Enni Lähderinne presents Boy Meets Evil

Photography: Pauliina Maus

Meet Enni Lähderinne, a designer from Helsinki, Finland. As a fashion designer she studies gender as a social phenomenon and ways to express and interpret one's gender through clothing. From a biological viewpoint there are only two genders but in reality there are as many genders as there are humans. One of her goals as a fashion designer is to find ways of self expression through clothing for those who don’t feel like they fit in the gender binary, or the mold our history and society have created for the most of us to fall into. Can this mold be broken with fashion?

Her current collection is however closer to the theme of the FASHIONCLASH Festival 2018. 'Boy Meets Evil' explores the world of Herman Hesse's Demian and Abraxas and the belief of God and Satan being one. The collection studies the changes one has to go through to find themselves, as well as the eternal search for a true understanding of God.




Enni Lähderinne will present her  collection at the Show Programme on Saturday the 16th of June. Get your tickets here.


What made you realize that you wanted to work in (fashion) design?
Fashion is one of the most multidisciplinary fields of design out there. It keeps me on my toes and pushes my mind to keep on finding better solutions time after time.

Why did you choose fashion? 
Considering all the fields of Design, fashion speaks to me the most. I feel like fashion is the way I present my thoughts about the word the best way. It is my canvas in changing the world.

What would you say are your main achievements in your career?
Finishing my BA studies in Fashion and winning the MTV Break Costume Design Competition.

What are your sources of inspiration?
Usually it’s something that inspires or irritates me. I’m a person who enjoys watching documents, experiencing art, reading and just generally wandering around. These are the ways I use to find subjects that tangle my mind a one way or another. Usually I find myself being interested in the way human mind works and how this can be seen in art and design and society. From there on I keep on specifying my choice of research. I keep making questions and if I can’t find the answers right away, I go forward with the chosen subject of the research. The designing progress is my way of finding the answers to the questions I presented to myself in the beginning.

Photography: Pauliina Maus

Why did you decide to participate in FASHIONCLASH 2018? 
This year the theme of the event spoke to me in many levels and I wanted to join the discussion with my work.

What do you love most about (fashion) design? What are the biggest struggles faced by young designers? 
The journey of self-exploration every designer has to do while creating a collection. Fashion, even though often seen as shallow and consumer-centered, is still an art form. Just like any art, its job is to educate us, make us think and feel something we have never felt before. For young designers, breaking through the enormous competition, while staying true to themselves is one of the biggest struggles they face during their careers.



How would you define fashion?
For me fashion means ones way to show their true self to others. It is one of the most visible ways to tell a story, describe one's values and views. Fashion is like the brush strokes in a painting, making the person wearing it, a piece of art.

What do you think are the most important issues in fashion today?
Ecology in fashion; new fabrics and ways to minimize the harm done to nature. Also a big issue is the people's lack of emotional bond with the clothing they purchase. Everything is just few click away and people buy more clothes than ever before. For companies and fashion houses, this is good, but the flip side of the coin is that the emotional bond and respect towards clothes becomes smaller and smaller.

How do you think fashion contributes to society, can it contribute to a better world?
Fashion is something that a huge number of people follow or use every day. Because of this fashion is a great platform to display and discuss the problems we have in our society and thus inspire for choices to make the world more open-minded.

What challenges do you face in the design process? What are your favorite parts of the process?
As my style of designing is going back and forth with my ideas, I sometimes lose the track of where I am heading. I always question whether I can find the right answer to the questions I presented to myself in the beginning of the process - even if there are no right or wrong answers in fashion. My favorite part is during the middle of manufacturing the designs. When half is done and half is still waiting to be started. It is a state of perfection and imperfection at the same time. Already being able to visualize your designs on the runway but still waiting to see what new ideas the half-done collection can bring you

Describe your design process in one word: Joggle.

Photography: Pauliina Maus

How would you describe the concept behind your project (for FASHIONCLASH)?

‘Boy meets Evil’ is a collection which studies the soul-searching journey which a person can go through while finding themselves, drawing inspiration from Hermann Hesse's book Demian. Is God only good and pure. And Evil only bad and sinful. If God made humans as his image, why are humans imperfect? Why are we able to not only see the blacks and whites but also the yellows and blues and reds? To become whole, one has to first brake themselves free from the world and stereotypes around them.

What inspired you?
I was inspired by Hermann Hesse’s book Demian and the view it presented towards God and the self growth of a person. The collection outline follows the story of Sinclair, Beginning from his pure childhood (which was not so pure after all) to his teenage years and finally to his adulthood and total self acceptance.

How would you describe your project in three words? 
Symbolism, soul-searching, Frau Eva.

What projects are you involved in at the moment? What are your next steps?
I’m currently applying for MA studies. Also finding an internship / job in fashion.

What are your thoughts regarding fashion and religion?
Fashion has made headlines by being disrespectful of cultures and religions. Even so, religion and fashion used to walk hand in hand. In the old days, religions made the rules on how people should dress and thus so made people to experiment how far they could bring their individual fashion inside the guidelines of religion.

How does your day look like during the design process?
I wake up pretty early if I have an idea of what I want to do. Then I keep on doing research and fabric sampling for quite a long time. This may actually take many days. Same goes with the process of sketching the designs. I keep on going back and forth with my ideas until I’m fully pleased with the result. I work until late at night since I become more creative during the evening hours.

Who is your favorite artist?
For me, the art of Vincent van Gogh has always been my resting place.

Who is your favorite designer?
I don’t believe in having just one favorite in anything. Sometimes my favorite designer/brand is Vivienne Westwood and sometimes it’s a fairly new name like Blindness by Shin Kyu and Ji Sun . As I evolve and change, so does my idea of my favorite designer.

To find out more about Enni Lähderinne, visit her website at www.ennilahderinne.com