Stockholmfashiondays.com - First Lady of fashion?

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Sometimes when you get a new job you get more than you expected. This was definitely true for Yvonne Sörensen when she took over as Managing Director for Berns Salonger in Stockholm last year.

Three years ago Berns started what is now known as Sthlm Fashion Week by Berns. It was done partly to profile Berns but with it also came an attempt to develop the growing fashion industry in Sweden. Throughout the years this event has grown to become the most important fashion event in Sweden so naturally the person that run Berns also becomes a very important person in the fashion industry. This is what happened to Yvonne when she took over Berns last year.

Yvonne Sörensen Fashion week has been a very costly event for Berns and it is Yvonne´s job to make it worth the effort and resources invested. With increased media attention from all over the world new sponsors are finding the event attractive and success is around the corner.

“I definitely think that Stockholm can have one of the best fashion weeks in the world”, she says. “There is a good basis but the fashion industry needs to be acknowledged from the government and the city in the same way as other industries”, she continues. “When people come to Stockholm for other industries events there are parties in City Hall and dinners at the Royal Palace. The fashion industry needs the same support to continue to develop”.

Though the fashion industry has had a lot of success and grown immensely in the past few years Sweden still does not really have a tradition here. What Sweden really lacks is a couture tradition and therefore it comes as no surprise that most of what is presented during the shows is ready-to-wear garments. “I always try to push the participating companies to include show pieces in the shows”, Yvonne says. “It makes the shows so much more interesting and inspirational”.

The ready-to-wear focus on the clothes is apparent during the shows. Very few of them do that little extra around the show to make it a bit more spectacular. An exception in January was Lars Wallin´s show where they had really done an effort and the show was greatly appreciated. With good examples this will change with time and further develop fashion week.

From Lars Wallin´s appreciated show. One of the news for this season is the change of date. Traditionally the summer fashion week has taken place in August but Sthlm Fashion Week by Berns is not to start June 30. “We obviously want the larger labels like Filippa K and Tiger of Sweden to participate. If moving the date is what we have to do to get them onboard that is an obvious choice”, Yvonne explains. “It has been tough for some of the smaller designers but in a season or two everybody will be on track again”.

Considering that most of the world, or at least Europe, normally goes on holiday in August (whilst Swedes traditionally have their holidays in July) it will probably be a lot easier to get international visitors to come to Stockholm now. Not the least international media is important and together with Stockholm Visitors Board and the Foreign Ministry special events are held for the international press.

Due to the change in time this edition of Sthlm Fashion Week by Berns will be slightly smaller than the last one. This does not really matter though since everybody will be accustomed to the week in January which is the more important of the two weeks and then there will be a lot of exciting news and you can rest assure that with Yvonne behind the wheels at Berns this fantastic development will continue.