When it comes to Nordic fashion, Copenhagen Fashion Week has made a name for itself on the international stage for its commitment to sustainability, while Stockholm is revered for ultra-cool brands like Acne Studios and Our Legacy. However, in recent years, the Finnish capital Helsinki has come to the fore – mainly due to a fresh cohort of menswear-focused talent. From traditional men’s shirts inverted and reimagined to jumpsuits in abstract floral prints with technical detailing, here’s a selection of upcoming design talent showcased at this year’s Fashion in Helsinki 2024 showcase making the Finnish scene one to follow.

Rolf Ekroth
Last year, Aalto University graduate Rolf Ekroth made his debut at Copenhagen Fashion Week as part of the NEWTALENT lineup. Rose motifs pervaded his SS24 collection, which drew inspiration from multiple generations in his family and their childhood experiences. Ekroth’s designs often look to his upbringing, cleverly incorporating elements of nostalgia into his pieces: his SS23 collection titled Camp Broken Arm referenced the many summers he spent at camp, with ice cream-inspired prints and 90s-infused silhouettes in abundance. The designer showed both his SS24 and FW24 at the Fashion in Helsinki runway show held at the Telakka dockyard last month. “It’s great to be able to show your collection in your home country,” said Ekroth, “It hopefully raises awareness of what our brands do and helps us grow domestically too.”

VAIN
“VAIN is all about love”, creative director Jimi Vain says of his label, which he runs in conjunction with CEO/photographer Roope Reinola. The pair have built a cult-like following due to their ability to craft viral moments with each collection they drop. Back in November 2022, they collaborated with a Helsinki-based McDonald’s to redesign the iconic uniform into punk-infused subversive silhouettes. Vain and Reinola exhibited their debut collection during Pitti Uomo 103 in 2023 and have shown during Copenhagen Fashion Week since August of the same year. Being creative in the digital age is second nature to the duo, who showed looks from their previous collections, as well as unreleased items from their upcycled line during June’s Fashion in Helsinki runway show. “The show was particularly important for us as a community-centric brand,” they explain, as it allowed the VAIN visionaries to connect with their followers at home in a raw, authentic way.

Latimmier
The Latimmier SS24 show at Copenhagen Fashion Week was held at the Radisson Hotel conference centre. Ervin Latimer, the designer behind his semi-eponymous label, came strutting out at the beginning of the show as his drag alter ego, Anna Konda. Complete with a bouffant blonde wig, Jackie Onassis-style shades and stiletto heels, he treated the audience to a lip-sync rendition of Shirley Bassey’s Big Spender. The collection itself was titled Positions of Power and aimed to reinterpret and subvert the traditional menswear codes associated with working on Wall Street. Think braces worn backwards and slacks that trailed into fringed fabric reminiscent of shredded paper.

Since his debut at Pittiu Uomo 101 in 2022, Latimer has been preoccupied with investigating what constitutes menswear. He’ll return to Copenhagen for SS25, currently designing alongside his team at Studio Kukkapuro in the Finnish countryside. Built in the 60s, the space was once home to the designer and artist Yrjö and Irmeli Kukkapuro. Their descendants Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom and Ida Kukkapuro have preserved the building, allowing a new generation of creative talent to use the serene location as their workspace. “The sheer creative power this place has; It’s about a historic Finnish designer and an upcoming Finnish designer finding each other and creating these new pathways together,” said Latimer. “The benefits of us Finns is that we aim to support each other a lot.”

Ildar Wafin
A graduate from London’s Royal Collage of Art and former intern at Louis Vuitton, young jewellery designer Ildar Wafin is fast making a name for himself within the industry. This year, he won the New Talent Prize at the Finnish Fashion Awards. Wafin looks to Finland’s diverse natural landscape and his ancestral roots as a member of the Tatar people, a minority Turkic ethnic group, as endless sources of inspiration.

Working from his Helsinki-based studio, the designer runs his own brand while collaborating with other creatives such as Rolf Ekroth on exclusive collections. Renowned Finnish jewellery brand Kalevala, which was founded in 1937, appointed Wafin as the designer of its latest Männyt collection. The word ‘Männyt’ in Finnish translates to ‘pines’, which the pieces are centred around. “Pine trees encapsulate nature’s vigour and mystique in their intriguing forms and patterns,” said Wafin, who’s created a selection of silver designs that resemble the irregular formation of tree trunk rings.

Aalto University Graduates, Jere Vilo and Lauri Greis
Each year, Aalto University holds a fashion show for graduating BA and MA students. For Näytös24, an exhibition was presented alongside the event so that the public could view the designers’ work. Two stand-out collections were those of students Jere Vilo and Lauri Greis. Prone to including an element of humour into his work, Vilo presented a multicoloured selection of menswear pieces featuring abstract zigzag patterns. The designer comes from a working-class background, explaining that he remembers going to hodari kiosks as a kid – venues that sell delicious hotdogs. Models were spotted carrying takeaway-style carrier bags and novelty-like hotdog handbags.

His peer, Greis, takes a more streetwear-focused approach to design. His aesthetic is reminiscent of Astrid Andersen and Nasir Mazhar, remixing oversized sportswear silhouettes with elements of traditional Karelian dress – worn by a group of Finnish people living in Karelia, a region split between Russia and Finland. The designer observed custom handcrafting techniques such as tassel making and pleating to complete his attitude-filled collection.