And not surprising, the B and C celebrities get more media coverage than the designers themselves. Ok, that’s a bit unfair. Moods of Norway got a lot of attention, especially Børresen’s pregnant girlfriend.

VG (Minmote.no) mostly writes about what clothes the guests are wearing and the attendance of Moods of Norway designers Simen Staalnacke and that Jenny Skavlan is prioritizing Øya festival (music festival in rainy Norway). Not one comment (as of yet) of what we actually saw on the catwalk.

Dagbladet (Kjendis.no) has a gigantic picture of Kathrine Sørland (the biggest I’ve ever seen in a news site) and not a single word on who was actually showing at OFW. Ok, kjendis.no is a page focusing on the celebrities and not fashion. They do have a good article on why we have so few designers on the runway though.

But from our biggest fashion websites, we see very little. Henne.no, Elle.no, klikk.no/mote and Costume.no has no coverage at all of the OFW.

The only Norwegian fashion website that gives a good coverage of the opening of OFW is KK.no. Here we can read what designers showed their collection and more importantly, what we saw . Well done Cecilie / KK.

I will admit that what we saw on the catwalk isn’t much to write about. There is no high fashion, little creativity and to casual. But we can still write about it. It doesn’t have to be high fashion to write about it. We are Norwegians after all. We are used to wearing rain boots and rain jackets.

I say we should support Norwegian designers. They work hard and deserve a bit of attention, even if it is just 10 minutes of fame.

What is industry-neutral? And what makes this different from HENNE’s Nåløyet and Costume Awards?

Nåløyet has been around for eight years and is highly recognized and well established in the Norwegian fashion industry. Today this is considered the main awards for fashion and accessories designers. It does however lack honoring other areas of the fashion industry.

Among the jury of the new award we find Pål Vasbotten – CEO of OFW, Tone S. Tobiasson – editor of OFW Magazine, Jonas Mangerud – Manager at Heartbreak/Pholk and Cato Mangerud from Adam & Eva. Being that Pål is also a board member of Heartbreak/Pholk, how can they claim this award being industry-neutral when almost 50% of the jury works for or with OFW?

And to top it all, they manage to give the Industry Award to Oslo Fashion Week and the price for best hairstylist to Eirik Thorsen from Adam & Eva.

If they want to be considered industry-neutral, they have to stop nominating and awarding themselves as well as replacing some of the jury members.

And if anything, a main fashion award that is to be industry neutral, should be initialized by Norwegian Fashion Institute.

Coach Strom Pedersen greets the girls and tells them to take the day off and enjoy the city to build up their confidence. In this city the tall poppy syndrome (janteloven) does not exist.

After a fun day of sightseeing the coach wakes the sleepy girls and informs them that they have to bring a bikini and sun block to this week’s challenge. This week’s challenge was to learn body posing from the Norwegian model Triana Iglesias. Each model would be assessed on how well they performed. And the winner? Charlotte, because of her creative posing and ability to be carefree in front of the camera. The prize was a Canon camera worth 10.000 NOK.

The main shoot for this episode was the famous Top Model group photo and the girls would be wearing dresses worth over 50.000 NOK. The hair was made big and bold, and the make-up was soft and light. The theme of the shoot was “goddesses” and the girls would be using the body pose technique they learned the previous day.

Even though this was a group photo, it was important to have a strong individual expression so that they did not disappear in the crowd. The Spanish location was hot and it took its toll on few of the models. Especially the ones using too small shoes and the ones having needles poking their backs. The girls however carried on with the shoot and were praised by the hostess Mona Grudt.
Back in Oslo, the girls discuss which of them would be leaving the competition on the first jury meeting. None really felt safe.

During the elimination round the girls got constructive feedback and not the onslaught we normally get in similar shows. Claudia was the most outstanding model in the group shoot while the he judges were disappointed with Charlotte and Bambi. Finally, Bambi had to leave the competition and Charlotte was given another chance to prove to the judges that she has what it takes to become Norway’s next top model.

Photo: TV3

And surprise surprise – the girls have no say in how they will end up – to great despair for some of the girls. It still surprises me that girls participating in Top Model are not prepared for a possible drastic makeover. You are on the road of becoming a top model. Of course there will be changes. So no crocodile tears girls – the hair will grow back.

Well back at the hotel it was time for some relaxing drinks and a chat with the ever beautiful ex-model and hostess Mona Grudt. After a few good advices and getting to know one and other, it was time for beauty sleep.

The next they, they head out for their very first shoot in Top Model . The setting was a private clinic for plastic surgery, where they would play out the posh girl having some cosmetic re-adjustments.
This would actually be a perfect setting for LaChapelle inspired pictures – but of course, this is fashion!

After the first shoot you already get a feeling of who will make it among the top 5 and who is already listed for elimination. I have to agree with the judges for the best pictures. But I was however surprised that Sarah was the first one to go. I really thought she had an interesting look.

Speaking of elimination. Who’s bright idea was it to dress up Mona in a reaper costume and have the elimination in a back alley? Seriously. Even though the first elimination is the easy one, it doesn’t hurt to do it with some style.

The three girls having the best pictures were Roberta, Charlotte and Maiken.

After the elimination round, the girls got into some Limo’s, because next stop will be Barcelona. And yes Inga, Barcelona is south.

