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• August 1, 2008
• Profiles

Bloc Party

The Local Firm's fresh designs come in from the cold. By Kelley Hoffman

"We wanted a non-name, in the sense that it's free for any person to interpret, or to find out about for themselves," explains Axel Nyhage of his equivocally titled line, The Local Firm. Freedom of thought plays a crucial role in the label, as it speaks to the zeitgeist of its consistent influence—art, architecture, and design from the late 20th century Eastern Bloc and the German Bauhaus movement. Co-founded with Richard Hutchinson, the Stockholm-based designers met working together at Tiger of Sweden Jeans for five years before launching their first main collection this fall.

The menswear and womenswear lines both feature experimental stylings of denim in dyes (two-tone color blocks) and silhouette (baggy, cuffed) set against sobering black and gray button-ups and and strong-shouldered blazers. From the men's tough-looking stadium jackets (think Blade Runner's Roy Batty) to the women's sharp-structured, knee-length dresses, the line evokes a quiet intimidation.

Peeking at spring, the line will zero in on the "appartachik man and '90s glamour girl." As the label's strict design code is to seasonally redefine the same, original source of inspiration, Nyhage states, "In this sense I guess you could say that we're not moving anywhere, yet everywhere."

For more information and availability, go to www.thelocalfirm.com.

The Local Firm's fresh designs come in from the cold.