Hodakova (Q3755)
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Hodakova is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Hodakova |
Hodakova is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Twelve days ago Ellen Hodakova Larson won the prestigious LVMH Prize, becoming the first Swede to do so. This, plus a plethora of celebrity endorsements via the red carpet (here's looking at you, Cate Blanchett), meant that there was greater interest in her show than ever before. The spring collection worked as a primer to those new to the Hodakova world, and held plenty of interest for those who were better acquainted with it.There are many points of differentiation to Larsson’s work; foremost among them is the designer herself. She’s a feet-on-the-ground person who is happiest in the country surrounded by woods and fields and horses and dogs. Her upcycling approach to fashion is based on the make-do and mend values she grew up with. This season the designer took a walk down memory lane. “For me it’s been a dive into warmth and feeling proud about where you come from,” she said. “I find so much comfort in going back in memories… and my memories are in objects, so it’s more about smells, images, pieces—all of the physical things.” Because of the materials they are made of, deadtock, vintage, and salvage, Hodakova’s designs evoke the past. They carry tales, but neither the designer nor her garments are retro, rather Larsson’s aim is, she explained, “to be present all the time.”By this she seems to mean to be curious, to question and explore. She doesn’t want to dwell in the past, but look at what is in new ways. Can a boot be made into a dress? (Mais oui!) But also, how can one go about doing fashion in a new way? And where is value and preciousness to be found? It’s a fallacy, I think, to say that fashion is democratic, but Larsson’s materials come close to meeting that definition. In her eyes nacre buttons, plastic eyeglass lenses, and zippers are jewels and discarded status symbols; like démodé fur hats can become coquettish dresses.There was a touch of Surrealism in Larsson’s boots with two sets of uppers, and a grown-up sense of sensuality in body-hugging dresses made of many, many, many zippers, which fell loose into sonorous fringe at the hems. It’s funny that the Hodakova show was held so close to Elsa Schiaparelli’s maison, as the designer also worked with these then-new fasteners and is famous for her collaborations with artists like Salvador Dalí. Shocking pink, and generally getting a rise out of people, was Schiap’s m.o.; Larsson leads by example by following her heart. Still, this season had its dramatic moments.
Materiality has been the designer’s main focus, but she said she wanted to focus more on silhouettes, and did so with some face-covering column dresses, done her way. We’ve seen similar shapes elsewhere; the starting point for these, the designer said, was mushrooms. (Mushroom gathering is quite a popular pastime in Scandinavia.)In order for Larsson to use landscape paintings as fabric for garments and an amazing tote bag, she had to take them out of their frames, hence the frame dresses. The argyles of last season were back and looking as desirable as ever; they were a good compliment to a tweed jacket with shirt and sweater sleeves built into to give the casual tied-around-the-neck-look. Adding a Swedish country touch were looks made of red and white checked and monogrammed dish clothes. There were woven belt bags made in the shape of traditional wooden berry and gathering baskets, the latter worn like backpacks.Charming as these homey, rustic touches were, they shared space with truly sophisticated looks, and also functioned like breadcrumbs pointing to Larsson’s higher purpose. “I want to give a little bit of warmth and harmony; I want to showcase and highlight an enjoyable life,” she said. Often, “comfort means following a route or a system, but I think we can make our own routes instead of following all of the others,” she continued, [and this will allow us to] “see potential in things with which we can create our own worlds.”
24 September 2024
Ellen Hodakova Larsson’s fall collection, brimming with ingenuity, humor, and poetry, was a true representation of the “everyday” that high fashion has been trying to hitch its wagon to this season. Those efforts have been unsuccessful, or at least unbelievable, because while luxury fashion can be ready-to-wear, casual, and even look “trashy,” by definition it exists apart and above the ordinary. There is nothing quotidian about its price points, nor, more important, the giant and sophisticated industrial and marketing power supporting it. The corporatization of fashion has moved the idea of luxury ever closer to perfection, and in this scenario machina trumps manus.Larsson, in contrast, delights in imperfection and inventiveness, from the hand-painted ceilings and walls of her small Stockholm atelier to a delectable and unforgettable spoon dress. This Swede has built a practice of finding treasure where others see trash. She crafts witty, contemporary classics using existing materials, many of which carry a patina that only time can impart. Bras, belts, metal trays, a constellation of buttons, waistbands, and underwires have all been through her alchemical hands. Through her work—which often involves turning things over (see the trouser dresses) and inside out (the garments made of lining fabrics), patchworking (fall’s argyles), and accumulating—Larsson is literally and figuratively turning the idea of value upside down.There’s a groundedness to Larsson’s work that comes from the materiality and physicality of her bricolage pieces, and which is related, especially this season, to the designer’s own values and upbringing. A former competitive equestrienne, she was raised on a working farm that, she said on a call, made her “very aware of what things cost, what you can do, how you can grow things yourself—what you can do with nothing in general.” It’s been proven over and over how limitations foster creativity, and that was on show today. Suiting, always a strong category here, was present, but more room was made for knitwear and simpler, less voluminous iterations of Hodakova’s signature upside-down pant-dresses. Smart tufted looks referenced the chesterfield sofas the designer grew up with. The attaché case that turned into a dress belonged to her father. Swedish radio played as it always does in the stables chez Larsson.
