Fashion's Nordic horror fetish rocks on

supreme via models.com

Closely following the release of the spooky, Paul Rowland-lensed supplement to V Magazine's issue 61, which showcases models from the New York agencies Supreme and Women by way of "corpse paint" makeup and styling that appear to have been directly inspired by the Norwegian black metal scene, comes Supreme's model showcards for the New York Spring/Summer 2010 runway season. The makeup and styling are equally horrific and coincidentally, the photographer is Scandinavian: Swedish-born Hanna Linden. Horror is a dominant theme in Linden's work, which has depicted nightmarescapes haunted by masked, spectral figures, with titles in one 2006 New York exhibition including "Death Gate", "Death Upon a Black Horse", "Playing Dead" and "Skeleton Creek". Linden, a fan of the Davids Lynch and Cronenberg, described her work to PAPER magazine as "dystopia after a catastrophe".

For sure, the horror film genre has enjoyed a resurgence over the past decade and given its popularity, it is perhaps surprising that it has taken this long to hit fashion.

Could the current economic climate of doom and gloom have anything to do with things? September's W magazine for instance also delivers a Craig McDean spread of a down-on-her-luck Sasha Pivovarova, dressed as a stylish vagrant in shredded luxury shopping bags.

Scandinavia, as it emerges, has quite a vibrant horror film culture.

After the Japanese and South Korean horror waves that delivered film franchises such as The Ring and The Grudge, some horror aficionados are tipping Scandinavian horror as the next big wave. This follows a spate of recent Scandinavian horror releases, including Let The Right One In, Dark Floors and Tommy Wirkola's Dead Snow Nazi zombie spoof, which had its world premier at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

This is not the first time that horror has raised its hand in fashion this year.

Some might recall Steven Klein's "Lara fiction noire" editorial in the February edition of Paris Vogue, for which Klein shot Stone in a horror-inspired, and quite bloody, series of images depicting simulated violence. Although the original series ran on Klein's website, some images were reportedly censored from the magazine.

It's interesting that Supreme believes this is the best way to showcase its models to prospective clients. Of course, the series is bound to stand out amongst the myriad of agency showcards that do the rounds at this time of year, with agencies vigorously competing for a slice of the season's runway action.

But while most shots are clearly in the fantasy realm, a couple look like outtakes from a community service announcement about domestic violence.

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