Yesterday Dutch fashion designer Erik Frenken presented the second collection of his label Avelon to the press. The menswear and womenswear Autumn/ Fall 2011 collections consisted of a variety of fabrics, such as wool, leather and suede. Special & limited without being ‘exclusive’. Most important aspect for Frenken is designing pieces that are realistic and affordable, but special and distinguished at the same time. He calls it poor luxury.
Avelon’s new collection consists of luxury garments with an edge combining delicate, elements with a couple of rough touches and some devil in the details. Frenken describes his style as Duck-taped Cocktail Dress, which is reflected literally in the majority of the items by the use of strip-like leather. Another recognizable detail Frenken works with is brass zippers.

Frenken graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2002. After that, he went to Central Saint Martins in London. He won several awards and exhibited his designs in several museums. For 4 years Frenken worked for Viktor&Rolf as head of design of the womenswear collections. After that, he was the head of design of Blue Blood and sublabel Avelon. After Blue Blood – and therefore Avelon – went bankrupt, Frenken was in the position to bring Avelon back to life again with investor Ton Van Dam. Together they created an independent label that is now available in approximately 35 stores worldwide, including Browns in Londen, Opening Ceremony in New York, LA and Tokyo and SPRMRKT and Margreet Olsthoorn in the Netherlands.

Avelon’s S/S 2011 collection is also available at their own webshop. BLEND gives you a little preview of Avelon’s A/W 2011 collection below!