Jens Laugesen - A new beginning

Danish Designer Jens Laugesen has learned his techniques from fashion's biggest names. He participated in 14 exhibitions, had his design published in 18 publications and received eight international fashion prizes. But then it all stopped. Today he works in London, Paris, Turkey, the United States, and South Korea. He presented a new collection during London Fashion Week and has received support from the Danish Arts Foundation. ELLE's, Lotte Freddie, has met the international creative, who is ready for a new beginning.

Text: Lotte Freddie Photo: Ophelia Wynne, Chris Moore, Amy Troost, PR, Private

Translated from Danish

Jens Laugesen was "home" in Denmark when I met him during summer. The designer has just received Danish Arts Foundation Award and was preparing to continue his legacy: a collection to be presented during London Fashion Week in February.

The designer with the unusual and exciting workflow was born far from London; he was born at a farm in Sinding outside Herning. Initially, he wanted to study microbiology specializing in genetics and cloning, achieving the highest marks in mathematics and physics while being at Herning Gymnasium. And yet he later moved to South of France to learn French. Back in Herning, he realized that microbiology would be too technical, too scientific, and instead sought something creative: "I could draw, learned how to sew at home and was interested in clothes. I thought that Fashion needs both a scientific and creative mind and therefore decided to be a clothes designer."

A man of many word. Jens Laugesen took some nude drawing classes but still was not accepted at the School of Applied Arts in Copenhagen in1987, so he traveled to Paris to learn how to draw at Parsons School. Here he met the Dansih photographer Gunnar Larsen and became his stylist assistant for two years before Larsen's death in 1990. "Gunnar Larsen was like a spiritual father to me; the one who pushed me to continue my career in the world of fashion, and the first who unveiled the power of the press to me. I designed a dress with mirrors for one of his avant-garde fashion shows in Brazil - it was published on the cover of of Herning Folkeblad newspaper and was showcased in various newspapers all around the world. That dress was my first editorial ever."

Learned his craft

"Gunnar was a great influence and mentor. He had his own fashion magazine under his own name, and without him, I would not be where I am today - he was giving many young people a chance. With Gunnar’s reference letter, I was accepted to the second year at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne - the traditional couture school of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Federation," says Jens Laugesen. " There I improved both my creative and technical skills. After graduating in 1991, I worked for several years in Paris. First I got an internship at Givenchy while Monsieur de Givenchy was there himself, which was a great honour. After that, I assised Mr Paco Rabanne. Those great artisan masters were open-minded people who had no rules and controlled every process themselves. Mr Rabanne was making all the metal rivet dresses himself while Hubert de Givenchy, on the other side, was measuring everything till the perfection with, checking everything over and over again. Everything was handcrafted."

"At the time I was not sure what I wanted to do while being in Paris. I thought of doing something marketing-oriented and applied for a Master Degree in Fashion Management at the Institute Fran?ais de la Mode."

Young fashion insider

Jens Laugesen's words wakens memories in myself. It was the time I met him for the first time during Paris Fashion Week; he was still a young journalist working for a Danish newspaper. First for Herning Folkeblad then for Aarhus Stiftstidende. We, who worked for from Berlingske Tidende, my journalist colleagues from JyllandsPosten, Politiken, Jydske Vestkysten and BT, were the Danish clan at that time - all struggeled to get front rows of the World’s best fashion houses. To Jens Laugesen, it wasn’t a problem due to his connecitons he got from Gunnar Larsen and Chambre Syndicale. "It was all fine untill I wrote something negative about a Chanel colleciton - then I never got another invitation to Chanel again," he smiles.

After graduating form the INstitut Francais de la Mode, Jens Laugesen got a job at the Paris Haute Couture House Lapidus as a studio manager and designer for the luxury ready-to-wear collection. Then he headed to Rena Lange, where he was the Head of collection and responsible for 40 people in design and production in Munich. It was classical luxury womenswear, but Jens Laugesen was bored of the old-fashioned system and wanted to test and prove his creative skills to himself and the world, so he applied to Central St. Martins MA Fashion in London, where he, in his 30s, studied from 2000 to '02 under the supervision of legendary Louise Wilson.

Jens Laugensen's graduate collection was inspired by 9/11 and cotton workwear. With reference to Lego and Twin Towers, he describes how everything was spread on the floor and rebuilt in a variety of hybrid ways. Fragments of workwear were sewn together with deconstructed tailoring - a generic genetic engineering design process. The idea of these clothes was to provoke people by exposing the process. The collection attracted loads of attention, including Maria Luisa Poumaillou of Paris' famous luxury shop Maria Luisa's, who has discovered many young designers like Gaultier, Margiela, and Ghesquière.

Denmark's answer to Lang and Demeulemeester

Jens Laugensen's debut collection in 2002 during the London Fashion Week was done only in black color. I was there and experienced the birth of the new Danish designer. Great success, the press spoke of him as of 'London's response to Helmuth Lang, Demeulemeester and Margiela.'

"It was a great way to be pushed into the world," he recalls "Gunnar taught me how to manage a business without having a lot of money and keeping the style. Louise Wilson, at St. Martine's was very critical. Studying with her was a bit like fashion’ Navy Seals; everything we would create would be torn apart, so we had to build something new built up. It was important to deconstruct our preconceived ideas and then reconstruct it after. Initially I tried to do crazy fashion like other students but it didn't work, until I found an old YSL smoking jacket at a flea market and ripped everything apart. I was attractedto the idea that a woman is more sensual in a men's jacket; this is why you will lways find a tuxedo, a white shirt and white stiff collars in all my collections. And to connect to my Danish cultural background, I even asked the Danish Priest in London if I could study his priest dress as part of my creative process."

