Tonight, the Norwegian Institute of Fashion opened its doors for the first time, during the Oslo Fashion Week. Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who has made a habit of fronting Norwegian fashion and designers, attended the opening. She is the high protector of the Norwegian Design Council.
The institute has been in the works since 2006. The aim of getting such an organization together is to make the Norwegian fashion world more professional, and to raise the level of ambition and knowledge to those working in the industry.
The purpose of the fashion institute is to build networks, cooperation between subject areas, supervise trends, work at knowledge development, recruit and be an unifying channel towards embassies, financial institutions and investors. With the current financial situation of the world in mind, it seems to be a smart choice to try to work together as a whole to promote the fashion rather than have everyone make their own way.
True to the theme of the night – Mette-Marit arrived dressed in Norwegian fashion, in fact, the brand who had won a design award the night before. FIN’s clothing mantra bases itself on being ecological and environmental-friendly. Thus, the material in Mette-Marit’s gown is made from bamboo.
I’m not among the critics of Mette-Marit wearing black, in my opinion it sets off her hair far nicer than the beige she also wears a lot, although in this case it might have been nice to see it in another colour. My eternal gripe with her clothing is the fit, and it is less than perfect here. But looking at the model wearing the same dress, (scroll down) there seems to be something strange with the fit around the arms there as well, so this time she’s excused for that.
But the biggest question is why would you pick a dress with a metal zipper that goes all the way down, as the focal point, and then use a thin black belt over the zipper?
I’m sorry, Mette-Marit drawing attention to the event is good. Mette-Marit working is good. Mette-Marit appearing in Norwegian fashion is good. But then she should also try to make the outfits look as they were intended.