Anti Sweden - The Norwegian Black Metal Jeans War
Scrawled in giant writing on a derelict Oslo wall is the message 'Party Swedes Go Home.' More a response to the visiting turnip kids, keen for a sup of Norwegian oil money and bars to spend it on than Swedes in general, it is about as original as the Norwegian comebacks get, in the face of an urban takeover. Oslo's high streets are dominated by international brands, most notably the neighboring country’s H&M, Acne, Cheap Monday, Nudie etc.
Taking up the love-hate relationship between the two nations—which has existed since the liquidation of the Swedish-Norwegian union in 1905—design studio Anti have gone for the throat with a black metal-inspired range of black denim, with a name that says it all: Anti Sweden.
Anti Sweden set themselves apart from the start by hooking up with gore artist Justin Bartlett on graphics, and public acts of dissidence, such as turning up at public events with black metal bands and taking over the role of speakers. One of the first brands to celebrate the darkness of the country, they mix up the occult nature of the black metal scene with dark humor. They also avoid seasons and give the option of trading your old Acnes for a pair of Anti Sweden jeans at the reduced price of 666 Norwegian kroners. Only time can tell if this battle against Swedish denim domination is an impossible one or not.
What's with the name?
Anti Sweden: Anti is short for A New Type of Interference. When launching a new jeans brand from Scandinavia, we wanted to differentiate ourselves from the light-hearted jeans brands that have popped out of Sweden recently. We aim to put rebellion back into jeans, and conveniently, the label emerges out of a subculture that embraces darkness and independence… And, of course, become an alternative to our neigh-boring brands.
Since Gaahl came out of the closet and went public with his intention to contribute to other people’s closets—with his, yet to be released, brand Wynjo—are black metalheads more fashion conscious? How does your jeans label go down with the black metal scene?
We are heavily inspired by the raw and dark and have customers from the black metal scene who are familiar with the contributing gore artist Justin Bartlett; they know his history and relation to the genre. Then we have customers who are simply fascinated by darkness and fashion, and like the attitude of the brand.
How did the Bartlett thing come about?
We're a project-run label and think the excitement in developing a brand is to constantly evolve. Justin is our main contributor and his art in the pocket of the jeans will be used in all our regular models, but will vary with the collection to keep it exclusive. We also do the art-collabo project Jeremyville, inviting famous artists to contribute with limited edition series to keep the brand alive and exciting.
ALEXANDER HORNE
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