Roberta

Maiken

Charlotte

Photo: TV3 / Marcel Leliënhof

- We have had good collaboration with Oslo Fashion Week over the past years, but now we feel that the award has become well established and it is time to let the event stand on its own legs. You can expect a world-class fashion show with the nominated designers followed by the announcement of the best Norwegian fashion designer and best Norwegian accessories designer, says fashion and trend editor in HENNE, Lisbeth Guldbrandsen.

Nominees for Henne Nåløyet 2011.

This is the 8th time HENNE is giving out this prestigious award and it’s the first time they will select the best accessories designer.

Within months the hand printed Punk Royal logo was on every butt and beyond, the hype spread faster than ever and the demand kept growing. Nevertheless, Punk Royal was founded with few and simple means, through which a profile and a story was created. A story of success and failure, separation and atonement.

Now Punk Royal celebrates its 10th. anniversary by getting back to basics, rounding
up the old crew and setting up a proper print workshop – Punk Royal POP UP print-rework-workshop-shop.

Now, say this 10 times very fast: “Punk Royal POP UP print-rework-workshop-shop”!

The workshop will be held during Copenhagen Fashion Week at Terminal 2 where you are invited to witness how Punk Royale gets on your ass. The unique one-of-a-kind items will also be available for purchase on location.

Punk Royal will also be presenting its AW2011 collection at the fair.

Friday, Feb. 4th., 5 – 7 pm: After hours: music, drinks, goodie bags.
Saturday, Feb.5th., 3 – 5 pm: Press event, drinks, music, photo session.
For free entrance to the events, RSVP to christian@punkroyal.com

Of the 4.9 million people living in Norway, about 3 million is between 14-60 years of age, and 400.000 of these live in Oslo.

Now – if we assume that 6% of this age group is into fashion, that leaves us with approx 180.000 country wide and only 28.000 (7%) in Oslo.

When Fam Irvoll or Moods of Norway have a fashion show, it attracts around 2.000 people. That’s 7% of all fashion interested people in Oslo – That’s quite a lot. But of these 2.000 people going to the show – how many are really interested in fashion? Do they come because it’s one heck of a show? Or do they continuously keep themselves up to date with fashion?

And then we have the various fashion awards. It seems that this year will be the year of fashion awards. A few have been around for a while, and new ones are introduced.

Costume Awards
Oslo Fashion Awards
Norwegian Fashion Awards (new)
Nåløyet
Vixen Blog Awards (New)

Nåløyet is a prestigious fashion award for best fashion designer and accessories designer.

Vixen Blog Awards is, as it states, an award for all the fantastic bloggers.

Oslo Fashion Awards is for the best fashion stores in Norway.

Costume awards has various categories; best designer, best blog, best dressed male and female are some of the categories.

Norwegian Fashion Awards is new and I don’t know when this will be launched. Some of the categories are Best designer, best brand, best fashion industry (not sure how to translate ‘Bransjepris’)

This leaves us with three awards having prices for best designer. Is that good, or does the novelty of winning less prestigious?

We know the impact it has on the designer for winning Nåløyet – they are noticed. But I’m not sure how much it actually means business wise for the designer to win from the other awards. It’s recognition for good design for sure and that’s always good. But what does the designer get back?

One thing is certain. It’s always fun to participate on a fashion event and it gives media and bloggers something to write about.

In the early 1960’s there was a hit song called “Hi-Heel Sneakers” by Tommy Tucker so I guess he had to get the idea from somewhere. Later we would hear the Rolling Stones sing “Put on your red dress baby and your high heel sneakers, cuz we’re going out to night”. But I have yet to see high heel sneakers on a night out.

One big advantage with high heel sneakers is that they are all a rounder’s. You can wear them to jeans, skirts, dresses, casual, cheek – and they still look great on you. And let’s not forget comfort. How often haven’t you been taking two pair of shoes with you when you go for a night out? One pair to walk in and one pair to be seen in.

I don’t know who was the first person to design high heel sneakers, but I think designer Cyd Jouny was a pioneer in the field. At least that is a name that pops up a lot when googling.

Now it looks like the trend is yet again in vogue. Brands like DKNY, Puma and Nike (and many more sport brands) are now designing high heel sneakers.

So now you have no excuse for not attending a high heel running competition.

Photo: Polyvore, Moods of Norway

Then I think you want to know that they will not round up Oslo Fashion Week as they normally do. This season they will have their show during the medal ceremony at Ski-VM 2011.

The show will be held at the University Square in the City Centre on Thursday 24th of February. And the time? Precisely at 18:50. Looks like Ski-VM has a tight time schedule. The cool thing is that I think the show will be broadcasted on TV – maybe even worldwide. But this is just a guess from my side.

Part of the collection will be moved to ATHA YOGA in Stavanger for sale on Monday 27th December. What a shame, I really loved her beautiful creations. But then again let’s face it. The dresses were made for a marked more suited for the Mediterranean climate than the harsh Norwegian climat.

Bridal dresses however work in any conditions and is what people are willing to spend money on. So coming spring, you’ll have a place where you can get beautiful Hafzi bridal dresses.

I just hope that she will not completely stop creating her exquisite silk dresses.

Attention!
Because of an ambiguous message on Facebook, the sale is not at Posthallen in Oslo, but ATHA YOGA in Stavanger. Just so that you don’t show up at the store in Oslo wondering where the sales are at.

Here are some pictures of her dresses.

Photo: Steven Stieng