The designer has made it a signature to crown every collection with a dress made of one object: This time, prize ribbons replaced the spoons and watches of yore in a nod to Larsson’s horsey past. Beret shoulders on a top (Look 7) and a top made of molded-metal serving trays flirted with the romance of Paris.As a LVMH Prize finalist, Larsson has been recognized by the establishment, yet the power and appeal of her brand are related to its outsider status that extends way beyond geography (Sweden vs. France)—Hodakova is a global brand—to a way of existing in the world. For Larsson, and many of her generation, working sustainability is a nonnegotiable given, and value is related to utility, longevity, and delight. “For me,” she said, “luxury means enjoying life and being present.”
3 March 2024
Based in Stockholm, Ellen Hodakova Larsson has built a practice around upcycling. She was invited to iterate on her popular belt bags by Gucci Vault, and when we met in Stockholm over the summer, the designer said her online Barbie capsule had generated a lot of interest. The ongoing influence of that doll is astonishing. Barbie, who represents an ideal of beauty, is a good precursor to Larsson’s spring collection, a meditation on perfection.Ultimately the spring lineup was a refutation of the concept—perhaps unsurprisingly, since the designer works with materials that many would consider detritus straight off the bat. Selected with great care, her fabrics are found in warehouses, tag sales, and secondhand shops; as such, they don’t have the happy, shiny newness of something wrapped in plastic or right off the rack. Plus Larsson chooses to work with not only easily translatable finds, like suiting, but also slightly ickier ones: nylons and brassieres. Unlike Franco Moschino’s perky bra dress, the Hodakova version, which made a return for spring, had a hollowness more reminiscent of the sculptures of Louise Bourgeois. Those cups do not runneth over.The designer specifically thought about the beauty ideal in this lineup. Her flower dresses were a reaction to filters and body modifications that seek to trap youth in amber. In response, Larsson said she “captured beauty—beauty that actually ages.” A dried flower might not have the same allure as a fresh-cut one, “but it still has a beauty.” These flora were preserved in silicone and individually, lovingly, hand-sewn onto linen.Larsson used lipstick this season as a metaphor for “perfection and desire,” she said. The counterpart to those tubes of rouge were ink-filled ballpoint pens. (Every season the designer chooses one standout item to work with: spoons, watch cases, vintage letters, buttons….) The idea here was to encourage people to write their own stories, specifically to rely on words versus images to find new ways forward. Larsson constantly plays surface against substance. Found materials and garments come with built-in stories that she edits to create new tales. One of the ways she does this is by turning things upside down (see the tailored set with waistband hems, Look 1) and inside out (Look 20). She also twists and displaces. The way Larsson torqued the deconstructed jacket in Look 21 captured gesture. The louche volumes of her multi-pant skirts never fail to delight.
Here their voluptuousness was countered by the many pieces that made use of multiple waistbands, which Larsson associates with restriction. And rightly so: A woman’s waist measurement is often used as a sort of valuation.This collection included many greatest hits, all thoughtfully considered. The plastic used for the finale dress was repurposed from last season’s version, for example. New for the season was menswear, which, though twisted, had a classical feel, as did a lovely dress made of vintage tablecloths that was an actual pillar of minimalism. It was a sartorial equivalent of a blank page, much like a white shirt can be. A plain button-down paired with a spiky pencil skirt took on a kind of note-to-self function, showing the audience that these special pieces can be grounded with wardrobe staples.
