Minna Palmqvist unpacks fashion and clothing season as social commentary

There is a fine line between fashion and art, but few attempt to blur the line between the two. Minna Palmqvist is one of those innovators, with a socially conscious collection and drive to change perceptions.

These weeks saw Minna approach a busy fashion season, with several exhibitions, installations and physical shows to present at Stockholm Fashion Week. However, the sheer number of platforms will allow her message to spread far and wide, with particular emphasis on the stress a woman’s body feels with the eyes of the world seeing it.

Palmqvist spoke with FashionUnited about his upcoming project, his struggles in the industry and how clothing is a way to express your opinion.

You have four upcoming events in the works so you’re pretty busy. How was the preparation?

Yes that’s correct. I completed four different projects, with most to be completed or delivered this week.

Is there a project that you really like?

I’m so excited about all of them, it’s just funny how things come together like this. It’s been so long since I had to do so many things at once, I had to relearn how to handle it after the past year of only doing one thing at a time.

One of the projects is participation in Stockholm Fashion Week of course. I think it’s been about eight years since I officially became part of the fashion week schedule.

Can you share a snippet of what people can expect from your event?

This will be a snapshot of all my work from here, now. Basically I have tried working like this before and I really want to continue working like this going forward – that my work is organically developed.

I don’t do exact collections anymore, because you have a wide variety of clothes and you present them all at once for a certain season. These will be the here and now these are the outfits I am currently exploring and these are the ones that will be available for purchase.

You can also view the show as a preview of what’s to come. I’m going to present myself the way I’ve wanted to do it for a long time. I see fashion as a phenomenon. I am interested in everything about clothing and its surroundings.

Why did you choose not to follow the typical fashion week season?

I just think it’s important that you don’t put stamps on clothes like that. This is for the season, this is how you should wear it, this is why it’s trendy – I don’t think you need to label it. I always think like this.

I took a break from fashion and focused on my art projects because I felt so lost. I try not to work by season but I still push myself into the system to try and exist somehow. I felt at the time that it was the way you needed to communicate fashion, with spring fashion or summer fashion. I never wanted to do that though.

Now I’m becoming more confident and I’m starting to realize that almost everyone wants to get rid of the season. It’s nice that it’s not so weird anymore, it’s more just a thing I think we need – not labeling clothes like they had a date before their best.

With your collection, you tend to develop comments around pieces. Can you explain what kind of comments you have made in the past and why you are focusing on these stories?

Since I started this business, 12 to 13 years ago, I have constantly worked with the tension between what we have and what we want to have. The point is how society views women and especially women’s bodies as objects, as something that exists to please others. I wonder what effect this has on how we see ourselves and one another, and how we behave.

With my latest project Under Pressure, I comment on this stressful situation in the fashion business and the world at large. I’ve used it as a way to process the mess we’ve created and what we can do about it. Can we be new people from all this stress and maybe turn it into something positive.

Why do you think clothing is a way of showing this comment?

I can never answer why I do this through clothes. I just think clothes have always been a way of expressing themselves for a lot of people and especially for fashion designers. Fashion is a part of now. It says so much about how we consume and what we value. Clothes contain so much and are so direct. I even saw it as something that could be used as a statue.

How do you try to combine your clothes with art? And will you do it for a future project?

I definitely do that. In my head I’ve always done that but I don’t think it ever came out that clearly to my audience. I always present my art and fashion separately, but this time I will do it in one room.

Usually, if I have made some art and t-shirts they are often about the same issue but end up being different. I start with an idea or message I want to convey, and that will lead me to a statue made of butter or a t-shirt with a print. To me, they are the same core but different ways of finding the final shape.

Have you ever faced difficulties with what could be considered a political statement in the fashion industry?

I always question whether I want to be in the fashion industry or not. This really goes both ways. I could sense beforehand that I might be more embraced by the general art world than the fashion industry. Maybe some of the points I made felt too mysterious to fit into fashion, but I don’t feel that way anymore.

You also have an upcoming collaboration with the Misschiefs platform. What prompted you to get involved?

I have been a part of Misschiefs now for about a year. I was invited last fall when founder Paola Bjringer contacted me. She secured a large space in central Stockholm where she saw an opportunity to support women and non-binary artists with a temporary studio offer. It boosts my energy because I work next to performing artists, graphic designers, painters – and we all have a lot in common, in our struggles and in our thoughts.

Do you have any future plans for the Minna Palmqvist brand?

I hope I can continue to present myself and work with more design studios. What I do is always based on certain questions and concepts, so I think if people follow me, they can learn to see what they can expect from me.

I wish I had a basic segment of clothing, the stuff you buy after thinking about it. I don’t make so many cuts but I hope to grow little by little, and maybe start selling my designs to certain retailers too, to find my audience and continue working organically.