Oslo Nights

The Euphoric Battle

This week’s struggle: Keeping it together.

I can really feel that I’m in the last month now. It becomes harder to breath with every hour and every minute passing. The blood coagulates and the eyes turn sore and dry. I’m sewing like a mad man and I can barely catch a glimpse of the finish line on the horizon, but there’s still a good wait and workload to be done before I can enter the fields of gold. And summer. The best season is getting closer, and has definitely shown that he’s right around the corner. He fills the sewing room with warmth and light and breathes down my neck, while he whispers: ”Come out, eat ice cream, drink beer, go to the park”. Not yet.

The collection really starts to show itself in terms of shapes and silhouettes. It’s so nice to not just have it scribbled down on a piece of paper. It’s with an ambivalent thought I stare at the finished garments hanging in my workplace. My mind goes crazy. Have I’ve done enough? Did I do it well enough? Could I have done something different? Is it all well thought through? Glossy magazines are read. Should I use some of these techniques and details? Or should I just continue on the road I’m heading on? There’s a lot of stuff going through the system, considered, put on hold, accepted or thrown out. Every decision is a battle. And it’s starting to hurt. Kill your darlings or make new babies?

I’ve come to terms with the fact that I was going for a low-key colour palette, but the joy of spring sneaks around with its colour-crazy feathers and cheer, which leaves me challenged. I’m making a winter collection. But winter does not necessarily mean dark and calm – I know that. And if there’s one person who loves colours, it’s me.

So colours it is. And tassels. An earthy red is kicked out for fresh plum petrol, beaming lemon and Kreml inspired tassels. I want my garments to have a slight taste of a brighter future and warmer weather. I want everything. But it stops there.

The biggest challenge now is to set boundaries for myself. At the end of a creative process, it often tends to simmer at the edge of reason, and it’s in that period of time that my job as a designer is to make sure it doesn’t spill over. It can be too little – but it can also be too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That being said, I really love my collection. It’s timeless, conscious, careless of trends, and reflects around the nostalgic, the contemporary and the future. Just like I wanted it to be.

The photo shoot for the look-book pictures and the editorial is also right around the corner, and the planning is almost done already. As I’ve based my collection on the Japanese clothing traditions, I’ve now gathered the top notch of Asian hunks walking the streets of Oslo. It’s going to look fantastic. And it will all be documented here on Oslo Nights.

Later!

XX, J

Jone Nielsen is currently finishing a BA in Art and Design at Oslo University College with a major in Fashion and Textiles. Updating weekly until his graduating show in June, he will be sharing details of the design process, juicy tidbits on the challenges he faces along with his expectations for the finished result.