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On Friday 25 May, fashion lovers and prominent guests mingled with the fashion set at Näytös18, the Aalto Department of Fashion spring show by BA and MA students. Twenty-two new collections were presented and four were awarded for their outstanding ideas and execution.

Each year, an international jury of fashion professionals selects one collection for the Näytös Award. This year, jurors including Felipe Oliveira Baptista, former creative director of Lacoste, bestowed the Näytös18 Award on Anni Salonen "for the masterful use of shapes, colours and materials" in her collection.

This year's Marimekko Award was given to Eetu Kemppainen for his aviation-themed collection. "I was inspired by the free-spirited 1920s and 1930s," said Kemppainen. "I wanted to be fun and not too serious."

The Fiskars Award went to Emma Saarnio, who reimagined stereotypical 'heavy-metal loving, beer drinking' Finnish style with witty details such as a colour-matched beer carrier. "One of my principles was to buy as much Finnish materials as possible," said Saarnio about her collection. "I learned that there are a lot of people left in Finland who still produce textiles and materials."

Eerika Yli-Rahko, Erika Hirsimäki and Idaliina Friman won the Diesel Award for their BA collection in white leather and denim. "We all grew up in small Finnish towns and our inspiration was the motorsports culture there," explained Hirsimäki and Yli-Rahto.

As far as the overall quality of this year's collections, several observers have indicated that the level is very high. "Näytös is more like a final at an international fashion competition than a show held by a fashion school," said Baptista.

More information
Lecturer Tuomas Laitinen
tuomas.p.laitinen@aalto.fi
+358 (0) 503 848 857