Ivana Helsinki

Paola Ivana Suhonen - is the multi-talented designer behind the independent Fashion/Art brand Ivana Helsinki from Finland; leading the rapidly growing band of exciting new design talent from the Finnish capital that has been named as ‘World Design Capital’ for 2012. Highlighted by uniquely feminine, Finnish hand knits - the IVANAhelsinki women’s label is now regularly seen in within the pages of all the International fashion magazines, as well as gaining celebrity fans in Helena Christensen, Juliette Lewis, Peaches Geldof and Beth Ditto.

Suhonen’s much celebrated signature style is embedded with influential Scandinavian roots; evoking memories of the eerie hovering isolation of the notorious Nordic winters and legends of her childhood. With the new ‘Velvet Lake’ collection conjuring up the most haunting winter landscape yet….gorgeously handmade in Finland knits, feminine printed silk & velvet dresses featuring peacock feather and ‘jack frost’embroideries, crushed velvet coats and ‘fluffed’ knit dresses. The new season’s palette comes in midnight black, deep plum, emerald green, greys and butterscotch.

In addition to designing for the Ivana Helsinki clothing brand, Paola Suhonen has also lent her print-designs to a number of collaborative projects with renowned International brands such as; Google, Topshop, Head

Snowboards, Swarovski, Coca-Cola, Canon, Amnesty International and Mori Art Centre in Tokyo. She is also the newly appointed Creative Director for new US based magazine – Love Contemporary. Having recently moved from New York, Paola now lives and works in Los Angeles where she also studies cinematography at famous AFI.

As a reluctant fashion design Paola Suhonen says she just kind of ‘fell into fashion’ and started Ivana Helsinki as; ‘A personal art project, which is now a way of life’. ‘I could easily spend my life as a gypsy or a vagabond; love stories, road trips, strong living…but it’s okay too, to make cute cotton and woollen dresses for charismatic drummer girls and girl women with beautiful souls. They are the girls who love moonlit fields, pirates, dark vast forests, crummy motels, a champagne state of drunkenness, fragile butterflies, lullabies and guardian angels…’