrow items from the store for photo shoots and other occations.
www.plezuro.se

Men's Fashion by Francesco

2010-04-05T18:40:00.003+02:00

Check out these two articles about Ravishing Mad!

Ravishing Mad is ravishing fun
Ravishing Mad fashion videos

The Moon and Mars

2010-03-23T15:10:00.008+01:00

I recently delivered the new collection to the boutique The Moon And Mars in Edinburgh and it's now available on their webshop. Half of the garments are unisex, even though they are shot on a girl in this case. I just love their descriptions and the photo shoot I think captures the feeling of the collection perfectly. This kind of shops with a very personal touch is very much what I had in mind when I decided to start Ravishing Mad. I'm so happy and delighted that things are turning out the way I dreamt.

Top notch and right on target, bitch!

2010-03-21T23:03:00.004+01:00

It’s about time I gave you an update on Paris fashion week. That was a while ago, but I didn’t really know what to write about when I came back. Now I know, it really doesn’t have to be that complicated. I finally have the chance to use some of those words I’ve collected for some time. It was the shit, mega, uber, and gorgeously wick-ED! Things are starting to happen for me…I think. Oh, and I filmed everywhere I went, hehe (not always appreciated, I’m such a pain when I get a hold of a camera). I’ll post a video next week or so, Mårten, aka my music guru, promised to pimp it for me as soon as he gets back from India.

Ravishing Mad showed at Rendez Vous Espace Cardin together with Vibe Johansson, Wackerhaus, H. Fredriksson and Study under International Playground. I didn’t really need to be there, IP took care of everything for me, but I thought it’d be a good idea to meet the press and the buyers to get some feedback. We spent the whole days at the fair, the evenings visiting exhibitions and the nights at parties, slept about 3-4 hours every night, OD’ed on coffee and accordingly I got a very high fever the last 24 hours. It was hectic and wonderful. And it changed my whole perception on where I’m going. Wow, I need to go for it…immediately!

The collection is still pretty small and I’ve consciously kept it that way. I had to make sure production would work out and that I’d be able to handle the factory minimums. Also the orders were so small that I had to choose a few styles to produce and I therefore didn’t offer more than 20 styles in each collection.

I started my business in a different way than my peers. Most designers I know didn’t contact factories when they first started out, they sewed by themselves or let local producers and seamstresses help them out. I did the quite opposite and contacted factories all over Europe already from the beginning and made sure to go trough all production mistakes immediately. I aimed to start a brand that would be prepared to grow quickly the day orders would start dropping in. And yes box, am I glad now for having solved that bomb already???!!! It’s starting to pay off. So many buyers have asked me what my production limits are, or if I can handle bigger orders! Man, that’s the least of my problems. Just bring it on, I am so prepared.

Ok, next level. I’m doubling the collection for S/S-11. And the denim: finally approved! I do think my jeans styles are pretty top notch, can I say that? They fit my arse at least, but then again it would be pretty sad if I couldn’t at least make a jean that fit myself well, wouldn’t it? Bla bla bla, never mind my babbling. I hereby announce Ravishing Mad a denim based brand. I looooooooooove to work in that good old fabric and thank you Sirs and Madams, for welcoming me!

Lots of kisses and hugs from a happy Anna

To john and yoko

2010-03-03T02:55:00.018+01:00

Here is the first out of 10 paraphrases from Ravishing Mad. My husband Truls Bråhammar and I made this poster/video with our dear friends André De Loisted and meconium aka Mårten Charlie Stener Damgaard. I just sent out the press release so I thought I'd just put it up here on the blog too. And yeah, the video that comes along with this photo is on our homepage www.ravishingmad.se or below in the You Tube clip.

The new era of fashion videos
The Swedish fashion designer behind the label Ravishing Mad, Anna Österlund, is announcing a new project called Paraphrase. Ten different interpretations of known photographies will be released in the name of Ravishing Mad, and with each photo comes a video.

First out is a paraphrase of Annie Leibovitz’ photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a Rolling Stone magazine cover in 1980. Husband and wife Anna Österlund and Truls Bråhammar, co-owners of Ravishing Mad, have been portrayed in their own home by photographer André De Loisted. A video was made simultaneously to show the process of taking of the photo, and was then edited with music composed by meconium aka Mårten C.S. Damgaard.

Showing you the behind the set photage is our way of telling you what our work really is about. We are just a bunch of artists thattry to make it. And we have fun along the way.