26 September 2023
A Swedish folk tale provided the framework for Hodakova’s fall collection (and industrial kitchen set design). Called Nail Soup, it’s an imaginary story in which a savory soup is conjured out of a humble—and pointy—nail, which celebrates ingenuity, industriousness, and connection. All those qualities are essential to Ellen Hodakova Larsson’s sustainable practice; She works exclusively with vintage and deadstock, and this season teamed up with Houdini Sportswear, who share her responsible approach. The Swedish company provided the designer with functional garments that she magicked into fashion, splicing technical windbreakers, for example, into cap-sleeved dresses.Returning to a technique she used in her first collection, Hodakova created some sleek and of-the-moment tailoring by resizing (in this case taking in) a second-hand suit (look 29). The pinstripes and checks seen on a coat dress and pant suit were felted into existing garments. The soft spikes that appear throughout and which resemble nails, needles, morning star weapons, or chestnut shells, and which carry the scent of punk, were also felted. This technique was something of an obsession for the designed this season; she was drawn to handcraft, for reasons beyond the aesthetic. “Really, you have to pay attention to it [and] that’s also part of my work; I don’t want it to be fast in a way,” she explained on a call. “My process and the design part are so focused on being present and intuitive, you have to work so much with your mind; when I’m doing handcraft, I’m free.” If the eye has to travel, so does the mind need to meander.Despite their spikes, felted pieces added softness to the offering, as did a luscious jacket made of sheepskins from a small Swedish farm. “These skins are not constructed in any way, they’re directly stitched together, because they are already pattern pieces in a way,” Larsson said. The counterpart to this fluffiness was steeliness, both literal and conceptual. For fall Larsson continued her practice of finding magic in found and everyday objects, moving on from the watches and paper correspondence that have come before to metal spoons. Those relate back to the idea of cooking (see the saran-wrap separates and those made out of black-and-white checked chef’s pants, via a continued collaboration with another Swedish company, Elis), and in its variety the collection was a bit of a smorgasbord.
Those utensils also introduced the idea of being born with a silver spoon in your mouth, which inspired the collection’s showpiece, a dress made of many little scoopers.There was another gown, with an hourglass silhouette made entirely of pins (which retained their prickliness, the designer reported) for those willing to suffer for fashion. (Interestingly Pieter Mulier at Alaïa and Haider Ackermann for Gaultier couture also worked with pins. Maybe it’s a meta moment….) A more viable option was “the graphic dress.” Made of shirting fabric, its curving form is defined by inner boning, and can be worn with or without a dramatic ruff. An exercise in restraint and simplicity, that piece was also a testament to Larsson’s belief that luxury is what you make of it.
2 March 2023
Contrary to popular opinion, fashion people do eat—at least many who attended Ellen Hodakova Larsson’s debut runway show in Paris did. Each seat held a napkin and fork; at the end of the runway was a many-tiered white chocolate cake that models and guests tucked into post-show, some with the provided utensils, others with their fingers. Why cake? “Well, I think it’s time to celebrate this way of working [with a lot of handcraft using existing materials] instead of just seeing the industry as a business,” said Larsson. “I think fashion brings joy— that’s why you start doing it, so I really want to bring this feeling back. I’m also very proud that we are actually doing this and that we spend so much time to do this together, our small team, so the cake is just a celebration for the collection.”Though she’s just three seasons into her career, the spring line-up looked back to what had come before. Woven belts returned, but this time they were used to create a “lady” dress with hourglass curves. Its enticing undulations stood in contrast to the opening look, made of men’s leather shoe uppers, which had a solidity that commanded the body to conform to its shape. Another deconstruction of masculinity came in the form of a reworked and waxed pinstriped skirt suit.As Larsson is interacting with vintage garments, it’s not surprising that time is a recurrent theme in her work. Last season that was expressed, in part, through her use of wrist watches. She abstracted the idea a bit this season by introducing the theme of letter writing. To drive the point somewhat heavy-handedly home, Larsson worked vintage envelopes into a dress and separates, but her message was a powerful and pressing one about focus, concentration, and making, qualities that seem subsumed by the digital world swimming in images. The collection, said Larsson, a diarist, was a “kind of reflection of the time you give yourself; I see it as a written letter from myself to myself.”The contents of that “letter” revolved mostly around dresses and softness. The mermaid tail of a form-fitting one-shoulder stunner was made of a gentle explosion of shirts. Bras were collaged into party dresses that, without being derivative, seemed to be in conversation—or correspondence—with Comme de Garçons’s “lumps and bumps” collection. Models wore metal underwires as earrings. Larsson’s magic touch transformed utilitarian workwear into something romantic.
Gray Swedish military shirts were fashioned into a miniskirted ensemble, and a regal, off-the-shoulder gown was constructed from hospital garb provided by Elis, a provider of rental solutions for industry and a sponsor of the show. Another voluminous and textural dress in white was constructed from a textile consisting of scrap fabric from Larsson’s atelier.Shape was an important theme for spring. The bubble shapes that have been popping up this season appeared here. A padded donut, inspired by 17th-century padded undergarments, expanded the openwork mesh of a dress made from belts turned on their sides, and a panniered dress—the season’s most unexpected trend—was worn open in front over shorts. Flirty and fun, it was also ingeniously constructed; the magic of Hodakova is the ability to do a lot with a little.“The making should be fun… like being in a lust-driven and exciting moment,” said Larsson. The watching was fun, too; guests danced out into the dimming light of Paris. It wasn’t just the sugar rush from the cake; Hodakova created an opportunity for her audience to slow down and take a moment. “Today we interact a lot, but very fast over the internet,” Larsson said. “But as soon as you sit down and write a letter”—the same might be said for sharing dessert—“it becomes ceremonial in a way, and I think making is ceremonial.” Rite on!
