Our February guest
Kiia Maria Järvinen
Published on 17 February 2020
Originally from Southern Finland Kiia Maria Järvinen is an emerging creative based in Copenhagen revealing a strong aesthetic with a deep philosophic twist and a fresh vision of ultimate lifestyle intentioned of investigating some relevant cultural and societal issues through fashion design
Photography Angela Blumen @angelablumen
Fashion Kiia Maria Järvinen @kiiamariajarvinen
Make Up & Hair Nadja Striib Sveegaard @nadjastriibmua
Model Lotta-Liina Lavanti @lottaliinalove
Tell us briefly about yourself and how did you discover your interest in fashion design?
I’m Kiia Maria Järvinen, 27-year-old Copenhagen-based fashion designer and trend analyst originally from Southern Finland, having the passion of discussing potential future scenarios through garments as visual and tangible objects. Since my graduation at the MA Fashion Design programme of Design School Kolding in 2018 I’ve been working on diverse projects within fashion and print design, futures research and styling, and I’ve the dream of applying my professional expertise in the areas of art direction and creative consultancy as well.
At first I became interested in fashion design at the age of 10 under the influence of the very Millennium style post-apocalyptic The Tribe science fiction TV series along with young Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera and other sassy female R&B vocalists starring MTV at that time. I had always been the creative kid with a strong need for self-expression through thousands of multidisciplinary craft projects and with the ambition to perform as an artistic lead, but as a tween I started to see fashion as the ultimate career goal that actually never became challenged by any competing alternatives.
What is the concept behind your latest collection and how would you describe your brand’s DNA?
My final collection is taking its place at an imaginary future home office, to express both the creative freedom and the social struggle an individual is facing in everyday clothing decisions when one’s personal and professional lives are blending together due to advancements within modern technologies along with estimated changes in work and living conditions. I find this scenario really fascinating as it’s dealing with a bunch of wicked problems at once; how might the comfortable and guilty-pleasure-type-of but socially awkward outfit decisions made in the intimacy of one’s home be concealed when the formal career life enters the innermost sphere through virtual communication channels, to maintain a sense of personal privacy? Moreover, does the lack of external human gaze encourage an individual to see the future private living space as a laboratorium for inventive style experimentations, to present oneself in a more true and authentic way? In this project I had the intention of investigating some relevant cultural and societal issues through fashion design, such as technological development, the future of employment, personal data privacy, digital self-presentations, authenticity vs. fakeness, personal and social well-being, and more.
Visually the collection DNA builds up on the contradictory style appearances of my mother in the early ‘90’s Finland, the hangover looks of the instacool contemporary Scandinavian youth displayed on the brilliant @darralooks account, as well as the way how the undressed human body is concealed and exposed through organic elements in Ren Hang’s photographic work. Colourwise I was very much affected by the analogue travel pictures of the Spanish photographer Carlota Guerrero.
To be honest I’m really surprised by the fact that despite of the 2-year anniversary of the collection it doesn’t seem outdated or expired to me at all. I think the aesthetic sustainability and the long-lasting relevance of the project relates not only to its future predictive nature, but also to my highly personal approach to the design process. For me it’s so much more than just another school project or a singular statement – it’s a thorough cross-section of my experienced life so far, involving my internal values, insecurities and alter egos, close relationships and long-term cosmetic and thematic references. So far it’s the most important work of mine, which I’m extremely proud of.
Can you talk us through the manufacturing process a bit – what sort of materials did you use and how did you source them?
I had the conscious aim of embracing the rhetorics of authenticity, imperfection, awkwardness and impulsiveness through the choice of colours, fabrics, details, silhouettes and finishing methods. Accordingly, some of the selected materials are very intuitive findings from my travels around Europe, whereas the other half of them consists of discarded textiles and second hand garments that has been repurposed or reconstructed for the collection. The entire line-up from tailoring to print design has been created through the constant interplay between analogue and digital tools and techniques.
Since I was focusing very much on the visual expression of material and physical comfort, I was collaborating with Thygesen & Birk FABRICS from Ikast, Denmark, having the specialization on high quality technical fashion knits.
What is the most inspiring thing for you?
Constant analysis and reflection of consumer aesthetics, lifestyles and mindsets in relation to time. I think the aspiration to represent tomorrow’s point of view is something that fascinates me the most in fashion. By refering to the future, I’m really intrigued to evidence how a more environmental-friendly approach to design along with technological development is going to revolutionalize the fashion industry in the next years to come.
What sets aside KIIA MARIA JÄRVINEN from the other brands that are on the scene at the moment?
At first, I don’t necessarily see myself as a brand – not now, nor in the future. It’s something that I never really dreamt of. This might sound slighly aggressive, but I don’t think there's even that much capacity in this world to sustain constantly emerging fashion start-ups – not at least those ones lacking a distinct vision and a true sense of social and environmental responsibility. In my own creative practice I’m seeing fashion as a potential media for expressing and communicating future trend insights, which might set me aside from other designers in this very moment.