When watching this serie of videos and photographies you are given a glimpse of the entity we are in the beginning of creating. By working with these paraphrases we are allowed to collaborate with friends and artists within photograpy, music and film and the borders between the art forms become blurred. In the middle of that muddle, our world of fashion is revealed.

Ravishing Mad is showing their Autumn/Winter –10 Collection at Rendez Vous Paris (Espace Cardin) 4’th – 9’th of March.

“to john and yoko”
a ravishing mad paraphrase 1/10
photo by andré de loisted www.bildbyran040.se
music by meconium www.illphabetik.com
clothes by ravishing mad
design by anna österlund

Fashion videos

2010-03-01T15:02:00.012+01:00

Saturday Ravishing Mad started a new project that I'm so very excited about. We're making paraphrases of 10 different known photographies and each of them comes with a music video of the making. The first one will be released tomorrow I think...We did everything ourselves together with our friends and in this particular one, me and my lover/partner in crime/husband Truls have the leading parts on screen. André is in charge of the camera as always, Mårten has made the music, and Sofia helped with the filming. And we're all certainly wearing Ravishing Mad.
Last week André and I went to check out locations for another of our fashion videos. We found some great garages that might work, and while we were at it, we thought we'd just play around with the camera a bit. We bumped into this metal grid wall and tried out the compact camera together with the big flash.

Ravishing Mad at Rendez-Vous NYC

2010-02-20T18:29:00.003+01:00

Today the fashion fair Rendez-Vous New York begins. Virginia and Johnny at International Playground are showing Ravishing Mad and their other labels, so if you're in NY this weekend make sure to stop by!

Styling the band beind Rebekkamaria

2010-02-14T22:10:00.012+01:00

Yesterday I met up with the guys that play with Rebekkamaria to get them some clothes for their gig at Vega in Copenhagen. They always put on great shows and yesterday we just felt like crashing the Firetrap party by styling them in Ravishing Mad. All the guys got the Marv drop crotch jeans. Johannes Dybkjær on drums wore them with the striped t-shirt called the Slumbering Fool and the Struggling Musician cardigan. Don't take it personal J. Rebecka at the keyboard wore those wicked leather gloves with fringes and Mattias Svensson had the orange collar shirt on, you know the one with tucked up sleeves that makes you look like he-man. Johannes Nidam on base and guitar looked pretty damn good in that grey collar shirt. I pimped it for the evening with some black shoulder pads with leather fringes.

I also had some time to drink fake champagne at Obskur nearby and it was lovely. I met some great people and I'm happy to announce that they now stock the Marv drop crotch jeans, all the t-shirts, the messed up tank top, and the asymmetrical black shirt-dress that shows one shoulder.

Ravishing Mad at Obskur and Firetrap

2010-02-12T21:59:00.006+01:00

As in Rebekkamaria is playing tomorrow at the Firetrap fashion party at Vega in Copenhagen (Enghavevej 40, Vesterbro) and I'll be styling the guys in Ravishing Mad clothes. Just make sure to get a Deadly in order to get into the party. You'll get it from one of the following addresses: Vestergade 10, KBH K - Fredriksborggade 12, KBH K - Istedgade 97, Vesterbro - Falkoner Alle 45, Frederiksberg.

Obskur Fashion Reception:
Before the party, I'll be at the boutique Obskur at Oehlenschlægersgade 36, Cph. V. There will be new stuff from Ravishing Mad and other labels, champagne, and live performance by Prudence Davis at 18.00.

See you tomorrow!

Deadpan

2010-02-12T19:09:00.005+01:00

I always knew there had to be a word for the kind of humour I like, but since I was upsetting people in my surrounding I just had to tone it down a bit. I thought people caught my drift until I one day was confronted with the fact that some people just didn't get me. But here it finally is, the word that I have looked for all my life. Deadpan. Thank you for that, I'm not alone. I have secret friends out there. I have actually been compensating for that behaviour lately and I just realized that when reading through parts of this blog. I'll just go back to the good old Anna now. Bye bye.

Links à la mode

2010-02-12T00:14:00.002+01:00

My interview is on the top 20 list on Links à la mode!

The sweet in the bitter

2010-02-10T12:06:00.004+01:00

For a while now, I have noticed that some kind of bitterness has become part of my normal state of mind. And along with that emotion there is a sense of satisfaction that is unfamiliar. This might be an odd thing to say, but I have started to realize that it actually is possible to go as far as you want. In that I feel bitterness. I have nothing to cling on to anymore. I am not even sure that I will go as far as I want, and that makes me frightened...and then bitter. To be quite frank, it's a decent feeling, I now know that I don't have to try so hard. I can do whatever I want to do. You can judge me, but you can't hurt me.

