Sandra Backlund: Blank Page Collection. Model Haidy Mottus

There's a current thought circulating in the image trade which holds that we're seeing the decentralization of the traditional fashion loop of NY/Lon/Milan/Paris. The idea is that the next wave of directional design talent is going to come from unexpected places but move through the mainstream of that 4 city grid with a kind of amped up digital speed. In other words, new talent is coming to the cities fully armed with a highly articulated product. If so the blogsphere has become a space of its own for the discovery and stealth marketing of freshly emergent designers. Take for instance the case of the brilliant young knitwear designer Sandra Backlund.

Sandra Backlund: Diamond Cut Diamond Collection. Model Carolina K

A steady buzz has been building around her very personal but very resonant work. From the international fashion festival at Hyères in May, where she nabbed the Grand Prix du Jury, to the avid support of talent-finders like Diane Pernet and Franca Sozzani, this graduate of the Beckmans School Of Design in Stockholm has all the right signals flashing her way. Louis Vuitton already commisoned some of those very special knit pieces , so do not be shocked to see more of Backlund 's strong ideas remixed and recontextualized in the near future. What we admire most about these pieces is, as familiar as they are , they harken back to a kind of obsessive craftsmanship that is as much about a creative person painstakingly working through their process, as they are product. This, we really feel, as they say on the streets.

Sandra Backlund: Body, Skin and Hair Collection. Model/Louise Von Celsing