CZECH REPUBLIC BORN MARKETA HAKKINEN’S BRAND BEGAN BY OFFERING HAUTE COUTURE STYLES IN SOFT REINDEER HIDE, BUT HAS BRANCHED INTO A MORE DIVERSE AND CASUAL PRÊT A PORTER LINE

BY HUNT ETHRIDG

Nordic angels, a demi/haute couture and prêt à porter brand its heritage and origins stemming from Nordic materials and minimalist restraint was launched just last year by the Czech Republic born Marketa Hakkinen. Emphasizing especially soft and supple materials like reindeer hide, her first collection, Lapland, released just last year, consisted of 12 wedding and event dresses, created with what she terms “a fairytale in mind, going back to the past, where women wore beautiful gowns.”

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With her second collection, Orchestra, Hakkinen began it seems to think about her consumers more broadly, to try to find a balance between what is beautiful and what is marketable. A line of 14 pieces of couture that were presented first at Fame Rock New York Fashion Week last September, then at Los Angeles Fashion Week the following month, it reinforced our belief that women dress women the best, and that coin of the realm for the savviest designer is, yes, emphasizing femininity and sexiness, but also maintaining elegance. Our theory is that her new designs both move and allow for freedom of movement because of her dance background.

The energy fueled designer began 2018 with yet another and entirely new line, the Je T’aime collection available in ateliers in Prague and Monaco, and examples of which are seen here.

“I originally went to school for fashion design, then was a ballet, then modern dancer for 15 years,” Hakkinen explained. “After three kids, I realized that I wanted to get back to being a designer. After I encountered reindeer leather so soft and so easy to sew I used it to design my own wedding dress. After that, I started designing more pieces, which became the Lapland collection. Trouble is, you can only get so much of this leather because the Sami people [who inhabit parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Murmansk Oblast of Russia] decide each year exactly how many reindeer to harvest and who gets what products, so that kind of demanded that I branch out.”

Asked what inspired the new cuts, the designer began with practicalities.

Nicole Spread

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“I hate it when you spend a great deal of money and don’t feel good in what you buy…and that happens constantly,” she said. “My cuts are comfortable but still sexy. In Je T’aime, there are some glamour pieces, but most is regular wear, so ladies can wear it with sneakers or dress it up with heels.”

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