Where are you now, leopard woman?

2010-02-09T23:52:00.004+01:00

A while ago I spotted this amazing Finnish lady strolling around in her YSL beach suit, so I asked her to dance for me. We had a great time. I think of her sometimes. I think I'll become a leopard woman when I grow up.

My arse is officially out there

2010-02-08T11:40:00.007+01:00

Finally, the webshop is up!!! What ya say now, you didn't think this would ever happen, did ya? I feel triumph in my veins even though I worked until 5 this morning and the world is a bit dizzy now. Those t-shirts in the shops are just the best, if I may say so myself. You guys, they really make you look so much stronger than you could imagine. And girls, this is just the perfect combo of oversize at the top and a tight arse!More good stuff will keep dropping in now during the following weeks. The so longed for denim dress, and the big pocket trousers are two of my favourites!

kaKofonie Of si(gh)lenS

2010-02-08T04:07:00.003+01:00

The wickedly divine Steff Leigh interviewed me a while ago and here is what we came up with... To read the full interview, go to:

kaKofonie Of si(gh)lenS: Interview with Anna Österlund of Ravishing Mad

"As you know, I've been on and off the hunt for the perfect pair of jeans, as the selection available to me has been quite disappointing. And so, I instantly fell in love with the high waisted draped pocket pair by Swedish label Ravishing Mad. After perusing the RM website, I became quite intrigued with the designer behind the label, Anna Österlund. Anna's vision behind the label is to empower both men and women to have individual style, to escape reality, and to be free to dream - all the things which I personally look for in my own wardrobe. Ravishing Mad has slowly been taking the fashion world by storm, as it's now carried in shops both in Europe and the US. So I feel quite honoured that Anna took a few minutes to answer my questions. And, I must admit, the result is quite a good read. 

***

What is the very first piece you remember designing?

I was sewing clothes for my doll together with my grandma a lot when I was about 7 years old. I also remember a horrible long sand coloured linen dress that I made when I was about 13 or so, and I sent it to a design competition run by the fashion designer Gunilla Pontén. I wasn’t even placed, so I guess she didn’t like it either!..."

No rest for the wicked

2010-02-06T16:43:00.004+01:00

This Spring will be the best ever, I've got so many great things going on right now. First of all I'm doing a short film with my friends André and Mårten and there is no limit to the excitement I feel for this project! I simply can't wait to get started and the planning stage that we're in at the moment is gooood, it makes me happy. I so want to tell you all about it, but then again I wouldn't want to spoil the experience. We're going to to everything ourselves, including the acting, and it'll just be so wonderfully low tech.

This is actually the beginning of new times for me. Finally, finally, finally I have sorted out some of that incredibly boring stuff that was necessary when starting up a new business. I now know who to contact when I need a certain fabric, the factories I've changed into are doing a fantastic job and the list could be longer... However, I no longer need to compromise with my ideas because I have the tools to go through with them. Can you imagine how many ideas for films, exhibitions and art project I have put on hold the last couple of years because I was burnt out from all the practical stuff? I have run out of excuses on why I shouldn't live my life exactly as I want it, and just to realize that is a revelation in itself.

There is one thing that beats everything else, which is that I have finally found the people that I want to work with. It's strange to write it down like this, because you guys will probably read it and it might sound like I was trying to butter you up. Well, DEAL WITH IT!!!

So I feel ready to make a New Life Resolution. I will no longer compromise with what I believe in! There it is. Just shoot me if I do.

Oh, and I will buy myself a synthesizer too.

The orgy in self-appreciation continues

2010-02-01T22:49:00.005+01:00

Going on a train

2010-01-28T00:21:00.003+01:00

It's snowing like crazy and I'm on the train to Stockholm, listening to Echoes by the Rapture. Well not on repeat, but this particular moment I am. I really shouldn't pretend that the repeat function has no meaning to me, because I do tend to OD on certain bands every now and then, and it is occasionally pretty damn hard to find meaning in anything else. Robert Smith, my darling Bob, has been with me for quite a few years now and a much newer find that I just love is The XX. Wicked!
Sooo, I'm going for a quicky to Stockholm and it's all about fabrics, this affair of mine. And what did I leave behind, if not an absolutely fabulously messy working space. I just felt I had to share that with you on this late evening. Oh, and I borrowed a baby for the occasion!

