Finland is experiencing a fashion renaissance thanks to world-class fashion programmes at Aalto University and a new generation of young designers championing self-expression and technical garment-making.
Finland is an unlikely supplier of top talent for the fashion industry. The city’s unofficial fashion week, Fashion in Helsinki, ended this weekend and has emerged as an important stop for recruiters and journalists. “I am here to look for up-and-coming talent from Finland,” says Alexis Djouahra, director of communications for Villa Noailles, a French arts centre and organiser of the Hyères International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories. Monocle meets Djouahra on the verdant Seurasaari island, where models strut alfresco in a scene far removed from the busy runways of Milan and Paris. “Finnish designers do really well in our competitions and have won it many times,” he adds.
Though the country doesn’t shout about its fashion credentials, Finnish designers are shaping the creative direction of the world’s top luxury brands. “There are currently about 50 Finns employed by design teams at major European houses,” Jani Niipola, journalist and former executive director of Fashion Finland, tells Monocle.
Central to the country’s reputation are Aalto University’s fashion and textiles degree programmes, which are often rated among the best in the world. “Unlike many courses elsewhere, Aalto combines textiles, garment construction and fashion design into the same curriculum,” says textile-design professor Maarit Salolainen. Students are taught to work with industrial weaving looms and knitting machines, as well as learn about fabric development, pattern cutting and garment construction. The emphasis is on understanding how materials behave and how clothes are made. It is this holistic approach that fashion houses appreciate and why brands such as Chanel choose to mentor the school’s students.
Monocle meets one of the university’s former pupils, fashion and print designer Tuuli-Tytti Koivula, in Helsinki. She graduated from Aalto in 2023 and has already worked at the likes of Raf Simons, Courrèges and Prada. At Prada, she was part of the print and fabric team, where she earned praise for her experimental take on prints and textures. “I soon realised that my technical skills were much broader than most other young designers,” she says. “At many fashion schools, students specialise early in areas such as knitwear or print design. At Aalto, students were expected to learn it all.” This material knowledge and curiosity was evident at Aalto’s Näytös26 fashion show and its accompanying exhibition, where students experimented with transparent horse leather, grew their own flaxseed for linen and exhibited age-old weaving techniques.
But the country’s young talent has more than just know-how. “Finnish designers are often identifiable through their silhouettes, layering and use of materials,” says Djouahra. “[Their work] is artistic instead of commercial and they all have something to say – something to represent. It’s very different.”
The lack of a mass luxury-fashion industry frees Helsinki designers from strict commercial constraints, allowing them to prioritise pure artistic expression. Instead of buying ready-made luxury components, students have to invent them. And while much of this talent leaves the capital for opportunities in bigger cities, fashion circles are increasingly confident of its sartorial output. So, if you’re after skilled designers with a strong point of view and original ideas, perhaps it’s worth looking beyond Paris.