The schedule for Fashion Week Stockholm, which kicks off this Sunday, includes a new, but familiar, name: Filippa K. The brand will celebrate the return of company’s cofounder and namesake, Filippa Knutsson, with a runway presentation at Nordiska Galleriet, a design center dating back to 1912. The Australian-Swedish pop duo, Say Lou Lou, who have a history of collaborating with Filippa K (one of their first performances was at the brand’s 2012 show) and star in the brand’s Spring campaign, have created the score for the presentation.
Filippa K was founded in 1993 by Knutsson with her then-husband Patrik Kihlborg and Karin Segerblom. Knutsson, who was raised in London, had been working for her father’s denim brand Gul & Blå, which she describes as a Swedish Fiorucci, and not at all her style. “It was totally different from what I personally longed for,” explains Knutsson. “I wanted something much purer and cleaner. The first real minimalistic wave [in fashion] came in the 1990s and I just felt so intuitively part of that.”
The brand’s first hit was stretch jeans—skinny jeans before skinny jeans. Low-waisted, with a form-enhancing fit and the perfect flare, they would be a hit again today. “[At the time,] we talked about capsule wardrobes, we talked about having fewer clothes and being able to mix and match,” says Knutsson. “There’s a timelessness that is very attractive about what we do that I think is going to be more and more relevant, especially in this world of overconsumption.”
What distinguished Filippa K’s warm minimalism was a sense of the personal. “My life is almost written in the brand,” the designer says. “For me, work and my personal life just sort of intermingle, and always have. I use myself as a reference in my work and I use my work as a reference.” When the boundaries blurred too much, an exhausted Knutsson stepped back in 2011. Though she was no longer in the atelier, the designer remained on the board of the company. “Style. Simplicity. Quality.” is the house motto, and when Knutsson felt the clarity of the brand was becoming diluted, she jumped back in the fray. The Fall 2018 collection is her first since returning to active duty, as it were.
Knutsson speaks of a red thread that runs through all of the collections, and admits that in large part she is it: “I think [the brand] has to be personal. What’s the point otherwise? I’ve always [felt] if I like this and I need it, I’m sure a lot of other women feel the same way. That is was what [makes Filippa K] so consistent.” What makes it desirable is a sophisticated classicism mixed with sex appeal, a reasonable price point, and quality. Recently Knutsson was in Amsterdam doing interviews and wore a much-loved tuxedo suit jacket. “I could say, ‘This is seven-year-old Filippa K and it looks great still,’ and I was pretty proud of that,” the designer said.