Can't wait for the new deliveries!

2010-01-27T12:34:00.003+01:00

We are now about to deliver the Spring/Summer 2010 collection to some stores and have started to shoot some pictures for our webshop. I know I have been talking about the webshop forever, so you probably don't believe in me anymore....I hope to win you back. To download the S/S-10 catalog, click on this link: http://www.ravishingmad.se/portals/8/documents/ravishingmad_catalouge_ss10.pdf

We have also produced some amazing tees and tank tops in organic cotton and the quality is just to die for, if I say so myself, hehe. The cotton is organically grown in the Canete Valley in southern Peru and is dyed black and knitted in Sweden.
We have used s/z yarn, which means that every other yarn thread is twisted in the opposite direction and that compensates those horrible twisted side seams you sometimes get after washing a cheap single jersey garment. If you look closely at the fabric, you'll see that the loops look like szszsz, instead of ssssss.
The garments are then sewn in Portugal and they did a fantastic job!!! The styles I made are the Messed up tank top and the penguin sleeved unisex tee (with tucked up sleeves). I also made the cut and sewn black/white striped tee, and the off white stripes are made by organically grown cotton from Gujarat in Northern India. It has the perfect off white shade, not too much and not too little!

Anna Österlund

2010-01-26T20:43:00.007+01:00

André shot some photos of me the other day...

Where did your love go?

2010-01-15T17:01:00.003+01:00

Hey Niue, you'd better keep up the pace! You're behind Tonga and Seychelles this month...

You know I love you :-)

It's just words

2010-01-13T13:46:00.003+01:00

I do realize that I'm excessively using the word gorgeous. I started out with wicked, but since one of my friends kept reminding me about my addiction (yes, you know who you are!) I eventually replaced it. Unfortunately the word gorgeous lacks the wickedness of wicked...I actually borrowed gorgeous from my Polish factory contact. I never heard her say it, but it sounded so awesome inside my head, on her fabulous polish accent, every time she wrote it in her e-mails.

So what to do? I need a new word that is more me. Should I go ghetto and say "off the chain"? Think not...
Ravishing would be pretty cliche, so that is out of the question.

Now I'm collecting the ugliest words I can come up with. I'm thinking, which are the words that I despise, or even better, wouldn't sound credible saying? Uber is really bad, just as dope, fly, tight, and the shit. Mega is pretty good too, especially since it's so retro...

Who's tired?

2010-01-11T17:41:00.017+01:00

gettin' ready for lunch. (Sorry M, you looked so cute I couldn't resist posting it!)

Mjaaaauuuu...
Oh, and that's me in the corner holding the flash, and that flash could flash, I tell you that for nothing!

André you horny mofo!

Some shooting

2010-01-11T02:21:00.033+01:00

Last weekend Truls and I got together with my friend and photographer André De Loisted to shoot the next catalog for A/W-10. We started out early outside Malmö with the models Ida Annie Kyllerman, Christina Wenngren and Mårten Charlie Stener Damgaard. I've been beyond tired since, and have turned my hours completely upside down. So here I am at half past 2 in the morning treating you with some behind the set pics. And in my battle against the statistics, I'm not going to publish them all at once. Oh no, you'll have to come back!!!Charlie and the suspenders. Sounds like a band name.

Little Anna had to climb up a chair to reach that gorgeous red ruffle.

Truls And The Grey Cards.

It was insanely cold this January morning. I don't know why they did it.

Oh, what is this my northern eye sees? (That sounded a bit strange...just trying to use an old Swedish expression that is since long forgotten.) What an intriguing coincidence: Both André, Truls and I are wearing Ravishing Mad jeans. Soon I guess there won't be a person I know that doesn't have them, hahaha!

But don't forget now, this is not it. Get your gorgeous arse back here soon again!

Stairwell snap shots

2009-12-31T00:27:00.004+01:00

This is my stairwell and my brother in law, Erik. He lives in Oslo. But since he is home for Christmas I just had to shoot some pictures of him in his brand new pair of Ravishing Mad Marv drop crotch jeans. You look gorgeous!!!

Just now

2009-12-30T23:52:00.001+01:00

Listening to The Cure, sewing a power dress...

Buhu!

