In February 2024, Estonian Designer Johanna Parv presented her AW24 womenswear collection in London. This marked her third collection with support from Fashion East, a creative agency that has helped creatives such as Kim Jones, Wales Bonner, and JW Anderson be able to showcase their work.

In the AW24 collection, Johanna Parv showcased pieces that displayed elegance and athleticism in regards to the practicality and formal tailoring. The tailoring in the show was both experimental given how the tailoring was both formal yet practical due to Johannas input of athletic cuts and references. However, I would not box her clothing as fully being techwear or gorpcore as the clothes are not solely made for practical purposes. 

Focusing on the clothing, there are details of functionality that appear in all of the pieces, from  the tailoring of the light blue jacket to handwarmer-like pockets on the second look. There is even a pair of black pants that are darted in a unique manner, in order to provide a formal straight fit. In regards to the color, the clothes maintained a color palette of neutrals, unsaturated blues, and greens.

Even in her previous collections, this theme of functionality and formality appears:

These looks come from Johanna Parv’s SS24 collection. The references to cycling clothing appear in almost every piece, such as cycling shorts and cycling jerseys that incorporate the usage of two-way zippers. Combined with formal tailoring and references, the message is similar to that of AW24, even if it utilizes different references. The mixture of cycling references with formal tailoring and pieces help this collection communicate the same message as that of her AW24 collection.

From looking at these two collections, we recognize the main theme: formality with movement, pushing away the rigidness that is associated with formal womenswear. In both her AW24 and SS24 presentations, Johanna Parv was able to produce and showcase clothing that displayed formality without the compromise of practicality to the wearer.

Though Johanna Parv’s experimental combination of both function and elegance provide an image in itself, the clothing and its purpose of existence were created as means to further develop on the idea of a flaneuse. Johanna Parv progressed on the concept of the flâneuse, an idea that she has placed as the center of the label after reading the book, Streetwalking the Metropolis: Women, the City, and Modernity by Deborah L. Parsons. A flâneuse is a woman who walks and explores places alone. The major difference between a flaneur and flâneuse is the perception that both receive. Patriarchal and misogynist views that give a negative view to women who explore for not being compliant and relying on men to take on those roles. Johanna Parv has stated that, “When single women mov[e] to cities, especially London, they[‘re] seen as sluts or whores if they wal[k] by themselves.”

The clothing in every collection of Johanna Parv references aspects from sports that require movement, such as cycling and running. In both sports, freedom and independence are inherent as runners and cyclists take on great distances and freedom. Both activities require constant movement, giving freedom to the rider and runner as they go from one location to the other.

By applying details from running and cycling clothes, Johanna gives her clothing a literal message of freedom and movement. These details seamlessly tie themselves to the independence and freedom of the flâneuse. When combined with aspects of formal womenswear and tailoring, the clothing conveys the message of exploration and experimentation with elegance and self-assurance, as a form of rejection of old harmful values. The clothes encourage the progression from old patriarchal beliefs to the flâneuse.

Through reference, Johanna Parv creates collections about equipping women with the right clothing in order to move freely with elegance and confidence. The pieces reject patriarchal and misogynistic beliefs about the freedom that women should be allowed to have. As she put it, Johanna Parv is for “a modern woman who is constantly in motion, operating at her own pace. Unblemished by the rapid current of the industry, she is fully equipped, elegant and powerful, diluting the overconsumption entrenched within society through clean lines and minimalism.” 

If you gravitate towards designers such as Sandy Liang, GR10K, and Kiko Kostadinov, then you should give Johanna’s previous collections a look. All of these designers all utilize clothing as a form of communication to the wearer while still maintaining a theme or story. 

Reach column writer Alex Osorio at musemediauw@gmail.com. 
Instagram @waterlessgarden