Photography by Iris Humm. Courtesy of Stine Goya
Stine Goya has made a name for her eponymous label by having a lot of fun with silhouettes and colour, but also for giving excellent production value. Last season, the Danish brand opted for dancers, instead of models, to perform a contemporary piece by Puerto Rican choreographer Kianí Del Valle. For Spring Summer 2020, showcased yesterday at Copenhagen Fashion Week, they shifted the gaze to ballroom culture, inviting members of the international Ballroom and Kiki houses to create its “HOUSE OF GOYA” show. Alongside these performers, the brand also recruited faces for its runway from the networking and dating app, Bumble. Although the platform became well-known for its dating model where women make the first move, it’s now expanding the possibilities for swiping with business and friendship categories.
SLEEK caught up with Goya to get an inside look into the SS20 show and Danish fashion:
Photography by Iris Humm. Courtesy of Stine Goya
Can you walk us through the inspiration behind this season’s collection?
This season, we drew inspiration from the extravagant aesthetic, the freedom of expression and inclusive community of international ballroom culture—to launch our own house—the HOUSE OF GOYA. The collection explores our consistent focus on bold colour palettes and story telling prints and re-works them in fresh and exciting new ways. I played with scale, with materials and proportions to make everything feel more extreme and bolder than usual. The idea was to look at our what makes Stine Goya, Stine Goya and run with it. SS20 has no boundaries, which is such a liberating way to design.
Why did you choose to go for a Bumble casting?
The ballroom scene, in my understanding of it, is first and foremost about bringing together alternative families, celebrating the individual and knowing your truth. In order that our show be true to this driving ethos, we discussed ways in which we could cast from beyond the standard agency.
The opportunity with Bumble felt so natural as since its inception the platform has been focused on empowering the female voice and activating projects across the creative industry that make you reconsider your position and question the status quo.
What were some of the things that surprised you about the process? Would you do it again?
I was genuinely surprised by how many people applied—there is always that initial pang of worry around a new initiative such as this—but it was truly humbling to receive such an array of applications from women across Europe who are interested in being involved in our show. I would definitely look to doing something similar again. I don’t want this to feel like a one off.
Photography by Iris Humm. Courtesy of Stine Goya
Do you think that the relative new rise of Copenhagen Fashion Week allows for the city’s designers to rewrite some of the traditional fashion week rules?
Definitely. I think the recent focus on satellite fashion capitals like Copenhagen redirects the conversation around trends and aesthetics. Copenhagen is a hotbed of creative talent and the timing of our shows mean that the industry is actually looking to us first to discover new approaches and styles. There is a hunger for fresh ideas that allows our designers to rewrite the traditional framework of the industry.
Do you think there is a hunger to see more “real women” on the runway? And what does that term mean to you?
I think “real women” is an incredibly problematic term —anyone who chooses to identify as a woman, is a woman. End of story. But, in reference to your question: what I believe the public are hungry for is representation. People want to see themselves in the public sphere, because they are the faces and individuals that make up the public. If you see one type of person across the media over and over again, your self worth—if you can’t identify with it—is negatively affected. What I believe people are hungry for is a message of inclusivity and recognition of all as valuable, not just one type.
With the rise of Danish fashion, we’ve also seen the archetype of the “Scandinavian cool girl” come to prominence with publications, such as Vogue using it a lot to describe a certain style in the way that the “French girl” is used. What do you think about this type of categorisation?
Scandinavian girls are cool. But, I think typecasting Scandinavia in general is an oversimplification of the breadth of styles that you will see if you visited Copenhagen, Stockholm or Helsinki – it doesn’t allow for each individual brand to be seen and considered independently. However, from a commercial perspective, for the brand this categorisation has honestly been very beneficial—the growth of our social media platform and our international sales I believe is directly related to this global focus this perceived collective style.
Check out backstage images from Thursday’s show:
Photography by Iris Humm. Courtesy of Stine Goya.