As our designer profiles go, Barbara I Gongini is another who we can almost place out of the realm of "emerging." With nearly 9K fans on Facebook, 8K on Instagram and 348 on Pinterest (though uptake in Pinterest is slower in Europe compared to the U.S.) at the time of writing this, add to that her presence on some high profile maketplaces, she is definitely on the rise in the fashion world.
Barbara I Gongini, from the Faroe Islands (part of the Danish realm), started her eponymous fashion label in 2005 and is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her style is described as high-end Nordic avant-garde with collections for both men and women (though she says maintaining separate collections is purely for "functional reasons"). Currently, she shows her collections each season in fashion capitals Copenhagen, Milan and Paris. Her aesthetic is on the darker side, taking a conceptual approach to fashion design which crafts garments with challenge gender norms (or any other societal norms for that matter), equalizing fashion between men and women. Another signature of her designs is that she takes seemingly structured geometric cuts and morphs them into softer, flowing and layered finished garments.
We also love that Barbara I Gongini is focused on ethical and sustainable practices in her fashion endeavour. As we are strongly behind the slow fashion movement, Barbara I Gongini seems to be as well; though she has the standard 2 collections per year, her website states that her "design is based on continuous evolvement rather than sheer renewal and instant dismissal." Her designs are not based on current trends, but are meant to last through the fickle seasons of the current fast-fashion mindset in the market. As a result, she was nominated for the ethical award in 2010 by the Danish Fashion Award Committee.
Here are some of our favourite looks from the Barbara I Gongini Autumn Winter 2015 collection.
