Oops!…she did it again—or something like that. Avavav’s Beate Karlsson charmed and challenged the fashion establishment afresh with an offbeat show format—but let’s be clear, there was no oops factor involved. In fact, the odds of this small, women-led company based in Stockholm making waves in one of the big four cities are close to none. And so the designer (who trained in New York and worked for Pyer Moss before returning to Europe) has turned her point of difference, namely her digital fluency, into a defining aspect of her brand.
Avavav is not the only millennial or Gen Alpha brand speaking directly to its peer audience (see Vain, for example), but Karlsson is unique in her use of fashion as a two-way mirror. Her designs are casual: mostly jeans, statement T-shirts, and streetwear—with a difference. Her shoulderless hoodies, worn Conehead style, have been very influential, as have her finger shoes, in which Rick Owens has been photographed out and about. Denim comes in interesting washes, and an elephant-leg effect is created by tucking the flared bottoms of the pants.
Karlsson, like many designers this season, turned her attention to sports. Her motivation was a collaboration with Adidas. “It’s been a dream of mine to collaborate with them, specifically,” she said on a call. She “dedicated the show to the partnership because it is a big deal for us and a lot of the looks are going to be showing the product that we’ve made with them.” This is a big deal, because not only is Avavav a relatively small business, but because still, in 2024, there are so few women invited into the streetwear space. And, as the designer noted, “There are a lot of interesting things that can come from bringing feminine attributes into streetwear.” She proved that today.
To frame the collaboration, Karlsson held her show in a sports arena. The concept was that the models would “compete” to beat the world record in the 100 meters. The tagline: “High fashion and low performance.” For Avavav fans, the models’ stumbling will feel like a reference to the viral spring 2023 show at which every model fell (on purpose). Although only a section of the track was used, the choice of event and the full oval could easily be read as a metaphor for the fashion industry as a whole and the circularity, inwardness, and repetition of its set cycles. Karlsson does find some irony in fashion’s pursuit of athleticism, but she was coming from a more benign mindset. “There’s a lot of curiosity and seriousness and rules within the fashion industry, and there’s a lot of seriousness and rules within sports as well, so it’s been fun to try to mix them,” she said.
