Fusing Fashion, Culture, and Art: Highlights from Oslo Fushion Festival

The live events coincided with digital presentations from brands Envelope1976, ESP - Elisabeth Stray Pederson, Avenue, Iben, Livid, Oleana, FWSS, New Movements, and SWIMS. A jewelry exhibition, in which eight of Norway’s leading jewelry designers flaunted new collections, additionally supplemented the hybrid shows. All in all, the week acted as a means by which Norwegian designers and creatives could connect and unite upon their common love for expression through art.

Check out office’s interview with the CEO of Oslo Fushion Festival, Elin Carlsen, as well as two of the festival’s featured designers, Fam Irvoll and Livid, below.

What is the meaning behind the wordplay “Fushion”?

Elin Carlsen: Oslo Runway merged with Collective Oslo in 2019 and initiated a new festival with the intentions of fusing fashion and art under the wordplay “Fushion.” Fashion, art, lifestyle, music, and technology all have strong influences on each other, and the word Fushion plays with how fashion merges with different genres. By fusing several expressions, we want to contribute to a fashion culture that goes beyond today's consumerism. We, as a society, must start looking at products as investment objects, something we must take care of and use for a long time. In this case, fashion has a lot to learn from art. We also introduced a new branch of the festival this year; the exhibition concept Sorgenfri Artwear which presents Norwegian designers working in the intersection of fashion and art, highlighting influential voices within slow fashion. Pursuing the fact that a garment can also be seen as an object of the arts.

Do you think Oslo Fushion Festival has been strengthened by the hybrid format, as this allows for more designers and creators to be included?

Elin Carlsen: By gathering and collaborating across platforms with several creative actors during the festival, we have been able to highlight a breadth of Norwegian designers both nationally and internationally, strengthened by the hybrid format. To be relevant as a platform, one must constantly evolve, and the digital format has for a long time been discussed by the fashion weeks. Fashion weeks are a lot about networking, being inspired, finding new brands. This is something everyone is doing digitally through social media today, so I think to stay relevant fashion weeks need to be present both physically and digitally. Growing Norwegian fashion brands have different needs; some wish to gain a stronger foothold here at home, while others are interested in increased exports. Some want to invest in a traditional runway, while others want to reach out through alternative formats. What we clearly see is that brands need to develop interesting digital content to get coverage in both national and international media. This year we included almost 60 designers and fashion brands and almost 30 artists, so this format definitely allows for more creators to be included!

How did you select the designers and fashion brands to be included in the festival?

Elin Carlsen: In terms of the special jewelry exhibition, there has been an enormous development in Norwegian jewelry design in recent years, and we are impressed with the high-level of many of the new jewelry brands. For the first time we invited a few jewelry brands that have already gained some attention, and who place great emphasis on sustainability through the use of recycled materials and jewelry that is made to order, as well as brands that have unique and clear design directions. The invited fashion brands have all gained recognition nationally and internationally, are ready to grow, and have a focus on designing long-lasting products. This year we also joined forces with Copenhagen Fashion Week to push the industry to accelerate sustainability efforts by implementing the CPHFW 2023 Sustainability Requirements. As a national fashion event we have an obligation to contribute to shape new mindsets and practices for a more inclusive, equal, and sustainable fashion culture. In our experiences working with sustainability, both in social and environmental aspects, the biggest impact is made through collaborative partnerships.

What do you hope people will take away from the festival experience?

Elin Carlsen: The theme of this year’s festival is “From maker to change maker.” In the midst of the disruptive forces driven by the global pandemic, climate change, and social and political movements, we wanted to lift forward the creatives contributing to shape new mindsets and practices for more inclusive, equal, and sustainable fashion cultures. We hope that people have explored fashion as something more than just the latest trends and this years’ so-called must-have style or color. I would say that fashion is becoming more political and socially engaged. Fashion has always been an effective means for conveying and expressing contemporary society and societal issues, but in today’s climate it is ever more important to take a stance, for both consumers and brands. What we find really exciting now, is that most newly established fashion brands implement sustainability as a starting point for choices of material, design aesthetics, and business models. It’s not acceptable to launch a new fashion brand in Norway if it is not rooted in sustainable values.

Your designs all take on a playful, vibrant spirit — what inspired this creativity throughout the runway designs?

Fam Irvoll: I have been inspired by the 60s, Edie Sedwick, and the Factory’s aesthetic. I’m a very political person and I never do any shows without them being political in a way. This show is an “After War” show. After every war it shows in fashion — vibrant colors and happy clothes. The same goes for me. The world has been, and currently still is, surrounded by extreme right wing politics and it scares the shit out of me. So this is my political statement. I want something different for the world. I don’t want racism, poverty, “the rich get it all”, etc. That’s darkness to me, so this collection is the opposite.

Do you think this liveliness carried through in the atmosphere of the audience and the show? What I gathered from the photos and video is that it looked like an amazing and engaging presentation!

Fam Irvoll: I have done fashion shows since 2006, and they have, for the most part, been like this. I always want to make it into something more than just models walking down the catwalk looking angry or sad. I want the models to express themselves. Sometimes they just start dancing or do fun things with the audience and I love that. It makes it more fun and lively. I usually always have some kind of entertainment that matches the show too.

All of the looks in the SS22 Presentation are sleek and elegant, yet beautifully simple. What is the main vision behind this collection?

Livid: We wanted to unite lightness and texture in our materials, and in our silhouettes, we wanted to combine both elegance and carefreeness. This was a transitional collection in many ways for us, departing from the old world of stability, structure, and preconceived notions of elegance, into an unpredictable future where nothing and everything seems both possible and impossible at the same time. Standing in the ruins of this old world, we have tried to build a new spirit, and in this spirit lies the notion of beauty in disruption.

How did it feel to be able to present your designs on a runway once again?

Livid: This was actually our first ever live presentation of our men's and women's collections, and it was an amazing experience for us. We collaborated with architect Maria Wyller on producing a site-specific version of her master thesis “Tailored to Time,” a project which unites robotics and textiles, to form modular walls that can be steered manually by bespoke robots. It really set the ambiance for our show and gave us the sensation of this eerie impermanence that we are all trying to accept as the new normality.

You can watch all of the press events and digital/live runway presentations at oslofushionfestival.com. Photos from the Fam Irvoll and Livid Runway shows can be viewed below.