Selam Fessahaye (Q9110)
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Selam Fessahaye is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Selam Fessahaye |
Selam Fessahaye is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
The same day that Danish brands Saks Potts and Stine Goya staged a show at the famed Tivoli Gardens and referenced Hans Christian Andersen, respectively, Selam Fessahaye showed a collection that celebrated her Swedish-Eritrean roots, and shared a new, more inclusive vision of Nordic design.Fessahaye has been working for many years as a stylist, in order to support her independent designs. Though she’s had three fashion shows before this one, won many awards, had Beyoncé wear one of her designs inLemonade, and dressed Lil Nas X and Swedish Crown Princess Victoria, Fessahaye has never taken the next step and gone to retail. Existing as an independent brand is challenging and the designer has been working with the Swedish Fashion Council on a business plan and production. Now, as one of three Zalando Sustainability Award finalists, she returned to the runway with a joyous collection.In some ways this show was a synthesis of some of her previous work. Fessahaye returned to the workwear elements introduced in her debut collection for spring 2018, sometimes combining these with the outsized suiting featured in her fall 2019 outing (the fish slides from that show were back, too).The show opened with two looks that out-DynastyedDynastyand were made by patchworking pieces of ’80s beaded dresses together. Upcycling—but with glitz and glamour. Adding variations to her signature suiting, Fessahaye played with cut-outs, color-blocking, and asymmetry, and used pockets almost like ruffles. Her shoulders might be as wide or wider than those last seen in the ’80s (see look 19), but they are free of historical references. Her message seems to be one of strength and hope, but that’s not all. As she told me in 2019, “As a black woman in Sweden, everything I do is political. Who I am is political; I don’t even have a choice not to be political.”Fessahaye’s designs for men were as extravagant as for women. One of the closing looks was a rose-printed red velvet coat and pants set. The model wearing a semi-sheer pink and gold embroidered shirt and pants might be a fitting partner, stylewise, for the bride, who was regal and glowing in seemingly endless yards of pink tulle that looked like pure bliss.
1 February 2023
Right off the bat, Selam Fessahaye’s fall collection felt deeply personal. It began with a barefoot model wearing a voluminous, floor-sweeping taffeta ball skirt and a one-shoulder crop top, her hair braided and adorned with traditional Eritrean jewelry worn by her mother and grandmother. Fessahaye is Swedish-Eritean, and she often mines her familial roots for inspiration. As she explained post-show, “With this collection, I’m telling my story, focusing on my heritage. It’s a ready-to-wear collection with no limitations.”Fessahaye has few boundaries when it comes to design, favoring exaggerated silhouettes and a smorgasbord offering of materials and textures. This was made clear as the models began to stroll on the runway one by one, each different heights, different body types, different races. It was one of the most diversely casted runways in Copenhagen Fashion Week history. It was also a showcase of Fessahaye’s playful imagination, specifically in the way she deconstructed hoodies and cargo pants and blew them up to giant proportions.A model with a Lauryn Hill tattoo on her arm whisked by wearing a striking minidress made of fanned bits of pleated tulle. Men wore metallic suits with peaked lapels and cropped jackets. They looked like futuristic versions of Rick James. Fessahaye worked with tapestry fabric, sequins, lamé, and organza. It truly was a tactile feast, even if at times the clothes seemed a bit over-the-top. One of the most stirring looks in the collection was a trench coat and gown hybrid printed with a woman proudly holding a machine gun. It was a woman fighting for the liberation of Eritrea, and it’s an image that Fessahaye said has been with her since she was a kid. “Women and men fought side-by-side. To me, it symbolizes the strength of the women in my family.”Strengthis the right word to describe this collection.
29 January 2020
The first generation of “third culture kids” is starting to make their mark on Swedish culture. Among them is Selam Fessahaye, whose debut last season was about much more than clothes. Her exuberant designs in brightly colored hues were a celebration of friendship and a clear demonstration of the beauty of diversity. She followed up on that show with another of great beauty and impact. The finale, with models standing, seated, or recumbent on carpet, resembled a painting—maybe Franz Xaver’s 19th-century portrait of Empress Eugénie and her ladies-in-waiting, or a bucolic idyll by Antoine Watteau, but redrawn to include men and women of color.Fessahaye said she felt it was important to move away from the tulle she had worked with last season, and, for Fall, she used a lot of upholstery fabrics. She didn’t abandon all of the silhouettes (like outsize suits) that she presented for Spring, though. This time around, the shapes were a little more complicated—kimono-style trenches, suits with ruffles, utility pockets. Fessahaye used marvelous fabrics to create 18th-century silhouettes (see the looks worn by Elizabeth and Victoria Lejonhjärta) and a more literal pan-Asian one (Chinoiserie-style fabrics, samurai knots in the hair, obi belts), which Fessahaye said came from spending time in the Far East. In its literalness, some of these homages to the East seemed a bit more costume than fashion. In general, Fessahaye’s silhouettes are optimized to be impactful from afar, which makes sense as she’s a costume designer and stylist—one with an important voice at that. Fessahaye prefers to communicate through her work and would rather just be left alone to pursue her craft like anyone else, but, as she explains, “As a black woman in Sweden, everything I do is political. Who I am is political; I don’t even have a choice not to be political.” You won’t find slogans in this designer’s work; she doesn’t have time for that. She’s too busy leading by example.
6 February 2019
From the clothes to the casting, there was nothing ordinary about the runway debut of Selam Fessahaye, a 34-year-old stylist and costume designer. She decided to put on a show just three or four months before the season, having looked over the racks of clothes she had created over the past several years for talents like Seinabo Sey and Sabina Ddumba (both of whom walked the show), and decided she was ready to take the next step and create a stand-alone collection.Many of the looks riffed of the work she has created with specific performers and performances in mind, this was not a collection aimed primarily at buyers (though Fessahaye is keen to make small production runs of some of the styles). Rather, the designer used the platform as a way to challenge herself and to introduce her work—and her world—to a larger public.Though some editing wouldn’t have hurt, there were many viable ideas in Fessahaye’s collection: namely, the neon colors, the workwear references, the couture touches like asymmetrical hems, and the dramatically oversize suiting. To an American eye, the suits seemed to nod to the zoot suits popularized by African Americans in the 1940s, though, it turns out, this reference was foreign to the designer. “I feel comfortable wearing big things,” Fessahaye toldVogue. “I think I use oversize as a protection. I made this big suit for some music video or something and then I just held on to it and made it bigger.”Adding to the impact of the show was the cast, which was made up mostly of people of color. “That was not a statement,” Fessahaye insists, “that is what my environment looks like. [I thought] if I was going to show something during Fashion Week, it was important to me to stay true to who I am. I cast people I find beautiful and who inspire me; half of the people walking in my show I have around me on a daily basis.” The designer, who was born in Sweden and is of Eritrean descent, might not have had an agenda, but few in the audience were unaware that just days before, in advance of the upcoming elections in Sweden, Nazis had demonstrated in Stockholm. The contrast between such hatred and Fessahaye’s quiet confidence and positivity was incredible. In fact, it created a “moment” in which the show took on a significance that transcended its materiality.
3 September 2018