Three seasons at London incubator Fashion East put Johanna Parv on the map, and spring marked her first solo turn, supported by NewGen. The Estonia-born designer makes clothes with a defined purpose—her customer wears them for work, play, and commutes in between—which models demonstrated as they unfurled jackets and stashed them into clever pockets on the runway. Bags were moved from shoulders to around their necks: ready to ride.
Mere hours after this smooth catwalk choreography, Parv did the same movements in her studio. A zip revealed more leg or “let some air in”; a bag was worn around the waist, then across the body, or worn as a sleeve. Parv explained the pep talk she gave her models before they were tasked with walking and simultaneous tucking: “Whatever you do, whatever happens, own it. It’s not a mistake; it’s normal for this to happen on the street.”
Parv is so at one with her clothes that it’s impossible to forget these multiway solutions were made with her own practicalities in mind: “It’s a personal need of what I like,” she said. For instance, she gladly runs in her cropped tanks, complete with grippy silicone dots on the interior—the same seen across socks, headbands, and darted tops this season—which she’s innovating to be supportive so you can wear them sans bra.
One particular dress, developed in an aluminum gray water-resistant stretch and a black waterproof-cotton ripstop, has been in her head for eight years. True to her captivating presence that comes to life when she talks about her designs, Parv offered an anecdote about balancing the beauty and functionality of this dress to some fragile heart-shaped glasses given to her by her grandmother: “When I move, I’m so stressed they’re going to break, but why can’t I just have a really beautiful glass that’s strong and durable?”
Best believe all of Parv’s creations are meticulously tried and tested, no breakage here—she’s already talking about improvements she will make next season: “I have another collection to design!” And with a burgeoning business, she’s seriously attentive to the needs of her customers. A capri version of trousers from seasons past was an immediate hit, so she reintroduced them again for spring and has developed her take on tailoring in wool nylon and waterproof linen. So special was the latter material development that she couldn’t source it in white in time for the runway (it was uncoated in the show), but the final sample in her studio looked and felt impressive. Expect to see more where that came from. “We want to do more with natural fibers; make them perform in certain ways,” she said.
Fashion meeting function has become a “thing,” but for Parv and her crowd, it’s not transitory, it’s a way of life, a necessity. In a world of fashion problems, this designer’s solutions are refreshing. Those inspired are keen to road test.
