Step inside Oscar de la Renta’s very first Stockholm trunk show at Ett Hem

Earlier this month, on an unusually balmy fall day, Oscar de la Renta welcomed an impeccably dressed crowd of women – power-players both in fashion and beyond – to Ett Hem to dine on a three-course lunch and peruse the house’s latest collection. It was smack dab in the centre of the brand’s three-day trunk show – a first for Stockholm – and the attendees were keen to look through the racks (not to mention the tables full of covetable bags and accessories) and try on a show-stopping frock or two.

“I imagine that the Scandinavian women's love for natural beauty, simple sophistication, and nature at large could be an intuitive match with ODLR's extremely refined silhouettes, feminine yet unpretentious craftsmanship as well as the ever-present inspirations drawn from art, nature, and all things botanical and florals in each collection,” says Tara Kangarlou, who co-hosted the event with Oscar de la Renta’s Salma Shamsuddin, the brand’s regional manager for Europe and the Middle East.

A London-based global affairs journalist, author and humanitarian, Kangarlou (whose husband just so happens to be Swedish) is a longtime friend and client of the house. “I remember the day I rushed to the boutique after Mr. De la Renta's passing in 2014 just to buy a piece from his last collection,” she says. “I was a young client at Oscar – my first Oscar purchase was when I was in my early 20s and I grew up with his work. I even have the Oscar de la Renta Barbie.” For Kangarlou, whose journalistic works deals with “heavy” humanitarian issues, fashion is a much-needed source of escape.

Hosting the event at Ett Hem as a no-brainer. Not only is it one of Kangarlou's favourite hotels in Europe, it was also the site of her Covid-era engagement (funnily enough, it’s just a few blocks from the Stockholm apartment she and her husband own). “If allowed, I'd go there for breakfast, lunch, dinner on any given day when in town,” she says.

Oscar de la Renta’s garments are the sort that are meant to be touched and viewed up close. Only then can one truly appreciate the craftsmanship – the painstaking embroidery, the artful prints that originate on a painter’s canvas. Given that Stockholm doesn’t have any physical spaces to purchase pieces from the house, the pop-up was especially appreciated by the city’s fashion obsessives. “The excitement to have ODLR present in the city was quite high,” says Kangarlou. “As for me, it was a true privilege to be part of it all – to bring together women from different walks of life by way of beauty, style and hospitality – by way of one of the most timeless and beautiful fashion houses there is.”