Models at the Cheap Monday show
It is always fun to see the Cheap Monday show, even though it is easy to dismiss as “jeans and T-shirts”. They always find a great venue (this year it was the newly opened Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre), they always have interesting hair and makeup, they always build elaborate catwalks and sets. On top of that, they invite not just the press, but the Cheap Monday fans, a mesmerising crowd of cooler-than-thou indie kids.
Last season was the first with the new designer Ann-Sofie Back at the helm of the non-denim department, and what was evident in seeing the autumn/winter collection for 2011 is that Cheap Monday now is a brand that doesn’t feel like “jeans and T-shirts” at all. Go into their stores and you will definitely find the trademark skinny jeans, but on the catwalk, the message was one of a fashion brand, if not exactly high fashion.
Not a pair of jeans in sight!
This makes me immediately think of Acne. Acne started out as a jeans brand, and while denim forms the basis for the company, the image is more and more affordably luxury and chic with each season passing. Is Cheap Monday going down the same route?
I think this is interesting because Acne and Cheap Monday are the two main Swedish brands that has recognition in the international fashion industry, unless you count H&M of course (Cheap Monday is wholly owned by H&M as of last year). It is almost as if Swedish brands have found a way to do things in reverse. First, sell jeans like crazy. Next step: become increasingly more of a fashion brand. Acne is now showing in London and during Paris menswear – might we expect a similar exodus from Cheap Monday?
The plastic tubes in the models' hair
A menswear look from Cheap Monday AW 2011
In any case, this says something about how successful Swedish fashion design works. It is rooted in trendy streetwear rather than luxury, a base which is more suited to Swedish customers and in these times of mainstream and democratic fashion, maybe also a competitive advantage on the international fashion market. Brands like Acne and Cheap Monday don’t trickle down, they trickle up.
