Don't speak softly

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?

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'

 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

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.

Long Interview in étincelle mag

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

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

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

Foto: Epic People (all rights reserved)

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

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