Usually in exchange for an opportunity to wear the clothes of emerging designers, I request that they participate in an interview. This week I have been featuring a brand, Fors Nome, that is run by a mother and two daughters, each having a unique skill set they bring to the mix. For example in the photo above, the fabulous woven dress was hand made by Mom. I am completely in love with the sense and feel of movement it added to an everyday look of a t-shirt and jeans. The garment pushed me to think critically about how I might wear it in a way that was comfortable for me. My intern Michaela Brennan drafted and floated some questions to the family and I am happy today to introduce you to them.
FORS NOME is an individualized, urban, and creative brand spearheaded by a mother-daughter team based in Copenhagen. Grounded in three pillars, personality in style, forward-thinking production, and unity in family, FORS NOME has an unmatched uniqueness.
What is your favorite part of working with your family?
When you are that devoted to family life and are as close as we are, there is something very unique and almost indescribable in having a business together as a family. The most favorite part, is that we challenge each other in a way that no one else does. We know each other into the bones, in such a way that words are not always needed, because we know what is going through each other’s minds. Something we will be thankful for, for the rest of our life.
How would you describe the style of your designs?
Minimalistic, multi functional, eye catchy and then the fact that you never know what to expect from us. Every collection is different, and we do not stick to a certain universe.
Where do you draw inspiration?
I (Sandra – the designer) always during each day, collect many different pictures that can inspire me – even also if I am not in a design process. In that way I have huge libary of pictures I can go through, and I always begin my brainstorming for a new design process, by looking at those pictures. My feeling is that, most brands spend a lot of time by looking at the newest trends made by the big brands with at lot of influence. I of course do the same in a limited way, but by collecting pictures randomly, I let my self not be too influenced by the trends and instead I listen to my gut feeling. Some times trends unconsciously attract my mind, with me not even noticing it, I therefor consider them as being important to use as an inpsiration, because I have not forced my mind to use them, because the big brands or other important fashion people ”say so”.
Another main influence is the fabrics in our collections. I get so inspired by sourcing for new and exciting fabrics. I love structures, non typical qualities and then I love to combine them with fabrics that last long and have an exclusive handfeel. It is very important for me, that I have collected many different fabrics, before I even begin my design process and decide on which inspiration/universe to go with. The fabrics chose for me which way to go and by having many different fabrics in hand, I get very challenged in a fun way.
By choosing to have my focus on the above, I somehow feel free during the whole proces and I am always quite confident that, my gut feeling in that way has been followed.
How do your designs reflect the urban city culture?
All three of us love the big city vibe, the feeling of not being alone, the feeling of being able to always experience and see something different, even though it is in your own well-known neighborhood. It does not inspire us directly all the time, but our target group is also people that live in the big cities and therefore the styles we design are addressed to people who search for new impressions in the city cultures every day, as we do our selves.
Sometimes it is the fact of just being in the city you love that makes the day, because that is when the small but most important impressions comes to life. That is also why FORS NOME’s style, is everyday clothing and is the small impression in its self, and the fact that our goal for each collection is that you never know what to expect from us. Just at you never know what will happen, when you walk out of your front door everyday.
How do you intertwine artistry in your campaigns and/or designs?
Even though we design unique styles, we have a quite commercial mind set and we like things to be tangible. Artistry is used in that way that the aesthetic is always in great focus, when starting up a new collection and universe. We are very thorough in everything we do, but the things we do and how we create cannot always be explained and we like it be open for the eyes that see, like it is most of the time when it comes to art.
How do you devote yourself to sustainable production?
Waste of fabric is very limited at FORS NOME. We spend a lot of time calculating how much fabric we need for each garment and then we only purchase what we actually need.
FORS NOME dedicates itself to promoting personal style. How do your pieces push costumers to be more creative in their purchases?
Our goal is for our customers to be challenged in the eyes that see and in the tactility of the materials we use in our styles and we want them to be stimulated as much as possible.
Multifunctionality is very much in highlighted in our values when creating new collections, and we are very aware that there must be focus on styling and we really want to show that it is possible to style our pieces cross-sectionally and that it isn’t that difficult.
Our styles must make people curious, want them to break boundaries and challenge themselves. They need to dare to stand out, and the attention from the outside world, whether positive or negative, must give strength and assurance and confirmation that you make a choice on not always being mainstream.
It is the little details and combination, which in the end can make the big difference, that just makes you happy and satisfied.
Most of your pieces are designed as unisex. How do you see the future of the fashion industry embracing inclusivity and breaking down gender norms in fashion?
Creating Unisex fashion is no longer inventing something never seen before, because it is something that has been in focus for quite a few years. But, as a designer, I have no doubt that unisex fashion has come to stay. It gives you a certain freedom and a world of opportunities appears, when you are open to unisex styles.
You can show diversity and be a cameleon in another way then before and it has become more and more populair to show your creativity and change your style each day.
As always when a trend rises, you will expect a counter reaction, but as I see it, this trend is more difficult to get rid of, because it allows the consumer to think in another level than seen before and I am sure that we are dealing with a Macro trend and not a Micro trend.
How might this brand’s story inspire you?