When you think of Finland, three things may come to mind: saunas, hockey players with lots of consonants and Marimekko.
The textile-driven fashion and homewares brand, which has a store in Vancouver, has been the international ambassador for Finnish design since its inception in 1951 — some of its mid-century-modern designs have become classics that remain in the line today.
The main fashion line from Marimekko can be pricey but, since the 1970s, the brand has engaged in collaborations and licensing — from Adidas to Ikea, Banana Republic to Target — to make its distinctive prints available for less. One longtime collaborator is the Japanese-founded brand Uniqlo; their sixth collection together launches Thursday with pieces aimed mostly at women and girls, including the famous mini half-moon bag, with prices topping out at $59.90 for a fleece jacket.
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Marimekko was unusual from the start. It was established in 1951 by husband-and-wife team Viljo and Armi Ratia, and a utopian ideal of a Marimekko creative village in the Finnish forest, never to be fully realized, was at the heart of their vision for the company. Viljo owned a textile printer and Armi began commissioning artists to come up with bold prints. Next came the fashion — Marimekko means “Mary dress” in Finnish and its simple, unrestrictive silhouettes brought modern style to Scandinavian women and beyond.
Jackie Kennedy Onassis wears a Marimekko dress on the cover of Sports Illustrated, 1960.
Getty Images
Jackie Kennedy was an early fan of the brand; she made headlines by purchasing six of its dresses while her husband was on the campaign trail. In 1960, she was shown on the cover of Sports Illustrated wearing a Marimekko sundress, setting off a craze and bringing awareness of the new mod style to North America.
Unusually, Marimekko has been able to revive its vintage patterns at both the high and mass ends of the market, something that has watered down many other brands over time. Pierre Cardin is a cautionary tale; the once-elite, avant-garde French house branched out to everything from alarm clocks to sardines in some 904 licensing deals, losing its shine in the process. Halston also lost its lustre from pumping out too many diffusion lines and even Yves Saint Laurent was considered over-licensed before Tom Ford chopped back the spinoff products in the late ’90s.
The prints have stood the test of time. Today, Marimekko shows at Copenhagen Fashion Week, after several years of catwalks in Paris; the company demonstrates its democratic values by making shows in Helsinki and Copenhagen open to the public. The spring/summer collection marked the 60th anniversary of its famous poppy pattern, Unikko, seen reimagined in different scale on the runway.
The Jokapoika (which translates to "every boy") from 1956, a unisex button-up shirt striped with black and white hand-drawn lines, is enjoying a renaissance among international fashion influencers. Using the hashtag #jokapoika, fans post their styling of the oversized piece, which is now available in more colours and costs $320 at the Vancouver shop.
Three of the classic patterns in the Uniqlo collaboration are by Maija Isola, one of Marimekko’s most famous designers, who died in 2001. She worked at the company for 38 years, designing some 500 patterns, including the now ubiquitous Unikko poppies and Kivet, a slightly irregular polka-dot-style pattern of “stones,” which is used on the new Uniqlo fleeces and bags.
Other patterns from the collection include Sirens (Seireeni), a groovy wave graphic that “recalls the enchanted singing that lured sailors into dangerous waters,” and Tawny Owl (Kissapollo), a delicate brush stroke pattern. One pattern by another legendary Marimekko designer, Pentti Rinta, is called Wisp (Hattara) and comes in pale pink, yellow or stone colourways in the collection.
Getting a piece of designer-level gear at fast-fashion prices has become big business for a lot of brands, chief among them H&M, whose flashy designer collaborations with Mugler, Balmain and Versace have caused frenzies over time. Uniqlo tends to work with more avant-garde designers, such as JW Anderson and Lemaire.
When it comes to housewares, Marimekko's are exclusively at EQ3 in Canada, where you will find pillows, mugs, shower curtains and duvet covers alongside iconic mid-century-modern furniture line Herman Miller, a logical pairing.
The art-forward thread running through Marimekko remains today: on its website, the “Maripedia” lists the legendary designers of its classic prints from the past 72 years alongside artists currently working for the company, hopefully creating classics of the future.
Many a piece has been collected and displayed in museums over time, but the fact that you can own a pair of Marimekko-print socks for 10 bucks gives a design-hit thrill all its own.
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Leanne Delap is a Toronto-based freelance contributor for the Star and The Kit, where she writes about fashion and culture. Reach her via email: leannedelap@hotmail.com.
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