Galeries Lafayette to launch capsule collection designed by Rolf Ekroth

Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette is one of the partners of the Fashion and Photography Festival at Hyères, France, and has now created its third collection with an emerging designer scouted at the festival's fashion competition. After Louis-Gabriel Nouchi and Sophie Harand, it is now the turn of young Finnish designer Rolf Ekroth, a finalist at Hyères in 2016, to be given the chance to create a new capsule collection.

The unisex rainwear collection, featuring four clothing items and two pairs of sneakers, will be unveiled at the next Hyères festival, scheduled from 27th to 30th April, at the section in the villa Noailles venue reserved to the fashion competition's past finalists.

Rolf Ekroth, 31, was born in Helsinki and trod various paths before choosing fashion. "I first studied psychology, wanting to do community work to help people, then I did all sorts of jobs, including being a poker player for three years," he told FashionNetwork at the last Hyères Festival. "After all, fashion lies somewhere in between social work and a poker game," quipped the ginger-bearded designer.

Ekroth graduated in June 2016 from the fashion school of Helsinki's Aalto University. At Hyères he presented a sports-inspired collection in which he showcased his expertise with materials, especially tech fabrics, featuring new takes on ice hockey or American football players' kits, and working cleverly with volumes and weights.

"My favourite part of designing is the inception, when I have a bird's eye view of everything before I actually start creating clothes," said the designer, who is keen to add to his experience by working with fashion labels.

Galeries Lafayette to launch capsule collection designed by Rolf Ekroth

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