Maren dress, Ninni hat, Emily shoes, Ingeborg handbag

Narrator: 

Norwegian fashion is heading onwards and upwards. This room is devoted to Norwegian fashion design and contains a study of both young and more established designers. 

The dress you see before you is by the fashion brand EDDA, which was started by the young designer Edda Gimnes. According to the New York Times, Edda is one of ten design talents to watch. Superstars such as Lady Gaga and Cardi B have already taken her designs to their hearts.  

Edda: 

All the garments I create are named after friends and family and people I am fond of, and this is my Maren dress, which is named after my sister. 

Narrator:  
The Maren dress came about while Edda was in her final year of studies at the London College of Fashion.  

Edda:  

I was very bad at sewing and felt that I wasn’t able to express myself properly through the things I was making. I remember that there was an Easter holiday when I had to stay behind in London because I was so behind with my work. That was when I met Manuel Vadillo, a lecturer at the college, who later became my creative partner.  

Narrator: 

Now Edda had found a new impetus for her work.  

Edda: 
I began to experiment and draw with the opposite hand to the one I usually draw with, in order to create this naive and playful style.  

Narrator:  

The Maren dress was actually intended to be a short skirt, but due to an error it ended up as an oversized dress.  

Edda:  

I almost have to pinch myself when I think of the journey that this Maren dress has been on. All the way to here – where it’s now on display at the National Museum.  

Narrator:  

Edda wants to make clothes that exist at the intersection between fashion and art.  

Edda:  

I think that a garment can also be an artwork. All the time that goes into it, from the ideas to research, development, hand-drawn sketches, the time working in Photoshop. So for me, this dress can be compared to an artwork.  

But of course there’s the difference that you can actually wear it, rather than hang it on the wall.