Carin Wester s/s 2011

At the end of a busy second day at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Stockholm, one of Sweden’s most celebrated young designers took centre stage as models paraded her Spring and Summer 2011 collection. Carin Wester, who was awarded the ‘Guldknappen’ prize for 2009 and is a former winner of Elle’s ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award, has established herself as one of Sweden’s most prominent designers. Her collection this time round immersed itself in the stereotypes of the 1970’s rock era. The designer made a special effort to interweave the design elements of both genders to recreate the bold fashion statements that rock legends made in the day.

Her show tendered insight into her three lines; ‘Carin Wester’ for women, ‘Wester’ for men and ‘W’, her limited handmade collection. Wester opted for a narrow range of dominant shades, namely, beige and deep blue. These shades were accompanied by various one off shades such as burgundy, ecru, black and white. Selected accented colours also found their place in this largely varying collection. Denims, leathers and silks, amongst others, featured in cohesion, showing Wester’s ability to amalgamate differing textures within a single collection.
Wester drew sizeable inspiration from the semblance of a scratched floorboard. This was a recurring theme in her collection for both sexes. The rasp effect between dark shades and white was evident in the dresses, pants, skirts and jersey tees alike. Her specific gender collections exhibited washed garments for casual wear. Other pieces from the collection demonstrated clever creations through usage of stripped viscous knit with transparent panels for women.

Wester’s clients often opt to buy the entire look due to the individualism of her designs. However, this collection offers a range of garments that can be purchased individually for an enhanced spring/summer wardrobe.