2009-12-20T23:44:00.003+01:00

It's snowing and snowing and snowing...We were supposed to do a small photo shoot today and had to postpone it because of the weather!!!! We simply couldn't get to the location. What an anti-climax! And on top of it all the production is delayed because of the bad weather in central Europe. The last thing I heard was that the denim garments couldn't reach the washing mill in Romania because of the snow chaos. What a mess! There is only one road between the mills and we are of course not the only company that this has happened to. They are very good at sending updates on the situation though, so at least I know what's happening.

So instead of getting to see some fantastic behind the set pics today, this is what you got! Nothing.

I love you, I love you, I love you!

2009-12-11T09:34:00.014+01:00

"Every Thursday, FADER style assistant Alex Frank asks employees and employers at our favorite shops around the world what their most cherished in-store item is at that exact moment. This week, we caught up with New York’s International Playground.

Johnny Pizzolato & Virginia Craddock, International Playground, New York. We normally go mad for all the sequins and shiny things in our shop, but our truly favorite thing in the shop at the moment are simple, but amazing Ravishing Mad Jeans. The high waist skinny jeans and the more loose fit Marv jeans are both unisexy, fresh and flattering. They feel like a fashion jean with Swedish influence without being too over the top. The designer Anna Osterlund, is beyond beautiful and wickedly charming, and the line itself is timeless, season-less and so Brit punk rock. Besides, the curved waistline on the skinny jean just makes you look, well, skinny."
Read the article at FADER

Those jolly words

2009-12-10T16:28:00.005+01:00

I collect words. I don’t know when it all begun, but I find myself thinking of them every now and then. How did you fancy the little word “humbug” that I throw in yesterday? It just sounds so funny, and it could make just anyone look up. Then there is the word “villain”. I just feel sorry for the crook that would ever be referred to as a villain. Straight out from a comic book. Poor thing, who would ever take him seriously or be as afraid of him as he would have wanted?

But then there are the really cruel ones like “conformity”. That’s scary, and even scarier is “the army of conformity”. Please don’t ever let me become their victim...! And there is more: “suppress the dissident”. Isn’t that what the army of conformity does? All those sssses makes it sound like it’s said by snake in Robin Hood.

I sometimes name the garments in my collections after those lovely words. I give them a personality and decide what their characters are up to. The big pocket villain is one of my favourites. She wears black pants disguised in the few lights of the night when everyone else is asleep. She sneaks around stealing whatever she can get and stuffs her big pockets into a jodphur silhouette.

"Marv", the nihilist hero, he actually is a person more than just a word. I dedicated a pair of jeans to this lead character of Frank Millers comic yarns about Sin City. Marv is personifying the film noir genre, a hard-boiled fighter with a heart of gold. I decided that he needed a pair of combat inspired jeans with built in knees and a loose crotch, not to interfere with his movements during fight. His silhouette had to be wicked to make him look cool enough. The ankle width was made slim to make it look like the jeans were tucked into his combat boots. Last but not least, the waistband was made higher on the sides just in case he would need a place to fasten his suspenders.

The impostor's syndrom

2009-12-09T10:37:00.005+01:00

I get thrilled every time somebody writes to me and tell me they just discovered Ravishing Mad. Really happy, dancing around, laughing out loud!!! And I'm not famous enough yet to get any negative comments, hehe...but yet I live under the constant worry that I'm not doing well enough or that I'll be seen through as a humbug. You know, I don't know what I'm doing...I'm just doing. A little here and a little there, let's make that crotch drop a bit more and let's add a bow tie.

If I would have measured my success in money, I would have had to quit long time ago so that's not fair. So how do I know if I'm on the right track???

I know it's a bit foney, but I check the statistics on my homepage VERY often, call it an obsession if you will. The amount of visitors has steadily been around a thousand every month and it's all good.

But then I raise my eyebrow...I must have a smaller crowd that follows me in Niue! I am totally excited but have no idea what that means!!! Niue is a 269 km² island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. Its three priority economic sectors are Fisheries, Agriculture and Tourism and listen to this: inhabitants: 1600 people. Niue stands for around 1 % of the visitors and I'm dying of curiosity! Who are you???

I salute you Niue!!!

BASSO

2009-12-09T10:02:00.005+01:00

Ok, you can almost only see the waistband, but still...! This pic is from the Finnish magazine Basso and they got my jeans from International Playground in NYC.
International Playground just opened a web shop filled with stuff from Ravishing Mad, Vibe Johansson, Wackerhaus, H. Fredriksson, Cut-it-out, and Chromat.