Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi worked at Marimekko from 1953 to 1960. With her architectural, clean-lined clothes, she revolutionized the perception of clothing in the 1950s.
Vuokko Nurmesniemi changed fashion. In her designs, the tight waistline of the fifties was replaced by loose, architectural forms that were easy to move in and often used just one seam.
Her functional, seasonal design gave birth to timeless clothes such as the Jokapoika shirt (1956), Marimekko's longest continuously produced garment. She was ahead of her time, and similar silhouettes only became commonplace around the world years later.
Nurmesniemi also designed prints for Marimekko. The freehand-painted Piccolo stripe (1953) was first seen on the Jokapoika shirt. So that the base fabric was not transparent, the stripes were printed partly on top of each other, and the overlap created a third color. It became a hallmark of Marimekko's fabrics and is still used by the house's designers today.
