Revenge of the Nerds: Ostwald Helgason

It’s always the quiet ones.

At least that’s what they say; that underneath buttoned up collars and bookish, thick-rimmed meek demeanors hides subversive, anarchist ideals and latent sexuality. It’s the Librarian cliché. It offers a warning or reason to not judge a book by its cover.

I always think about Jason Segal’s character from “SLC Punk,” Mike, who looks like total nerd but is — per Matthew Lillard’s character — “one of the most hardcore guys in the scene.” You can’t believe it until he smashes a guy’s head into the wall, all in the name of good moshing.

That more or less describes the brand Ostwald Helgason: collars done right up to the throat, knit polo shirts, modest hems and flooded pants, but kind of emo punk rock, as though Pinkerton-era Rivers Cuomo did the styling back when he was still angry and thrashing around at local shows.

Last season the designers went in a slightly different, moodier direction which was underlined by the screen-printed “bad apple” motif. It was their playtime with texture and uneven hems. The boyswear suiting of look 19 was great and the lineup as a whole was cool, but somehow it just didn’t seem completely them.

Not that I know them. But when you like a designer you tend to assume that you do, similar to a celebrity you watch on your favorite TV show. When Khia’s “My Neck, My Back,” blasted through the speakers at the end of their Fall 2014 runway, however, that seemed very “them.” It was reassuring.

This season it feels like the designers Susanne Ostwald and Ingvar Helgason of their earlier collections are back. They didn’t go away in the first place, and no one was exactly concerned about the change in direction. Maybe I’m the only one craving the comfort of familiarity (like at Suno) as opposed to the neon-lit concept of NEW! There is simply value in not fixing what isn’t broken. Authenticity and trademark — especially when establishing a fairly young brand (although being founded in 2008 hardly makes them rookies) — can have just as high a currency as being ground breaking.

The knit polo shirts were there this Spring 15. The buttoned collars, the low hems, the Girl Scout meets prep school boy with a bloody nose from some bully…or from moshing — all there. New were the crochet flowers knit on to khaki pockets. New were the dropped waists and the digitalized grandma’s-wallpaper prints and the overall paired-down simplicity. It was sophisticated without losing impish charm. It was mature, but at the same time contemporary. The merger, I think, were the ankle socks worn with sandals. It was at the same time geriatric and youthful: grandpa shuffling around old carpeting versus some kid at camp in shower shoes. This was absolutely one of my favorite shows of the season.

The only thing missing was a dirty song at the end. They replaced that with a librarian’s wedding gown.

Images via Style.com