You are what you wear, or so the saying goes. Fashion is perhaps the best way individuals have of expressing themselves, their personalities and their values. Electrolux, in an attempt to break out of the “white box” business, was at the renowned fashion event Salon Prêt-à-Porter Paris this year to award the fashion designer collection that best represented the values of the company.

Design values define the personality

The Electrolux design values have been defined through extensive and ongoing consumer insight research, which has involved thousands of households throughout the world. They are: Intuitive, Simplicity, Purity, Reassuring, Humanizing and Freedom.

All standholders at the Salon were eligible for the Electrolux award. A committee of fashion consultants chose nominees. Eventually, after many voting processes, the nominees were narrowed down to eight, at which time the Electrolux jury voted on the winner: Pauw, a Dutch fashion house.

"The Electrolux Fashion Award is a celebration of the fusion of fashion and function," explains Henrik Otto, head of global design for Electrolux. "It is very much in the spirit of highlighting today’s role of home appliances as an indispensable part of the expression of one’s personal style and identity."

Appliances don’t have to be white boxes

Otto explains that people express themselves by all their purchasing decisions, not just clothes. When buying appliances, however, people have little opportunity to express their individual tastes.

Electrolux, in a fashion "experiment," decided to dress up its appliances for the occasion. It took several appliances and dressed them in different designs and patterns. The results were both outrageous and beautiful.

"Our intention was to show people what it could be," says Otto. "Trends exist in appliances, but they don’t go much beyond stainless steel or perhaps color. We wanted to explore a whole new area."
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About Prêt-à-Porter Paris is the leading international fashion event, which brings together 1,500 brands and more than 42,000 visitors twice a year in Paris. The September session was number 100, crowning 50 years of fashion trends and inspiration.

About Pauw: Dutch fashion house based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with international collections for women. There are about 25 Pauw shops in the Netherlands and about 80 sales points in mainly France, Italy, the US and Japan. The company employs 150 people. Pauw also has a men’s collection only available in the Netherlands.

More information Christina Jensen (christina.jensen@electrolux.be)