Swedish Style Hits London Streets
3/01/12
“Monki is both a way of doing life and a way of doing fashion. Monki is a store concept and a fashion brand. The stores are a part of a Monki world that constantly tells new stories. The clothes have a style that represents personality and independence, an alternative that’s full of dreams.”
Welcome to the intense and exciting world of Monki clothing! Already sold in the UK in a small boutique in London’s Selfridges, this unusual brand is headed our way in a more dramatic fashion with the launch of a dedicated Monki store on Carnaby Street scheduled for February 2012. Monki is a Swedish brand that has developed a cult following in its homeland, as well as a variety of other regions including the rest of Scandinavia and also Hong Kong. Having drawn comparisons to Hello Kitty, Monki is more than just a clothing range: behind the Monki name is an entire fantasy world, filled with the Monkis themselves. These small creatures, as pictured in the logo above, are critters with dual personalities, cute and cuddly one minute but deceptive and mischievous the next! They inhabit Monki World, a fantasy land that plays a large part in Monki’s marketing and design strategies. With such a rich and childlike background to their products, it comes as no surprise that the majority of Monki’s customer base is formed of teenage girls!
The official Monki website describes their stores as “walk-in closets filled with treasures!”
The fantasy world of the Monkis gives the brand a unique design opportunity in each of its stores. Electric Dreams, a contemporary design studio, are the company behind these unusual shops. Each individual store is based on a part of the Monki World: the City of Oil and Steel, where the Monkis live, the Forgotten Forest, the City of Scallops. Even the small London boutique is themed: the Endless Ocean. This makes every Monki store a completely different experience, and the immensely detailed background story extends well beyond the interior design. It is also represented in the brand’s products themselves, in graphic prints and accessories, on the shopping bags, even on price tags and receipts. You may wonder why they go to so much effort – the answer, it seems, is that Monki are extremely determined to communicate the attitude behind their clothes in every aspect of the brand. Monki is about playfulness, individuality, and freedom.
Every Monki product is given a unique name, adding to the brand’s quirky charm.
So what about the products themselves? Monki clothing bears the charismatic simplicity of many Scandinavian brands, using cotton as a primary fabric. As you would expect of a brand that appeals to teens, there are lots of bright colours as well as graphic prints and designs; the brand has also drawn comparisons to similarly quirky Japanese makes. There is a delicate, feminine feel to many of their pieces, and fashion blogger Lorna Claire Weightman has compared the style and price of Monki clothes to popular American brand Forever 21. Monki are also committed to Corporate Social Responsibility – they steer clear of any risk of animal cruelty, boycotting fur and feathers and carefully sourcing their wool. Their website explains that the company ensures decent working standards and conditions for the employees of their suppliers, whilst they are also attempting to increase their dependence on organic cotton.
The Monki brand is owned by Hennes, a chain which has already had major success in the UK with its H&M stores. Monki was first introduced to UK retail in September 2011, when its Selfridges boutique was launched to a positive response from consumers. Its sister brand Cheap Monday, producers of affordable denim and the tightest tight jeans on the market, has been sold throughout the UK in Selfridges and Urban Outfitters stores around the country. A dedicated Cheap Monday store will also be launching on Carnaby Street alongside the Monki store, so London shoppers can get the best of both brands in the same place. Time Out London commented in September on the UK’s developing “flirtation with Sweden”, and the London Evening Standard predicts that 2012 will be the year of “Londonavia”. This can only be a good thing; Monki already has plenty of support in the UK, and presenter Fearne Cotton is also thought to be a fan having been spotted wearing a piece of branded clothing. More European fashion brands becoming available in the UK broadens our fashion horizons and gives us more choice when it comes to designs and styles.
Who could resist the allure of a shop front like this?
Until the London Monki store opens its doors in February, you can find their website online at www.monki.com. If you find you just can’t wait to get stuck in to their quirky designs and products, they do offer UK delivery. Otherwise, we can only speculate on what the store on Carnaby Street will look like: hopefully it will match the Swedish stores and offer an immersive fantasy environment for customers to enjoy.
