 | | For this second edition of Absolut Label, Best Company again researched and selected the best up & coming fashion talent from countries all over the world. This time lead agency KesselsKramer and Absolut Vodka invited them to create their unique interpretation of 'a bag'. (More on this project under button Absolut Label - The Country Collection). |
 Henrik Vibskov (Denmark)World-class fashion design has not been the only medium in which Henrik Vibskov's talent has thrived: he has also worked on critically acclaimed independent music tracks, won a Beck's award for his film work, been a champion breakdancer and even toyed with becoming a structural engineer. But it was his work in fashion that brought the Jutland-born Renaissance man to the attention of the world's press when, in 2001, he became the star of the Fashion BA graduate show at Central St Martins, his pig-print collection winning him the kind of rapturous press coverage not seen since John Galliano's graduation. St Martins offered him a bursary for their MA course, but he decided instead to return to Denmark and set up his label there. Since then he's gone on to win further accolades, including 'Name Of The Year' in the Danish Fashion Exhibition at Palais Tokyo, Paris in 2003 and a final place in the Swiss fashion festival GWAND's annual awards. Known for their sense of humour and street edge, his clothes also display a precise understanding of pattern cutting while his designs play on the socio-political tensions between urban and rural identities. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Vibskov has created a white cotton doctor's bag with aluminium detailing; mountings within the bag are designed to hold all kinds of medicine bottles as well as the famous ABSOLUT bottle. "The look is inspired by quack doctors selling miracle cures in medicine bottles and creating fame and great expectations around them," explains Vibskov. "Just like quack doctors, this bag appears promising, but in reality it is just a shell. It may look good on the outside, but it's what's inside that counts. And that's as true for people and for vodka as it is for bags." |
 Mei Hui Liu (Taiwan)Variously an inhabitant of Italy and France as well as her native Taiwan and the UK where she now lives, Mei Hui Liu's career in fashion began in 2000 with a series of unique pieces stitched together from Victorian fabrics and trims, establishing an exquisite yet punky aesthetic. In September 2001 she opened her first shop, Victim, on Fashion Street out in London's East End with business partner William MacCormac, spawning two labels: the very exclusive and super scarce Victim By Mei Hui Liu as well as the more widely available range of basics simply called Victim. In addition, she was invited by Topshop in 2002 to create a high-street customised range, My Secret, which sold through the chain's Bazaar department. She was also chosen to represent new design in a governmental initiative promoting British fashion in China, where she showed her Spring/Summer 2003 collection alongside Vivienne Westwood. Her work is also highly rated by the broader art community: she has been invited to show and discuss her work at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Tate Britain gallery. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Liu has come up with a series of shopping bags created from a variety of vintage fabrics and hand-customised by the designer herself, making each one truly unique. They represent a meeting of the labels ABSOLUT and Victim, bearing both the shape of the ABSOLUT bottle and the word 'Victim' sewn onto the bag. The word stands, in Liu's words, "as a comment on the nature of fame". Each bag also bears a laminated photograph of the designer, attached by vintage lace. |
 Désirée Klein (Germany)Having variously studied Fine Art, Art History and Product Design in Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, Désirée Klein became a key figure on the Berlin creative scene in the early part of this decade, setting up interdisciplinary art events as well as freelancing in set, costume and graphic design for such alt-art figures as the musician Mocky, the performer Elyce Cemenec and the artist Isa Genzgen. Born in Saarbruecken in 1974, Désirée founded her label Klein Corpse. in 2003 as a conceptual project on the meanings and uses people impose upon products arising from perceptions of their history and function. The Klein Corpse. range encompasses furniture as well as restructured vintage clothing and surprisingly practical accessories. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Klein has created a cotton shopping bag cleverly shaped to look like it is holding a bottle of ABSOLUT vodka. As she describes it, "It uses the shape of the ABSOLUT bottle to play with the idea of fame, because everyone knows the famous bottle." |
 Julia and Renata Franco (Mexico) Both graduates of the Guadalajara School Of Fashion, sisters Julia and Renata Franco set up Julia Y Renata with their prize money after coming first in a fashion illustration competition in Mexico City. Initially working to a tiny budget in their parents' garage, their first big break came when they met Patricia Field during a trip to New York, which resulted in her influential boutique, House Of Field, buying their entire 1995 collection. They made their Mexico Fashion Week debut in spring 2002. Since then they have become the designers of choice for Mexico's biggest movie and music stars, becoming paparazzi targets themselves when they created the wedding dress for singer Alejandra Guzmán in 2003. For ABSOLUT LABEL, the Franco sisters have created a chic white canvas bag decorated with ceramic squares and a clasp shaped like the ABSOLUT bottle. The bag opens to reveal advice on how to be famous on the lining: essential personality traits for withstanding the spotlight and cunning media-savvy tactics to get you there. |
 Giulia Piersanti (Italy) A graduate of New York's Parsons School Of Design, thirty-year-old Giulia Piersanti worked as an assistant designer for DKNY and Miu Miu, head of womenswear at Costume National and consultant for both Martine Sitbon and the MaxMara Group before setting up her own women's knitwear label in 2003. Rising through the ranks within the fashion establishment, she became known for offering a fresh, young take on classical elegance. Her first collection, with its maxi sweaters and skull-printed scarves, quickly established her reputation in the international fashion press, and she now sells in Tokyo and Los Angeles as well as Milan. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Piersanti has created a characteristically elegant crocheted bag that is shaped like a wing and sits close to the shoulder, instantly blessing the wearer with an angelic appearance. 'The idea is that the most famous thing I do is creativity through freedom of expression," she says; "that is the most famous thing about my work." |
