Big prints, bright colours, with a mix of new and old.
Iconic Finnish fashion house Marimekko has presented its latest collection of clothes at Paris Fashion Week and aims to be fashion forward, while giving a nod to the past.
The design house describes their Spring/Summer 2019 collection as “stunning dresses, modern silhouettes and new organic prints with distinctive and graphical archival patterns patterns designed between the 1950s and 1980s”.
Celebrating the original idea of Marimekko, which is Finnish for ‘Mary’s dress’, the collection features mostly floaty summer dresses splashed with the distinctive print, which the company has designed around the theme of ‘bold by nature’.
Industry experts are impressed with what they saw.
“The spring collection did not disappoint” writes Fleur Burlet from fashion industry trade journal Women’s Wear Daily.
“Fans of the brand will swoon over the bold prints, a mix of archive prints and new creations, but also the vivid colors […] the roomy dresses seemed fit for every mood and occasion, with uplifting prints also displayed on jackets, pants and skirts” she says.
Marimekko was founded in the early 1950s in Helsinki and a decade later found fame when Jacqueline Kennedy, who would go on to become the First Lady of the USA, bought eight Marimekko dresses which she wore during the 1960 American presidential campaign.
Current financial status
In February this year, Marimekko announced a brisk end to business for the year 2017.
The company says it increased operating profits to €2.4 from October to December last year. That’s up 35% on the same period a year before.
According to the company the profits were boosted by a growth in sales, especially retail sales at home in Finland.
Typically, Christmas is the busiest time of year, but Managing Director Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko says last Christmas was “even better than expected”.
Marimekko expected to open about 10-15 new stores during 2018.