How similar is your personal style to the designs you create?
It’s very much not the same. This might be a bit unpopular opinion, but for me fashion is all about fantasy – or about broadcasting a fantasy of how I might aspire to appear in an alternate reality. I’ve probably the most complex and chaotic mind, and I feel that through fashion design I’m given a channel to convert the inner maximalism and constant overflow of ideas into an existing, aesthetic and rational form.
As a private person my style is less extravagant – and to everyone’s amazement riddiculously selective! I’m very much into the straightforward and simplistic looks of ‘90’s Kate Moss, Sade and Angelina Jolie, but also some weird cinematic stuff like Anastasia, Star Wars and Rosemary’s Baby. We’re once joking with a friend of mine that my true personal style might be some type of bizarre combination of Steve Jobs and Spice Girls!
Is there a type of person you have in mind when designing your garments?
In my imagination she’s an intelligent, funny and elegant aesthete who doesn’t let constantly changing trends or irrelevant external forces affect her visionary approach to style and clothing. She appreciates honesty, comfort and well-being, and she has zero interest in the fast fashion utopia promoted by the clothing business of today.
How do you think technology changes and social media is affecting fashion nowadays?
The impact of technologies and social media on the modern-day fashion industry is gigantic, but I believe the constantly globalizing clothing business is going to take even greater advantage of the new possibilities of digitality in the near future.
Eventually tomorrow’s fashion is going to be designed and produced more often in digital micro factories (local manufacturing units applying 3D modeling, 3D- and digital printing, laser cutting, robotic work force, etc.) close to the end-user, enabling a more intelligent and efficient on-demand production of highly individualized textile goods. The industry isn’t only going to be revolutionized by automation, but also by new technological innovations enabling a more carbon neutral production of textile fibres in the spirit of circular economy. Moreover, the mainstream adoption of blockchain technologies will promote an increase of transparency in the field.
When it comes to the future of retail channels, the fashion consumer of tomorrow is given more often the choice of individualizing one’s shopping experience through fluctuating between physical and digital trade outlets. On the other hand, the clothing business is very likely to become more immaterial and subsription-based due to the rise of rental services, shared wardrobe concepts as well as digital and holographic fashion lines. In the online influencing era of today new visual micro trends are coming and going in an increasingly rapid speed – perhaps tomorrow’s fast fashion is created only for virtual avatars, to keep fashion as the ultimate platform for self-expression and reality escapism alive despite of the growing climate concerns.
I think a challenge here will be to stay true to oneself despite of the inevitable digital development – this applies both to businesses and individuals. There’s no point for selling everything for everybody just because it’s technically more possible than ever – a visionary brand is familiar with its customers and curates its collections, visual identity and brand communication to meet that precise profile. Similarly, the struggle of the consumer is to embrace one’s unique style in a socio-cultural environment in which everybody are tempted to keep up with the unattainable beauty ideals dictated by the commercially successful social media elite.
What fascinates you about the art world today? Which designers or artists have been the most influential to you?
Recently I’ve been very excited about Finnish Irene Suosalo’s video installation and animation art, along with New Yorkian Karin Haas’ and L.A.-based John Zabawa’s graphics and illustrations. It’s such a designer cliché, but I’ll be forever a huge fan of 20th century French art (Matisse, Monet, Picasso, etc.) as well as European modern art-industrialism represented by Kandinsky, Bauhaus, Alvar Aalto and Marimekko. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit Solange’s impact on my sense of aesthetics as well!
But in fact, I think I’m getting rarely really impressed by any visual references these days – in the hyper stimulating Instagram era of today there’s just so much of it and everything looks more or less the same to me. Instead, my focus has been a lot of more on audio listening to avoid a total visual burnout. Considering the negative impacts of intense screen time on people's mental and social well-being, I believe the future of cultural consumption lies increasingly on voice-based social interfaces – the risen popularity of subscription-based music-, podcast- and audio book streaming services projects already that kind of direction.
Who would you like to collaborate with from within the visual arts and fashion spheres if any?
I’d like to collaborate with some passionate and talented individuals sharing the same vision, values and sense of humour. To dream impossible, would be fantastic to have an opportunity to establish a project with some pioneering multimedia artists, such as Julian Klincewicz or Liisa Vääriskoski!
What’s your next collection to be like?
At the moment I’m not intending to create another collection. I think it will only happen if I have something really important to say. I dislike very much the idea of producing more stuff just because you need to be out there as a designer – it’s an especially critical perspective in this era when the whole industry structure should be renovated in a way or another. I wish that fashion designers and brands could be daring enough to define their very own approach to seasonal changes and release schedules – if you think of music making artists, they’re not committed to publish new material 2-4 times a year just because of an outdated collective system!
I think my ultimate dream is to curate a project that involves a variety of creative disciplines and interest areas of mine – a whole piece of art in which fashion, trend research, print, graphic design, photography, music, dance and film are coming together in a beautiful and purposeful way.
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