Bergen in BRXL

Last thursday I went to Brussels to visit the pop-up shop Bergen. A project by the Norwegian Fashion Institute and curated by the artists themselves. Alexander Helle (creative director) and T Michael (tailor and also co-designer) of Norwegian Rain came up with the idea. They wanted to show what is going on in their city Bergen. Together with other designers they opened a pop-up shop during fashion week in Milano, one in Oslo and now they were in Brussels. The designers are planning to visit other cities as well.

The clean and light decor is ideal to show their collections. They all use natural colours but with special fabrics to give it some more detail. This idea is very well translated in the showroom. They’ve used a lot of wood and ropes, nothing metalic or platic. All natural.

This is the collection by T Michael, a Norwegian clothing designer/Bespoke tailor born in Ghana who owns a shop in Bergen. It’s pretty obvious that he knows how to make a good suit. He tries to give the classic shirt a modern touch by giving it something extra. You can remove the collar and replace it with an other one in a different fabric or colour.

My dad, who’s a big fan of tailored suits, was really impressed by the quality and the fabrics. Not only are they well made, they are easy to wash and iron. Which is a big plus in his opinion. You can take a look at his collection on www.t-michael.com.

Davor Mutic is the designer for dMajuscule. He’s Norwegian but lives in Milano. He loves to use special fabrics to give his designs that something extra. A mixture of rough versus soft gives it a high fashion look. There was also a preview of his new collection: a lot of earth tones and unusual textures. A tank top made out of a perforated kaki soft leather really caught my eye. The leather was so soft and delicate that you would think that it was another kind of fabric.

I really liked his use of fabrics. I can’t wait to see the entire collection. He also told me that his collections aren’t all black and that he likes to change from time to time. Go to dMajuscule.com to see his collections.

Hansen is a menswear label that integrates the classic Norwegian design in its collection. Ase Helena Hansen, the designer, explained to me that she tries to make their collection with Norwegian materials and craftsmen. So everything is made exclusively in Europe. Their clothes are for a modern man who wants to add some pieces to his wardrobe that are well made, honest, classic and that will last a long time due to the quality. The clothes have a classic design with modern details. You can see that she really wants to show the world that Norway is fashionable and I think she’s doing a great job!

This sweater was really superb! The material was so soft and unique that I was temped to buy it myself even though it was for men. If you want to know more about the Hansen story, just visit their website.

From left to right : Their agent Wesley Swolfs, creative director Alexander Helle and co-designer T Michael. This is the team behind Norwegian Rain. A label that designs high class raincoats. Behind the modern look is a lot of technology. These raincoats are made to resist any weather, they use special Japanese fabrics with a plastic film on the inside. But they’ve made sure you won’t get too sweaty. The whole concept is really a great idea in my opinion. Alexander explained that they were inspired by the horrible weather conditions in Bergen. It rains there almost all the time so they need a fashionable coat that keeps you dry.

You can check their entire collection/online shop on www.norwegianrain.no.

The last contributor was Catherine Rosseland, owner & creative director of double you. She has a perfume line. I didn’t have the chance to talk to her but you can find more information on her website. I really liked the little perfume bottle on the necklace.

I ended my tour of the pop-up shop with a visit in their Bergen room. A video installation that gives you an idea of the weather conditions and nature in Bergen, Norway. Of course it is impossible to take a photo of this but I wanted to show you this anyway.

I would like to end this post with a job well done team Bergen! You’ve showed me that fashion does exist in the North and I really like it. Can’t wait to discover more. What do you think? Roadtrip?

Julie