Thursday 2 July 2009

Per Spook

Since today is his 70th birthday I would like to present to you the Norwegian designer Per Spook!



Per Spook was born in Oslo July 2. 1939. He is a Norwegian fashion designer who lives in Paris.
He studied at School of Fine Arts, Oslo, and École de la Chambre Syndicale, Paris.
In 1960 he joined the house of Dior and has worked as a freelancer with Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Féraud.
He opened his own fashion house in 1977 and won «Aiguille d'Or» (the Golden Needle) the next year for his autumn/winter collection 1978-1979. In 1979 and 1993 he won the "Oscar of Haute Couture" «De d'Or» (the Golden Thimble).

This is taken from the fashion encyclopedia:
"Experience with revered houses like Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, and Louis Féraud gave him a taste for haute couture and the specialized fashion that created a sensation when he opened his own house at the age of 38 in 1977.

Spook clothes were instantly applauded for their new, soft shapes and color. He established a hallmark for well-cut clothes that were elegantly understated but upheld the characteristics of quality, individuality, and wearability. Distinctive innovations have been his versatile long dresses with a device allowing them to be taken up for daywear, then let down again for an evening look; his Ile de Wight dress, a square-cut white linen dress embroidered with abstract black squares; and his Crumple clothes, made from a fabric that allows the clothes to fold into a small bundle and pack away without creasing. He also likes to design versatile mix-and-match outfits that can unite to create ensembles ranging from glamorous cocktailwear to daywear.

When it comes to ready-to-wear, the ideal Spook customer has been a woman who is both realistic and practical. She is active, up to date and, with her international lifestyle and career, needs clothes that are graceful and polished but also witty and lively. [.....]


From the left: Ile de Wight spring – summer 82
New York Miami spring-summer 79
Matin - Soir, nr. 1 spring-summer 91

Spook collections have often been fanciful and evoked romantic images of society lifestyles in the 1920s and 1930s. The clothes have had a strong resort feel, suggesting leisured times at Deauville or on the Lido at Venice. Figure prints on expensive crêpes and asymmetric details on crossover crêpe minidresses have been popular, as have saucy nautical stripes, abstract polka dots, and geometrics, like black-and-white checkerboard jackets or long sequin shift dresses in geometric-patterned fabrics. They evoked references to fashion icons of the past, an updated Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, or the 1950s model Dovima."


Spook is wellknown for his preference for black and white and graphic patterns, his inspiration also comes from nordic climate, nature and culture; for instance traditional Norwegian knitting patterns.

Nuit Polare

Because of lost founding he had to shut down his house in 1995, but he still works as a designer from his home in Paris and creates each year two pret-a-portér collections under his own name in Japan.

He has also designed several glass and porcelain services for the Norwegian Glasswork Company Magnor. Underneath you can see "Kongle", "one of the most popular wine services in Norway."


Sources: The fashion encyclopedia, The Norwegian National museum, Norwegian Wikipedia, Bergen Art museum, Magnor,

8 comments:

Rebecca said...

Thank you, Helene! So now I know that Karl Edo bears a distinguished name. I had not heard of Per Spook before (not being greatly into fashion). I like the long dress and the Nuit Polare outfit. Probably Karl Edo would love to have some of the glassware in his shop - but perhaps it's quite scarce, especially in this scale?

Pubdoll said...

Thank you Rebecca! So far I have relied on you to catch my puns, but I thought I couldn't expect from even you to get the Norwegian ones :-)
But Karl Edo Spook is a sum of many inspirations/puns, above all a doll's house I think you have?
I'm not very into fashion myself, but when I grew up, he was a rather big international name. At least in Norway...
The glassware is very "eighties" , and neither contemporary or retro enough for Karl Edo, I would think.

Petra said...

Ich mag diese Mode sehr, außer Ile de Wight spring – summer 82: typisch 80er und -jedenfalls für mich- typisch ugly.
Mit deinen Wortspielen verzweifle ich nochmal. Manchmal merke ich sogar, dass es bestimmt ein Wortspiel ist, und Sean Kommeru hab ich sogar in Norwegisch verstanden - aber meistens bin ich sooo hilflos. Zum Beispiel deine Überschrift zu dem tollen Badezimmer, alle Wörter habe ich mir übersetzen lassen und in allen möglichen Kombinationen zusammengesetzt, aber da für jedes Wort fast 20 Möglichkeiten auftauchen, erschließt sich mir der wahre Wortwitz leider nicht.
Schade, ich bin ein Freund davon.
Ein informativer und schöner Post.

Sans! said...

Hey, even I noticed the Spook ala Spook House..heh! Although Rebecca's clue helped ..lol! I love this post and the history. Can never afford his fashion unless it is in some vintage shop going for a song. I will love to wear one of these and parade along the busiest street here during Christmas! There is a lot of Karl in Spook.Now I know why he has spook in his name..thought he had a haunting past or something especially when he lives in a Spook House..

Pubdoll said...

Danke sehr Oese und verzweifle nicht! Ich kenne keiner, (vielleicht nur meinen Mann) der alle meine Wörterspiele verstehen können. Die Überschrift des Badezimmers ist auch das Werk meines Mannes. (Ich bin selbst nicht sicher dass ich es völlig verstehe!)
Aber es freut mich sehr dass du Sean Kommer'u verstanden hast. Es ist in English nicht so gut!

Wann es zu der Mode kommt, bin ich mit dir ganz einig! Ich mag auch das Kleid nicht, aber ich mochte das Bild!

Liebe Grüsse,
Helene

Pubdoll said...

Ha, ha Sans! Thank you so much!
For this blog to have a spook who spoke would be a scoop, but it's out of scope.
I must admit I don't know much about Karl Edos past, maybe you're right too and that's why he never speaks of his past?

Rebecca said...

A speaking spook! or a bespoken spook?
I am starting to understand that very little is out of scope - I might think the dolls in my houses are going to behave in a certain way, or something will happen, but between the dolls and readers' comments, like yours, somehow they take different directions!
I think for a lot of your puns and word plays it would help to know English and Norwegian - I certainly needed the Norwegian version of Sean Kommer'u to get the play on names, and the English translation to understand the play on words. What impressed me most about him was that he looked the part so much!
Have a good holiday - who knows what the dolls will get up to while you're away?

Pubdoll said...

Ha, ha, thank you Rebecca! Yes, he just had to be Sean Something! Nice to hear it helps writing the names in Norwegian too!
When it comes to what the dolls will get up to while I'm away, I have just posted something that might give us a clue!

03 July 2009 01:44