SS22: Tiger of Sweden.
Whilst some place more focus on superficial appearances, Tiger of Sweden centres functionality and flexibility at the core of their work. The Stockholm-based brand’s SS22 show was their best example of this yet, fusing movement, practicality and quality design together into a single collection that oozed timeless elegance.
Staged at the Montague Gardens, a secluded and intimate space, dancers intertwined and blended among models to present the cohesive collection. Moving sensually to the music, chiming with each beat, every move meticulously practiced. Fittingly titled ‘Performance’, its flawless execution was the brainchild of legendary choreographer Franka Marlene Foth.
The performers, donning oversized waistcoats and flared suits in Prussian blues, pale greys and distinctively deep blacks, reminded us once more of the brand’s strong and fabled history in tailoring - with over a century of experience in the industry behind its belt. Elements of sportswear were prevalent throughout too, sneaking up in the likes of mustard cricket-like knits and long, dark, hooded parkas - a brief albeit present element of modernity Tiger of Sweden has merged into its traditional tailoring.
This season, design director Bryan Conway drew his main inspiration from nature itself, its simplicity and yet its romanticism too. Referencing W. B. Yeats’s The Wild Swans at Coole poem, but with his own added comment elaborating how the show acted as “a sort of fan fiction, another way of looking at Yeats’ poem. However instead of his melancholy about the passing of time, it is more a celebration of that eternal beauty all around.” With this, Conway picks at a very relevant topic of discussion concerning this season as physical fashion week re-emerges, sparking conversations and thoughts on reconnecting with the outside world post lockdown and the isolation that has since ensued. Perhaps this is the post-Covid reminder we all needed to reconcile with nature.
Writer Susie Lethbridge.
