London-based 23-year-old Swedish designer Linus Leonardsson has focused on combining fun and glamor with a focus on central social issues. Firstly, it is the destruction of gender expectations in fashion, and secondly, it is a push to create a completely sustainable industry. The main purpose of his collections is to create feast and fantasy for the eyes – and a relationship to the world in which we all live.
The partnership with THE GUESTLIST began in the form of an award from the Südwolle Group, The Woolmark Company, PeterseimStrickwaren and THE GUESTLIST, following his graduation show at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The combination of technical and industrial know-how with fresh ideas straight from school is innovative and forward-looking. Linus’ debut collection was shown at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia in Moscow at the invitation of Russian Fashion Council as part of the Global Talents program in October 2019. In his works, adolescent problems arising in connection with the desire not to fit into the adult world were considered. The collection was presented at a forest rave in Stockholm, combining contemporary rave culture with new ways of conservation and handicraft. Striving to create an environmentally sustainable future, Linus was originally concerned with finding fabrics from non-recyclable waste.
In a new collection for THE GUESTLIST, the designer shares a vision of how to work against the core of an industry already famed for its environmentally unsustainable practices. Working with THE GUESTLIST is instrumental to that goal – by creating the highest quality fashion for the future that can be loved, worn over and over again, and revived at THE GUESTLIST’s Cashmere Spa.
Small details like frames or covered ribs add texture to each piece. They are eye-catching and designed to be admired – both visually and conceptually. The Linus Leonardsson collection for THE GUESTLIST is based on the idea of merging the new world with the old perception of exclusivity and luxury. In the collection, these ideas are achieved through the use of color and a printer in knitwear. Linus combined traditional plaid with color gradients, combining these pieces with modern versions of classics like a white shirt or suit pants, modernity and heritage merge to create a modern silhouette with a romantic nod to the past.
This colourful and bright collection, shown through a series of voguing dance routines, elegant, beautiful and vibrant, with eclectic knitwear and a green/blue colour palette, complete with silk scarves, tights and sweaters, all adorned with timeless geometric prints reminiscent of New York in the 1990s.