FREE FORM FASHION EXHIBITION
@ateneummuseum , Helsinki, 3rd floor until 1st February
The outfits designed for the Ateneum Gala are on display on the third-floor landing of Ateneum, opposite Café Höijer.
The 30 Gala outfits featured in the exhibition redefine traditional forms, releasing form, body, and gender from convention, and opening a view into the beautiful world of Finnish clothing art. Each outfit selected for the exhibition is unique, creative, and distinctive—and above all, reflects its designer’s vision in free form.
The exhibition is curated by Minttu Vesala, Artistic Director of the Ateneum Gala.
Equality of Art Forms and the Modern Free Form
In this presentation, the unique, avant-garde creations of Finnish fashion designers meet the ideas of the Viennese Secessionists – equality among all art forms and the modern concept of free form.
Fashion designer Emilie Flöge, active during the Viennese Secession, revolutionised women’s clothing and helped shape a new body image and design language. Her reform dress, on display in the Gallen-Kallela, Klimt & Wien exhibition, liberated women from the Victorian corset, creating space for physical freedom and individual expression. The same spirit of freedom, individuality, and avant-garde design unites the outfits featured in the exhibition.
Outfits 13 January – 1 February 2026
Designers
Ilari Kokkola
Nana Lybeck
Konsta Eskola
Enni Lähderinne
Anna Sarasoja
Pamela Hakala
Linda Kokkonen
Heidi Karjalainen
Mert Otsamo
Jim Bergström