 Aga, Pshemko and Tomek Siereks (Poland) Born and raised in the Polish industrial town of Bielsko-Baila in 1974, a teenage Aga Siereks decided against a place on the machinery-building course at her local college and headed instead for Krakow to study fashion and jewellery design. After two years in Germany refining her aesthetic, a trip to London in 1999 led her to relocate to the city to work with the prestigious Arkadius label, where she rose to the role of creative director. Joined in London by her brothers Pshemko, a hair stylist who has worked with Mario Testino and Karl Lagerfeld, and Tomek, who had given up his place on an architecture degree course in Frankfurt to pursue experiments in photography, together they set up Siereks, a family business characterised by an inventive sense of humour. One collection was made up exclusively from clothes made from laundry bags; another restricted its textiles to paper-like Tyvek and denim. Their latest, a black and white collection, appears to be inspired by the uniforms worn by policewomen. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Siereks have cleverly appropriated the ubiquitous laundry basket by arranging a large zip in the shape of an ABSOLUT bottle beneath the handle. Their reasoning is that 'if you ask people around the globe what the most famous and most used bag is, we think you will find that it is not a Gucci or Fendi bag, but a simple laundry bag.' |
 Valeria Siniouchkina (Russia) Valeria Siniouchkina's upbringing is transnational to say the least, but her heart is very much Russian: she even named her label after the historic Siberian city of Omsk. Born in Zurich in 1977, Valeria grew up in Montreal before her parents took the family back to their homeland of Russia when she was twelve. She settled in Brussels in 1992, where she studied styling and fashion design at the Higher School Of Visual Arts Of La Cambre. Upon graduating in 2002 she won the Prix Henri Bendel at Hyère's Festival Of Art And Fashion, going on to assist Gaspard Yurkievich in Paris as well as working for Indian Rose and setting up her label, Omsk. Her work is a mixture of tacky chic and rock and roll - she cites 'Lolitas from Uzbekistan' as a key influence - and WWD is among the influential publications that have praised her work for its "fresh energy". Valeria also took part in the reality TV series Fashion House in 2003, where her collection for the final show won praise from Antonio Berardi and Donatella Versace. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Siniouchkina has created a multi-functional little bag that transforms - in Siniouchkina's own words - into "an 'over-the-top' accessory". It was inspired by the aspirations of a hypothetical girl from Omsk, who would use the bag to make her stand out among a crowd of celebrities. It's covered with press studs to which handkerchiefs can be added, turning it into an eye-catching composite accessory that can be styled in a dozen different ways. |
 Adrian Hailwood (New Zealand) Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Adrian Hailwood made a lateral step into fashion from advertising in 2001 when he had trouble finding the right dress for a car advertisement. His solution was to make the dress himself, and the result was so impressive that colleagues were soon pestering him to make more of his distinctive T-shirt dresses for themselves. Soon an influential stockist had persuaded him to create a further hundred, which quickly flew off the rail. Now Hailwood designs two womenswear collections a year as well as footwear and jewellery which sell as far afield as London, Singapore and Los Angeles. He describes his unorthodox aesthetic as one of the benefits of 'being self-taught and not being afraid of making mistakes'. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Hailwood has created a knitted jacquard shoulder bag that harks back to the glamour of Greta Garbo and 1930s Hollywood. Each bag is shaped like the silhouette of an ABSOLUT bottle, which also boasts the added feature of opening up and creating a slinky - and eminently wearable - sleeveless minidress. |
 Raquel Uendi (Brazil) Falling into fashion almost by accident - she actually studied art at Saõ Paolo's leading Fine Art University - twenty four-year-old former head chef Raquel Uendi's career took a fateful turn the day she helped a friend with his first fashion show. This led to a project for the prestigious Brazilian young designers outlet, Ellus 2nd Floor: a line of vintage T-shirts each customised with embroidery and drawings by Uendi. Their sell-out success saw key names in the Brazilian fashion industry keen to work with her, including with Reinaldo Lourenço, Ellus and Adriano Costas. She presented her first catwalk collection in 2003 - a meticulously decorated utilitarian urbanwear line that garnered enthusiastic reviews - while still finding time to participate in gallery-based art projects. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Uendi has created a series of distressed-denim drawstring bags based on individuals that she has sketched; she refers to them as "famous/anonymous - those unique characters that stand out in the urban jungle, who work, study and party with a specific and special way of expressing their individuality". She has taken designs from these sketches to form 'constellations' of hand stitched stars and mother of pearl details on the bags, making each one as individual as the characters that inspired them. The pearl stars also come together to spell out the word ABSOLUT. |
 Bora Aksu was hailed by the international fashion press as the star of the 2003 Central St Martins Fashion MA Graduate Show. The journalists weren't the only ones to rate him - many pieces from his first collection were bought by Dolce & Gabbana. His collection also won him a vital sponsorship award, which enabled him to immediately set up his own womenswear label. And the prizes didn't stop there: his subsequent off-schedule debut at London Fashion Week in autumn 2003 won him the Topshop New Generation Award, enabling him to show on-schedule the following season. Only a year out of college, Bora Aksu has quickly established himself as one of the most important new names in international fashion. For ABSOLUT LABEL, Aksu has created an elegantly simple, sling-like bag.. The side that hugs the body is lined in brightly coloured fabric to contrast the brown leather exterior, representing the potential for instant fame that, in our age of reality TV, lies hidden within even the most seemingly unglamorous of us. |