"Inspired by Lars von Trier, I also decided to work in trilogies - from 2002 to 2008 I designed four trilogies, a total of 12 collections, in a hybrid-creative workflow where I initially wanted to mix luxury with contemporary. But later I realized that what I really wanted was to go back to the designed, higher tailoring art."

Now I promote others' creativity.

Jens Laugesen received many awards and prizes - eight in all. "But even though I won three wards fomr the British Fashion Council, followed by the French Andam Fashion Prize with an exhibition at the Louvre and the Danish Fashion Award in 2008, it did not help. It was enough for the living but not enough to maintain and fund the company growth, and I was unable to find the right business partner. So in 2008 I decided to use my talent in another way and became a consultant for other brands."

He consulted for luxury brands like Calvin Klein and J. Mendel in New York, LG Fashion in Korea a electronic conglomerate company, that like Samsung have their own textile department for the Asian market. Jens worked as a creative director with a design team based in London, flying to Seoul every month to control the design team and their progress there. "When working for brands, you must start by analyzing and understand their DNA and have respect for it. Find something sustainable and work on it, "says the former consultant, who works both creatively and strategically with his clients.

Alongside that, he teaches in Central St. Martins in London and been instrumental in starting a new four-year Master course at Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale. The ex-chairman of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, Didier Grumbach, who also previously also Jens Laugensen's mentor when he was a student at IFM, told him "‘You are the first graduate from Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale, who has been studying at both IFM and Central Saint Martins and has won all the possible prizes’- he told me and also wanted me to show during the Paris Fashion Week. But I did not have the finances at that time.  When I was later being asked me to be a guest teacher at the school, I said that I would instead prefer to help guide young students from A to Z throughout the school year, as Gunnar did for me, so this is how I became the main tutor there and have done it for seven years, one to two days a week” mentioned Jens Laugesen.

So today, he is still a mentor. "One must learn to find his style, working method. I admire Saint Laurent for the androgynous and Margiela for the design process; he invented a completely new deconstructive design method - my process is a development of his. "

Jens Laugensen's process is called Hybrid Reconstruction, designed for strong women who want to express themselves and to use their clothes for protection as a form of armour and as part of their power of seduction. Some great tailoring mixed with sensual, feminine style, like the leather jacket in my collection, one of the first designs. Among other things, Daphne Guinness, the heir to the Guinness beer dynasty and the fashion icon became one of the designer’s biggest customers. "In addition to other things, I sew 30 pairs of tailored leggings I had invented for her before it became trendy. To me everything new often comes from couture avantgarde. Otherwise, we would all wear the same clothes. We need to be challenged and inspired at all times, " recalled the designer.

Maturing too fast nowadays

What do you think about fashion today? "It has been challenged by the digital media, the Internet, and selfies. Many young people are only interested in the image and the commercial side; this creates copying. The problem is that we need creative thinking and crafts. Otherwise, we will wear  the same T-shirts and jackets. To me there are too many collections around, too many magazines, too many fashion weeks, too many new designers. It's hard to be a small independent designer. Designers in fashion houses design teams today have 'designer fatigue,' they are unhappy because they have to make six-eight collections a year. There is no time to think; it is killing them to create something new constantly. Why should you have new ideas every season? And do not develop ideas thematically over three collections? I think the industry needs to slow down. Therefore, the new Hyrecon / Hybrid Reconstruction trilogy will be launched with an annual collection with a theme that is being developed differently each AW season and then developed over SS. I would like to work more slowly and design something creative to inspire people. First as unique sewing in London in a small studio. So, we will see if we can do business out of it, but that's not what's important. The engine in that is the creative process, and that’s what matters. "

What is the future of fashion? - "The commercial industry needs four-six deliveries to the stores; It generates faster sales. But it's difficult for small designers; it's hard to be small. I see a future that blends crafts with couture. There is a need for slower fashion. It's more expensive because you pay for craft, but not everything has to be on the same level. You mix basics with luxury. Like Daphne, who also wears basic T-shirts."

Back to Danish Fashion - in his own way.

How do you see Danish fashion? - "It works pretty well with such available price levels. Danish designers are good at making creative clothing that are sold at a good price, and there is a lot of interest in Nordic design. Henrik Vibskov made it famous. He has just exhibited in Paris; he has been able to do a creative business with not too complicated clothes; something you can live with. Stine Goya is also very talented and skilled. We all know each other from St. Martins, when we were there at the same time."

And now, in his own way, Jens Laugesen is back to Danish fashion in the form of the prestigious Danish Arts Foundaitons support. It was the perfect timing, he concludes, "I have begun to practice meditation and yoga. I just turned 50 and believe in seven-year cycles in our lives. Every seventh year, you change the restart your energetic path again starting from the root chakra again. So I see this new Colleciton as the beginning step stone of a form of creative rebirth, and showing my collection in London Fashion Week is the first step.”

JENS LAUGESEN Biography

Born 14 June 1967 in Sinding. Award-winning designer. Trained on respectively Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris and Central St. Martins in London. Works today with his own collections, works part-time as a teacher on Central St. Martins and partly as a master of the master's degree at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture and is a creative consultant for the fashion industry. Most recently presented a new collection during the AW 2018 London Fashion Week. In addition, showcased the latest (X) L /AUGESEN design cooperation concept with various leading Nordic names in luxury, fashion, industrial design, and interior.

See more at https://www.jenslaugesen.com/AW18Collection/