In our opinion, Scandinavian designers tend to do a better job designing winter clothes than they do summer, the same way LA labels make better rompers than they do peacoats. Permanent Vacation, a label based on the west coast of Sweden, kind of kills that entire hypothesis. First off, the name—which is part of the reason we got hooked to begin with—immediately lends itself to eternal summers. Snowboarding and après ski sessions are both perfectly respectable leisurely pursuits but when you think of a permanent vacation sun and sand should figure in there somewhere. Last summer, while driving to the beach, we spent a lot of time listening to Studio's "West Side," who also happen to be from the west coast of Sweden. Maybe their shared affinity for sunshine and lazy days is a west coast thing? Perhaps they're all good friends who like to go skinny dipping together after a long hard day of designing/making music.
In any case, our PV obsession started with the S/S 08 collection, which was actually more of an English country garden thing than anything else: delicate floral dresses and powdery pink button-downs you might wear out on the lawn eating cucumber sandwiches and sipping on a Pimms Cup. This season though, there's a tangible sense of Parisian ennui about their clothes, like that holiday you spend behind closed doors in various states of deshabille. In the spring/summer '09 lookbook the PV couple are dressed almost identically, but not quite. There are the requisite his and hers French stripes (hers get a lovely feminine bustier detailing) and button-downs (more blousey for the girls). And when our lady is finally ready to leave the house with her man, after the necessary lounging, nail polishing and hair-curling is done, then her gorgeous wasp-waisted Permanent Vacation dress is pressed and ready to go.