- Kat Humphries
Sources and further information:
Monki comes to the UK – fuyume.net
IPR press day Dublin – lornaclaireweightman.com
Monki – Monki.com
Monki Clothing Launch – tastejuiceology.com
Looking ahead: trends 2012 – thisislondon.com
Swedish brand Monki clothing arrives at Selfridges – now-here-this.timeout.com
MONKI STORE DESIGN BY ELECTRIC DREAMS – weheart.co.uk
The world of fashion is always an interesting one, often swinging from one extreme to another, or even indulging two contrasting trends at the same time. Now is certainly one of those occasions; whilst half the time the runways and fashion magazines are dominated by overtly feminized images, either in fetish wear or delicate ladylike trends, another hugely prominent trend of the moment is that of androgyny. Masculine fashion is hugely in this season, but not just for men; women are embracing masculine inspired fashion like crazy, with blazers, shirts, bow ties and satchels that blur the lines of sexuality just enough to shock the globe and cause onlookers worldwide to question whether seeing really is believing.
The androgynous trend for women incorporates many aspects of fashion that were once considered stereotypically masculine; double or single breast jackets, tail coats and bow ties are not only being worn by women; they are being manufactured in a new way in order to flatter and accentuate the female form, combining masculinity and femininity in a daring amalgamation. Straddling the divide between male and female is becoming the done thing. We are no longer defined and limited by our genders, but free to experiment and explore what the other has to offer. Many big name designers are testing out this trend, as exemplified in many of this year’s Fall collections.
The androgynous trend has hit the runway in a big way.
Celebrities, also, are taking note of the androgynous trend. Whilst certain female celebrities have always had a certain tomboyish charm to their appearance, many more are embracing the style options that male-inspired clothing present. Although they may not be androgynous to the extreme, celebrities such as Blake Lively, Penelope Cruz and Alexa Chung have all been pictured this year in styles definitely inspired by the opposite sex. Ready to take things to the extreme, as always, was Lady Gaga, who embraced transgender fashion when she revealed her male alter ego, Joe Calderone, on the cover of Japan’s Vogue Homme and on that of her single You and I.
Celebrity figures such as Lady Gaga are not afraid to straddle the line between genders when it comes to fashion and performance.
Additionally, it is interesting to note that this trend is running both ways in the world of fashion at the moment. Women may be embracing male inspired fashion, but the reverse is also true. The world was challenged over the past couple of years by figures in the fashion industry such as Lea T and Andrej Pejic; the former a transsexual model, born male but who identifies as female, who became the face of Givenchy in late 2010; the latter an androgynous male model who models both women’s and men’s wear, extremely successfully. Pejic caused outrage when he modelled for Dutch retailer HEMA, wearing women’s lingerie and looking entirely too convincing for some people to handle. In spite of this, however, he is now ranked number 98 in FHM’s Sexiest Women in the World 2011, bringing androgynous modelling and style to the forefront of our public consciousness.
Pejic caused a stir when he was pictured modelling women’s lingerie for Dutch retailer HEMA.
Unfortunately, transphobic reactions to both Lea T and Andrej Pejic have cast a sour note on their success as fashion icons; yet the open-minded, fashion conscious public seem receptive to this new wave of alternative style. As the Guardian puts it: “fashion’s going transsexy”.
- Kat Humphries
Sources and further information:
Smoking… but not so hot: Lady Gaga poses as a scruffy-looking man on cover of new single – dailymail.co.uk
Man or Woman? Fashion’s Recurring Obsession With Androgynous Models – fabsugar.com
Women’s Trend: Girl-Boy – fashionfinder.asos.com
The Female Dandy: 2010’s Women’s Fashion Trend – fashionising.com
Pass notes No 2,914: Androgyny – guardian.co.uk
Andrej Pejic: 10 things you need to know about the androgynous male model – mirror.co.uk
Lea T – wikipedia.org
