If you love Nordic fashion, or fashion in general, here are seven designers that you must have on your radar!
Barbara I Gongini (Faroe Islands)
Faroese avant-garde fashion designer Barbara Gongini was born in the Faroe Islands and was raised in the capital, Tórshavn. Her approach to fashion has been informed by her upbringing in the Faroe Islands, a small culture that focuses on making the most of natural resources. This has led her to design clothes that are full of multifunctional components so that they can be reused and transformed. She established her namesake brand, BARBARA I GONGINI in 2005.
Her argument when creating the brand was that uniqueness and freedom of expression should not be constrained by social class, gender, or other social categories. Instead, she merges luxury designs and materials with sustainability, producing a fluid look that, depending on how you choose to style each piece, can be perceived as either masculine or feminine. Purity, functionality, and harmony are combined with avant-garde aesthetics in the clothing of this company. The brand has done well, with it being featured in Vogue multiple times and even was featured at Paris Fashion Week in 2017. Gongini brings a lot of pride to the Faroe Islands, and she received the Faroese Cultural Prize in 2018, the highest honor a person of culture can achieve in the Faroe Islands.
Shop BARBARA I GONGINI and learn more about her here.
2. Henrik Vibskov (Denmark)
Henrik Vibskov was born in Jutland, Denmark in 1972. He studied at the Hillevi Van Deurs Design School in Copenhagen, Denmark until 1997, and then at Central St. Martins in London where he graduated in 2001. His career quickly took off after that. He started his brand, Henrik Vibskov, and focuses on putting into practice production and distribution strategies that take environmental considerations into account.
Henrik has received invitations to and taken part in a number of festivals, competitions, and talks since the beginning of his career, including the Artist Talk at London Design Week in 2017, the Danish Pavilion at Salone del Mobile Milan in 2017, and Art Basel Miami. Participating in these events gained him a lot of recognition and helped his brand take off. His designs have won him such as the Royal Thorval Bindesbøl Medal, the Jury Prize at the Danish Fashion Awards in 2012, as well as the Söderberg prize in 2011, the highest value design prize in the world, as well as many more. He’s also had 21 museum exhibitions and keeps himself busy as a drummer with his own band, Mountain Yorokobu. As you can see, he has a lot going on and a lot of success. Pick out a piece that you want from him here!
3. Matilda Djerf (Sweden)
Matilda Djerf was born in Sweden in 1997. Even if you don’t know her name, you will probably be familiar with her face. Your Pinterest and Instagram feeds are covered in images of her with flawlessly fluffed curls, a tan, and casually attired in a suit and sneakers. It was around seven years ago that Djerf started her career as an influencer, and she now has more than 2 million followers on Instagram.
Her followers love her fashion sense, and she has a passion for it, which is why in 2019 she stopped focusing on only influencing and created her own fashion brand, Djerf Avenue. It is a non-seasonal ready-to-wear brand developed with the consumer in mind. It is a product of her passion for vintage and the ideal fundamentals and is designed to represent the self-assured, stylish, and carefree person on the road. Every step of the process, from design to production, is done with love, delivering items that feel timeless and are durable is the aim. The brand has begun to take off, and she just hosted her first pop up shop in the U.S. in Los Angeles last month. If you want a simple, Scandi style, try shopping at Djerf Avenue.
4. Hildur Yeoman (Iceland)
Icelandic designer Hildur Yeoman created her namesake brand and store, Hildur Yeoman in Reykjavik, Iceland. It is a womenswear label, and she is renowned for both her artwork and narration in her work. For each collection she develops, she creates a fresh, magical environment with a distinct narrative. The tales cover a wide variety, from witchcraft and Icelandic herbs to her biker-chic grandmother’s journey through America with a motorcycle gang. Yeoman’s enchanted prints and the traditional Icelandic handmade methods that she reinterprets in fresh and interesting ways make up the brand’s core.
Although she is not as well-known on a global scale yet, she is huge in Iceland, winning their Fashion Designer of the Year award. Along with this, Taylor Swift, Kehlani, and Icelandic artist Björk are just a few of the celebrities she has dressed. If you ever find yourself in Reykjavik, check out her boutique! Until then, here is her website where you can purchase her beautiful work.
5. Samu-Jussi Koski (Finland)
Samu-Jussi Koski, a fashion designer and the creator of the company Samuji, was born in 1975 in Helsinki, Finland. Koski has completed coursework at the Polimoda Fashion School in Firenze, Italy, and the Institute of Design and Fine Arts in Lahti, Finland. He started at the fashion company Marimekko as an intern, then designer, and eventually the Creative Director before starting his own company. His own clothing line, Samuji, was launched in 2009 and has since become a crowd favorite thanks to its great quality and timeless, simplistic designs.
Under his label, Koski designs both men’s and women’s clothing, which are divided into two distinct lines: one introduces timeless wardrobe essentials, and the other features seasonal collections with more color and flair. Both Samuji lines emphasize functionality and sustainability while evoking the understated urban refinement that many Scandinavian fashion labels are known for. There is a boutique store in Helsinki, but you can also shop Samuji online here.
6. Kristian Aadnevik (Norway)
Kristian Aadenevik was born in Bergen, Norway. Throughout his life he always wanted to pursue fashion, so he came to London for his masters to try to receive the best possible education for it. He ended up attending the Royal College of Art, where he won various honors. It turned out to be the best place for him because he got the opportunity to work for Alexander McQueen as a design assistant while he was a student!
In 2004, Aadnevik founded his own label, Kristian Aadnevik, and the same year, he debuted his first collection during London Fashion Week. In addition to his own business, he has worked with and created collections for a number of foreign companies, such as Harrods International. Aadnevik was picked by Australian Wool Innovation in 2007 as one of five designers for “The Protégé Project,” which led to Donatella Versace choosing him as a protégé. Accordingly, he presented his F/W 2008 collection during Milan Fashion Week, where it received favorable reviews and earned him a spot on Style.com’s list of the season’s most promising new talents. In 2013, Kristian discontinued the Kristian Aadnevik brand and established a new company with his wife Hila called AADNEVIK, a high-end clothing line that specializes in ready-to-wear and couture. If you need a look for a fancy night out, shop here.
7. Louise Lynge Berthelsen (Greenland)
You may think that Greenland is too small and has too few people for a fashion designer to be able to succeed there. Greenlandic native Louise Lynge Berthelsen thought the same, as a matter of fact she was told that to her face whenever she brought up her dream of designing, but she’s managed to prove the doubters wrong.
After years of working as a bookkeeper, she gave that up to follow her passion and started her own brand, Nuuk Couture. Nuuk Couture is named after the capital of Greenland. She named it this because her goal was to see at least one person in Nuuk wearing her clothes, and that goal definitely was accomplished. In Nuuk, now everyone knows Louise as a fashion designer. Louise’s clothes are inspired by the Inuit national costume and reflect her passion, work ethic, discipline, and the important values of Inuit culture. The national costume of the Inuit people served as inspiration for Louise’s fashion choices, which convey her enthusiasm, work ethic, discipline, and commitment to the Inuit way of life.
Shop Nuuk Couture here!
Check out any of these incredible designers to spice up your wardrobe by adding some Nordic flair to it!