Ranra designers Arnar Már Jónsson and Luke Stevens are well aware that at first glance their fall collection doesn’t look very different from the previous two; but they are confident that the clothes fit and feel better. The designers went back to working completely hands-on, which may be why the outerwear they photographed indoors under artificial light, as Stevens put it, reveals not only the shadows of the models, but also that of someone wearing a few looks adjusts. This figure is no Icelandic Huldufólk, which the designers introduced to a wider audience with their Spring 2023 lineup, but it is a perfect representation of this duo’s stealth approach. “Unless you experience the clothes, they are obviously quite subdued; but that is always our approach,” Jónsson said during a phone call. A Ranra garment, he continued, “isn’t exactly the screamer in your closet, but it is perhaps the garment you cherish most.”
In today’s fashion world, this kind of ‘business as usual’ way of working seems almost rebellious, as it rejects the idea of constant innovation in favor of obsessive improvement. The duo spent a lot of time traveling with the collection, beta-testing it in a sense, and can confidently describe an adjustable snap-on bag as a carry-on because they tested it along the way, airline by airline. The trousers in Look 14 use a joining technique from outerwear, allowing a brushed cotton lining to be evenly applied to the inside, including the waistband. The idea, Stevens explained, “was to make it feel like you were wearing pajamas.” Aiming for both lightness and softness, the team has moved all functional features to the outside of the garment; the seams, finished with sealing tape, are also on the outside of the trousers. The result is that “it feels like you’re wearing nothing” – at least in the sense of lightness and freedom of movement.
However, Jónsson and Stevens want their customers to feel like they are wearing fashion. Although the core of Gorp is contiguous, Ranra is not an outdoor gear company, although it is friendly to the environment as it is made from natural and upcycled materials. Those beautiful, rich, shiny colors you see are all achieved using natural dyes. Fall’s challenge was to add a little romance to the utilitarian and functional aspects of Ranra’s designs, so that you don’t just want to wear them for protection, but for any reason. As Jónsson put it, they’re “a little more sartorial,” while still eschewing trends. “There is a feeling of timelessness [to what we do,]Stevens noted, “you can’t always place the garments specifically.” IYKYK.
