Summary
What makes Helena's approach interesting is that she doesn't look to the design climate to tell her what she should create. Her ambition is not to find the hot new trend but to make well-made, beautiful garments. She is self-taught, which gives her a different kind of relationship to the clothes. "We have sewing classes in Sweden (starting) when you are 10, so that's where I learned the basics, and then I just kind of cut apart and opened pieces and figured out how things were constructed. I am always that kind of person who likes to know how things are put together. I want to understand everything... I want to figure out why things are the way they are and look the way they do, and I think that's part of figuring out how a garment is constructed and learning why certain shapes fall the way they do." Because she has learned how to construct clothes on her own, by observa tion and trial and error, Helena's curiosity extends beyond the normal design-based influences. She makes her own connection between art, movies, nature, and photography, absorbs what she is inspired by, and then, acting as a sieve, lets the influences flow through her work.
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A Cut Above
Helena Fredriksson is back at her apartment after having just shown her Fall '07 Collection at New York Fashion Week, and she's already thinking about the Spring '08 Collection. As we...
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