Ranra presented an excellent and heart melting fall collection with colors that looked enticingly edible and unstructured tailoring that had the lightness of a snowfall. Funnily enough it was beeswax, a sticky, resin-like material that has “a long, practical history in the Nordic region—waterproofing, sealing, protecting,” as Arnar Már Jónsson explained in an email, that was the starting point. This explains the wax drip sculptures that dressed the set.
Jónsson and Luke Stevens, who work between Iceland and England, know from cold and designed for it. Exaggerated, fur-lined hoods that took an incognito approach to dressing to extremes were one of the weatherproofing solutions on offer. Less dramatic ways to keep warm included fur funnel necks and a genuine Icelandic sweater. If models bowing their hooded heads brought to mind Moomintroll of the famous Moomin books, the unstructured tailoring in the collection was Armani-esque in its ease, softness, and cut. In terms of design approach, Stevens and Jónsson are interested in working as sustainably as possible and by using craft to create performance garments that work hard without ever breaking the proverbial sweat.
