Ultra-Slow Fashion

In her knitwear collection, Saimi Parikka studies the themes of ultra-slow fashion, emotional connection to the garments, comfort, and nature. She approaches these themes with self-processed Finnish sheep wool from sheep to yarn, natural dyes and slow handicraft textile techniques. Pictures of surrounding nature serve as inspiration and guidelines for knit structures.

– With this collection, I aim to find beauty, sustainability, and a peace of mind through the idea of ultra-slow fashion. I search for a deeper connection to these textiles and garments through grounding working methods. With these themes, I wish to comment on the disposable nature of the fashion industry, Parikka explains.

Ultra-slow fashion is a protest against the accelerating pace of the world and fashion. The repetitive, calming movement of hand knitting is proven to positively affect mental well-being and also a lovely counterbalance to everyday life’s overstimulation and hecticness.

– First, I made small pieces, such as cable knit tubes, and then draped or combined them. The possibility of focusing on one piece at a time and repeating this makes the calming effect of knitting possible to achieve. This way of working also gave me the freedom to play with yarns and later with how to combine these pieces into garments.

The collection also embraces craft and the DIY fashion culture. Parikka’s background is in textile design and the collection is very much material based.

– For me as a designer, it is very inspiring to combine DIY craft hobby culture with fashion. Through DIY fashion, the connection to the garment is very different. When successful, the time and effort put into the work creates a unique personal feeling to the end result. I feel this worked exceptionally well with the self-made wool yarn and garments made from that.

Contact information:

Saimi Parikka

saimi.parikka@aalto.fi

+358405625576