Color and sexiness are two things you tend to miss in Berlin’s long winters. Sia Arnika is here to change that. In a large production hall on the outskirts of Berlin, Arnika showed a collection full of bare legs, high heels, popping colors, and fun, that felt like a sensible continuation of her last, somewhat more clubwear-y summer collection.
“I have this memory of a woman from my island, this factory worker,” said the Danish designer who grew up on Mors, an island of 20,000 inhabitants, of the inspiration behind the collection she named “Harbor Bitch.” “She is this fierce lady, a little bit run-down, but there is something quite mysterious about her. This memory turned into a fantasy of this harbor bitch, as I call her. She is a force of nature; the kids are warned about her, and the men can’t help but lust after her.”
Arnika showed knits that came in the shape of super fluffy (mini) dresses and shawls, a flouncy cardigan dress, or a hooded zip bodysuit. There was a lot of playing with deconstruction and volumes. The highlights included voluminous bomber-windbreakers, mini shorts with bulky balloon pockets, mesh tops and panties with curvy wire hems, and corsets that featured deconstructed shirts or polo shirts on the front. Polos are generally one of Arnika’s signatures, not just since Rosalía and Christina Aguilera were spotted in them, and so this collection also featured various interpretations, including a dress or yellow body with a polo collar and extremely dropped sleeves.
The curvy heeled clogs were created in collaboration with shoe designer Philipp Kern. They felt like a quirky Nordic version of classic Jeffrey Campbell boots, but they posed a bit of a challenge for the models, what with the fantastic stage design by Tor Studios, who, in honor of Arnika’s homeland, had covered the floor with water, nets, and seaweed, which Arnika’s parents had brought from Denmark by car. Through a partnership with Ebay, Arnika upcyled some preloved garments. “I sometimes think it’s nice to have a limitation; see what you have got and where you can go from there,” said Arnika. She mastered that challenge with bravura.
