A few years ago when I was living in the Lower East Side in New York (on the corner of Orchard and Rivington, to be exact), I (like everyone else in the LES) used to hang out in my neighborhood, frequently visiting the boutiques and bars, to gossip and see and check out the new goods. There was a shop on the corner of Stanton and Ludlow and I can't remember the name, but a lot of cool celeb girls would be in there trying on clothes, like Liv Tyler, for example. I'm not even sure the shop is still there because the LES isn't the LES anymore. But that's where I got introduced to
Ivana Helsinki . They carried the line there and quite often featured a piece in the windows. Usually it was a short printed dress with birds all over it. The pieces were hypnotizing (probably because they are from Finland. Those Scandies have their own take on the world). Amazing and gorgeous and very very LES girl. I pitched stories on the line and the designer, Paola Ivana Suhonen, a dozen times as I was an editor and writer for at least 5 magazines at the time (including
Oyster,
Dazed,
Tokion, and
Anthem), but none of the editors were interested in covering the line. I continued to stay in touch with her sister, Pirjo, who handles the PR and marketing, working it in on styling gigs I got with cool It Girls for West Coast red carpet moments. So I'm really stoked to be able to cover them at any moment I like on Nancy Girl. You'll see them on here whenever they have something I feel you need to see. Their casting is usually really interesting (if you read NG a lot, you'll notice how often I talk about casting. Casting is EVERYTHING. It can make or break a shoot. It can define a line or a fashion editorial story. It's EVERYTHING.) And their makeup choices and themes are usually enchanting. I'd love to have something from every collection if i could. And, last I heard, Paola was headed for LA, "the La -La", to set up pop-up shops and events. So I'm excited to see what she has in store.
The current collection is titled "Copper Chain" and it has some really fun pieces I know you'll love. The one thing I love about Ivana Helsinki is that every collection is a bit of a grab bag...in that, they design for the IH girl, BUT they mix it up so you're surprised when the next show opens. A lot like MJ. Here are some pieces I chose from the current collection. The Copper Chain idea stems from the idea of true love and passing ships in the night which led to Paola Suhonen on the Brooklyn Bridge noticing an aging couple holding hands on a bench. They had matching chains around their wrists that were obviously from back when they first united. Now aging in the salty sun, they turn a shimmery shade of copper light.
My favorite dress of the collection... the "Norma" dress
A chain dress with chain upper..interesting
The chain suit...I love the giant "chain" necklace!
The "Elsa" dress...lovely simple little shiny number
I think this is kind of like a "hardcore" librarian look
...maybe that's why it's called "Ethel"
"Velma" is a really super cute dress I'd love to wear on the way to Sunday brunch
a chic chain pant outfit.
Maybe one day they'll make a Nancy dress! But I'll settle for these amazing pieces until then. Keep your eye peeled for future Ivana Helsinki posts and check out their
site. There's always a little film or surprise waiting online. ♡
more tuesday tailor ♥ mcqueen not lee
(thanks, pirjo! xx)
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