The Seattle Nordic Heritage Museum will be featuring a Nordic Fashion Biennale later this year, the first of its kind in the United States. According to a statement from the Nordic Museum, a new element of the Biennale is a fashion competition, North by Northwest (N x NW). “The purpose of the competition is to inspire creativity, encourage emerging designers to seek out new directions, and spark awareness of new trends in Nordic fashion.”
Submissions for the fashion exhibition are accepted until July 15. The competition is open to fashion students, recent fashion graduates and emerging West Coast designers. There will be 12 finalists in all, and their submissions will be on display at the Nordic Heritage Museum in September this year. Two top winners will be chosen, who will win a trip to Iceland.
Opening the exhibition will be a three-day symposium featuring international speakers, and focusing on themes of sustainability, cultural heritage and branding. The exhibition started at the Nordic House in Reykjavic, Iceland in 2009, and included more than 60 designers, artists, musicians and speakers.
A central exhibit during the show is “Looking Back to Find our Future,” curated by New York-based Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardottir. Arnardottir is well known for her collaboration with Björk and for her commissioned work for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, according to the Nordic Museum’s website.
For more information about the event or how to enter, visit the Nordic Heritage Museum’s website for the Nordic Fashion Biennale.
