Tiger of Sweden Fall/Winter 2016 London

Tiger of Sweden’s Fall show notes told of Dalarna, the Swedish landskap steeped in artistic legacy and frequented by Stockholm or Gothenburg city dwellers seeking a little R&R (a bit like New York’s Hudson Valley, perhaps). What followed was a lineup retaining its urban-young-professional, trend-friendly roster—there were more than a few pairs of big-ankled and swishing trousers, an unavoidable thing in menswear right now—but infused with a notably bucolic Scandinavian reverb, from lupine prints to floral motifs created in collaboration with the Swedish artist Jakob Krajcik. The Tiger, roaming north.

“We always look past Sweden,” said Andreas Gran (who codesigned the collection with Tiger’s head honcho, Ronnie Junior McDonald), referring to inspirations and, presumably, the international markets buying into them, “but this time, we brought it home.” Some pieces were great, like a hooded and long navy parka covered with flowery crest patches, which were derived from an equally eye-catching motorcycle jacket hand-painted by Krajcik. These patches nodded to the embroideries found on local Dalarna garb. That botanical whimsy also sprouted up as allover reliefs on suits, which, for all intents and purposes, are a T of S staple, especially so because of their attractive price points. One could see a savvy graphic designer from Uppsala wearing the aforementioned with a pair of Common Projects and a briefcase. As it were, though, when the clothes got too slick or cosmopolitan, they stumbled. A sweater that read Colourblind repeatedly could have been edited out; cropped trousers might’ve been nixed, feeling post-trend. All was righted, however, with a series of bombers near the finale, some in “teddy bear” shearling and one in a shimmering gold wolf motif, glinting like sunlight through the steam on a frosty morning. In a very pleasing way, it made this writer want to nick one from backstage, skip the rest of the shows, and go see The Revenant. Nature, nurtured.