Simon Ekrelius

Ekrelius had an artistic upbringing in Stockholm where his interest in fashion, architecture and art led him study fashion design, illustration and art-history. He graduated in 1997 with first class honours from Stockholm's Tillskarar Akademin with a highly acclaimed collection which was entered into the prestigious Smirnoff International Fashion Award 1997.

After great success in Sweden, Ekrelius moved to Toronto where he showed his work during Toronto Fashion Week and was selected for the well known MAC/HIV charity show Fashion Cares for two seasons. He was also nominated for Canada's Millennium Fashion Award for innovative design.

In 2002 Simon relocated to London with an off-schedule catwalk show at Chinawhite (the collection included ecologically bred salmon skin from Iceland combined with hand-painted prints on linen). Further full-scale catwalks and still life presentations have been produced at Club Jewel in Soho and at Ekrelius's Holborn studio where the designer works.

His main obsessions are asymmetric and intricate constructions on simple and difficult materials, geometric silhouettes and the manual and digital prints where it all can be explained completely.

'The Tower' has Constructivism as its roots taking the bold architectural imagery of Vladimir Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International as its inspiration.

The relationship between Constructivism and the future fascinates Ekrelius and these influences are highlighted in this latest collection where he uses architectural pattern techniques to create a trailblazing authoritarian silhouette.

Line and shadow play an important role, referring to Alexander Rodchenko’s austere photography from 1920’s Russia.

The collection embraces contradiction – round shapes versus the square and intricate construction is teamed with similar techniques for balance.

Straightforward materials such as silk organza, silk chiffon, cotton canvas, poplin, linen and cotton satin in cream, off-white, clear white and black are used along with hand-painted futuristic motifs in silver and black on cotton to interrupt the geometric feel of the garment.