1 October 2022
There’s no clear path to sustainability in fashion, but one popular approach is offering so called “timeless” designs in the form of trend-resistant investment pieces to encourage a buy less, buy better mentality. The making of her fall line-up left Ellen Hodakova Larsson, a young Swede who works with existing garments and deadstock fashion, with more questions that answers.“If I want to run a brand, then I think the only way to do it is to make it timeless. But what is timeless today?” she said on a call. “This season is mainly me playing with the that question in a way, because I don’t really know what a sustainable fashion brand is today, if it’s not using the history that was before us—in design, but also materials, context and storytelling. But then you also want to try new things.”Larsson’s preoccupation with seconds, minutes, and hours is most directly communicated in a series of pieces made of watch faces and straps, cousins of the button looks of last season. But the theme is considered from many nuanced angles. Deconstruction is key to this designer’s work. It’s a technique that allows her not only to take existing things apart, but also out of their original context in order to place them in another, contemporary one. In Larsson’s hands, jackets become dresses and pants become jackets and skirts and obis. Things are not what they seem to be, though surrealism is not what Larsson is after; the strength of her work is in its materiality.“I’ve tried to keep quite a lot of my directness,” said the designer. An example of that is the LBD (look 2) she made by simply putting a jacket on the floor and cutting away the unwanted parts. This straightforwardness allowed for experimentation elsewhere. For fall Larsson’s focus was split between structure and textiles—in a sense it always is—but throughout you can see instances where she essentially made her own textiles by cutting material and stitching it together to make fabric and then designing the garment. An example of this is the long white shirt dress worn with a sort of belt crinoline or overskirt (look 31). A skirt suit (look 29) has a filigree-like embellishment created using self-created ribbons that were then arranged and sewn to the base.Texture is a big theme of the fall 2022 season, and Larsson addressed this using upcycled shearlings. The result was pieces that felt bulky and somehow mired in a sepia-colored past, which the brand is generally able to steer clear of.
The contrast between those faded wooly looks and the sport tech ones, made using donations from the Swedish sustainable outdoor company Houdini, was vast. The rawness the shearling might have been intended to convey was better communicated through Larsson’s decision to show her hand in the clothes, using leather strings to whipstitch seams on a jacket and ingenious gaiters made of woven leather belts, a Hodakova signature.Another recurring theme in Larsson’s work is the grand gesture, often one that has a couture-like flair. It’s seen in the draped fall of a top made from a pair of pants, the fan-like layering of white trousers for evening separates, and the decadent ruffs and crinolines of the season. In Hodakova’s world time is not linear: rather there’s a constant dialogue between past and present that is as relevant as that happening between fashion and tech and is worth listening in on.
3 March 2022
There is a touch of Camelot (as in King Arthur, rather than the Kennedys) in the sweep of a regal cape, the neck ruffs and leather corsets that Ellen Hodakova Larsson, an emerging Swedish designer, included in her latest collection, which she’s showing digitally in Paris. This medieval, fairy-tale mood is heightened by the location of the collection film, the swagged, trompe l’oeil interior of the 18th-century Sultan’s Copper Tents in Stockholm’s Haga Park.The designer says she imagined a dinner play in a castle where the royals have called for entertainment; the models and the garments they wear—each one with its own tale—are it. “The whole concept,” she elaborates, “is looking back into history and also bringing it forward, because I think that is what brings us some authenticity right now.”In Larsson’s world, authenticity is tactile, imperfect, and purposeful: Everything is made from second hand or deadstock materials that offer roadmaps to their reincarnation and alternatives for conscious consumers. “I’m so hands-on, when I design it feels like I’m diving into how the old construction is and just trying to highlight all the handicrafts that are already there,” explains the designer, who hopes to be able to make change in the industry in much the same way she is able to transform thrift store finds into treasures. These include vintage gloves that have been assembled into a miniskirt and bustier that Larsson described as surrealism in their literal “hands-on” messaging. More political are the pieces made of woven belts, including hard-edged flap bags, which speak to consumerism and over-production. Still, the designer says she wanted things to feel joyful and let the viewer unpack, or perhaps unbuckle, the meaning of these special pieces, some of which are one-offs.And there are pieces, particularly tailored ones, to get giddy about. Deconstruction has been a signature of the Hodakova line since Larsson launchd it a year ago, and this collection features a nip-waisted blazer with exposed seams that has an off-kilter New Look elegance. Trouser/skirt hybrids abound, and sleeves and pant legs are repurposed, as are the uppers of men’s shoes, which, laid flat, look like butterfly wings on a bustier top. Also airy are the cobwebby dresses made from strands of hand-strung buttons of various vintages.
29 September 2021