STOCKHOLM.- As part of the assignment to preserve and collect form and design, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm has now started a collection of Swedish fashion items with high artistic originality, created from the year 2000 and on. The collection started with the donation of a dress by Martin Bergström and five dresses designed by Pär Engsheden for Sara Danius.

The collection will comprise unique, artistically designed fashion garments. The criteria for inclusion in the collection is that the garments must show artistic originality, artistic individuality and innovation. The garments must be from 2000 and on and created by a designer or company operating in Sweden.

“Nationalmuseum is responsible for preserving form and design, and we are increasingly aware that fashion has become an important and natural part of this field. We are therefore now collecting fashion garments that change our perceptions of what design actually is. This is not the first time Nationalmuseum has extended its collections. In the 1960s, the museum started to actively collect industrial designs and 2002 photography,” explains Susanna Pettersson, Director General at Nationalmuseum.

The museum does not receive state funding for purchases but, as with their other collections, relies on donations either in the form of money or actual garments. As a result, the fashion collection will grow at its own rate, depending on which garments the museum can collect. In 2019, the museum has received several unique donations. Martin Bergström’s creation, Arty Farty, from 2014 is a gift from the designer himself. Sara and Leo Danius together with the Barbro Osher Foundation have donated the four dresses worn by Sara Danius – as Permanent Secretary for the Swedish Academy – at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in 2015-2018, in addition to a black velvet dress, all designed by Pär Engsheden.

Martin Bergström’s Arty Farty is open to the public in the museum’s Design Depot until 19 January. Pär Engsheden’s and Sara Danius’ dresses will be on exhibit at the museum from 26 March 2020.