ONAR is a new Helsinki based design house established by Irene Kostas in 2014. ONAR, which means «dream» in ancient Greek, specialises in high quality shearing clothes and accessories, leather bags and knitwear. Irene Kostas says her family has a long tradition in the crafts of leather and fur and she has always appreciated natural materials. The designer is very specific in what she uses for instance vegetable tanned leather, both chromefree tanned. She states faux fur was never an option for me, as it is petroleum-based and a very polluting production process, an estimated gallon of oil is used in every three jackets. The designers influences come from that aesthetical heritage, geometry, cubism and futurism, So creating a brand that is a fusion of all these unlikely matches will grab peoples attention. All of the items are handmade in Finland and Greece in areas which have taken pride in their skilled leather work for centuries. Irene who speaks 5 languages including German has many skills other than fashion design but the designer states this was a natural path for her.
The first ONAR collections have been featured in internationally acclaimed magazines such as VOGUE, ELLE and THE NEW YORK TIMES. The collections are currently available in selected stores in Los Angeles, Russia, Finland, New York and the United Kingdom so keep your eyes peeled. I for one think Irene is doing an amazing job and i am certain ONAR will continue to grow and grow to be more successful. Here are some of the latest designs that are on sale now.
ONAR blank trousers are handcrafted of vegetable leather with chrome-free tanning. They have a unisex-fit and Air blue Toscana Shearling patches on both knees. The material is Lamp Nappa Leather / Toscana Shearling.
These beauties come in different colours and are now on sale for 540 EURO on the ONAR ONAR website. Some may say expensive but I say quality costs and with these you can definitely tell. Also you can check out the designers A/W 16 film that has been up for a couple of weeks now, pictured below. YOU WILL LOVE IT!!! Damask Roses in Space –
Now with a name like that I had to check it out and WOW. The short film is about a clash of two worlds. The past and the present, organic and synthetic, solid and fluid. I personally couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen, mixing the fashion side of it with the sounds of the black and white stones together, sounding very strange when said but it so works. While watching you can definitely see the quality of the clothing especially the leather and fur, mixed with all different colours from black to orange it almost leaves you intrigued. I have watched it more than 5 times AHHHHH OBSESSED!! Here is the link below for the film, enjoy!
ONAR A/W 16 – Damask Roses in Space
from ONAR Studios on Vimeo.
Thanks for reading
Todd Hodson
