Finnish company Marimekko has always been punk rock, but it took someone as visionary as Junya Watanabe to finally reveal it, to revel in it, and to legitimise it for the fashion world.
You’re going to see lots of articles with descriptors like “Finnish interior design company Marimekko” or “interior textile brand Marimekko” but Marimekko has been making clothes and accessories – really good ones – for years.
Punk rock is about rejecting the mainstream and what could be less mainstream than a woman-founded company out of Helsinki, Finland, creating their own fashion show in 1951 in order to sell artist-made textiles? Marimekko has always followed their own unique vision, ignored trends, and allowed artists (largely female artists) to unearth the gems in their imaginations.
Seeing it on the runway shaped by the expert hands of Junya Wantanabe feels right, and brings the Marimekko universe to an elevated place. Though the vast majority of these prints were created in the 1950s and 60s, they feel modern, fresh and cutting.
Here are our favorite looks from the Junya Watanabe RTW SS18 show at Paris Fashion Week:
Iso Noppa by Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmnesniemi (1954)
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Iskot Kivet by Maija Isola (1956)
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Joonas by Maija Isola (1961)
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Kaivo by Maija Isola (1964)
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Siirtolapuutarha by Maija Louekari (2006)
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