Ep215, "But Who's Gonna Wear It?" - How to Succeed as Artistic Fashion Designer, with Ane Lynge-Jorlén
Tilde Herold, MA graduate of the Royal Danish Academy, wants to reclaim power dressing from a female perspective.
Ane Lynge-Jorlén
We hear it all the time: fashion students are overwhelmed by overproduction and the ruthless churn of creative directors at the big luxury houses. How can they forge a creative path without contributing to the problem? If they decide to operate outside the system - crafting extravagant one offs, for example, or only making to order - how will they survive financially? What is the point of fashion if you can’t wear it?
Ane Lynge-Jorlén is the Danish fashion academic behind Alpha, a fashion incubator for directional design talent from the Nordics. The Alpha showcase at Copenhagen Fashion Week is always exhilarating, but as you will hear that's not all they do - they've got a big exhibition coming up in Norway's National Museum at the end of the year, and they do a bunch of industry mentorships working with the likes of The Row, Browns London and 1 Granary.
But really this interview with Ane is about, as she puts it, "fashion's cultural value" - fashion is technically in the realm of applied art, as opposed to the fine one. But whatever you want to call it, fashion as artistic expression has value beyond the commercial. Can you wear it on the bus? That depends on how daring you are. Ane probably would!
NOTES
ABOUT ANE has PhD in Fashion Studies from University of the Arts London, and has worked as a research fellow, lecturer, curator, stylist and also model. Her books include Fashion Stylists, History, Meaning & Practice (Bloomsbury 2020) and Niche Fashion Magazines, Changing the Shape of Fashion (Bloomsbury, 2017).
“I’ve always had a foot in both fashion academia and industry,” she says.
Ane is the director of ALPHA, a Nordic organisation that supports, champions and showcases emerging fashion designers from the Nordics.
CPHFW’S MINIMUM SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS are required to be met by participating designers. Discover them here. BERLIN FASHION WEEK recently adopted the protocol.
“‘We want to lead by example and further start the conversation on this topic to stimulate a turnaround in the industry,’ Scott Lipinski, CEO of Fashion Council Germany, told FashionUnited. ‘By implementing the Sustainability Requirements, we are trying to create a framework to which the brands participating in the BFW can orient themselves. We are convinced that this will not only influence upcoming collections, but also inspire emerging designers in their ground values.’ There is no concern or even competitive spirit with CPHFW. For the theme of sustainability, Lipinski said, ‘there is no fixed location and no competitive situation. We all have to work together to achieve something.’” Read the rest on FASHION UNITED.
Listen to Episode 154 with Cecilie Thorsmark here.
Ep 204 with Michaela Stark here.
Anni Salonen, MA graduate of Aalto, was selected for Alpha’s 2024 Brown’s collaboration. Knitwear focused Anni “works only with worn and discarded garments, gathered from recycling centres, dumpsters and wardrobes of loved ones. Salonen began collecting when the relatives of a deceased neighbour discarded bags of vintage clothing, silk scarves, giant rolls of fabric and leather shoes, all in good condition, into a street dumpster. Despite her mixed emotions about the unhappy context, this marked the beginning of Salonen’s design methodology of salvaging and using rejected materials.“
ALPHA is is a Nordic non-profit organisation that empowers fashion talent from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
They say: “We support designers in the early stages after graduation, and we create career-furthering projects alongside projects of high cultural value.”
We promote unique talent from the Nordic region and feature designers who show high levels of originality, creativity, craftsmanship and responsibility.
The Alpha Award is a competition for emerging talent that showcases during CPHFW. alpha.org
Nordic fashion schools include AALTO in Helsinki, SWEDISH SCHOOL OF TEXTILES near Gottenburg, ROYAL DANISH ACADEMY and Iceland’s University of the Arts.
Ruusa Vuori, Alpha show CPHFW Fall ‘24
The Icelandic stylist Clare mentions is ANNA CLAUSE. Here she is on Instagram.
Read Clare’s Vogue Italia piece about DESIGNERS’ NEST here.
Tuuli-Tytti Kiovula’s mad grannies on the Designer’s Nest Runway 2019.
TUULI-TYTTI KIOVULA is a fashion and print designer from Finland. She won the main Alpha Award prize for 2023. Find her here.
Rolf Ekroth is coming soon to the podcast.
Dance-inspired work by Ruusa Vuori, Alpha show CPHFW Fall ‘24. The linen was grown by her grandmother.
Ane modelled in MARK KENLY DOMINO TAN’S Autumn 24 show (below).
Joan Burstein founded London’s most influential boutique BROWNS in 1970. According to BoF: “Her greatest contribution to the fashion industry, however, is her unerring ability to spot, stock and support avant-garde talent. Dubbed MRS B, and thought of as the ‘fairy godmother’ of fashion, Burstein is credited with being the first to stock Alexander McQueen, John Galliano , Gareth Pugh , Hussein Chalayan and Christopher Kane…It was also Burstein who brought Giorgio Armani , Donna Karen, Sonia Rykiel, Jil Sander , Missoni, Calvin Klein and Comme des Garçons to the United Kingdom. When asked about her talent for predicting fashion’s future stars, Burstein maintains, ‘[it] is nothing more than a hunch, it just happens. It’s a gut feeling. It’s gut instinct.’”
THE ROW is synonymous with quiet luxury. “When then small screen teens, Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, established The Row back in 2006, not only was this world as impenetrable as ever, but the “celebrities launching their own fashion brands” club wasn’t exactly an aspirational one. But 18 years later, this logo-less label, which earlier this year made its official debut in The Lyst Index Top 20, rivals esteemed brands for desirability, with its sumptuous staples, lust-worthy accessories and exacting eye for detail.” Via British Vogue.
1 GRANARY is “the leading global fashion education platform and creative network, dedicated to empowering the next generation of creative talent and driving positive change in the fashion industry.” Brilliant stuff. 1Granary.com
LOUISE WILSON was the tough but visionary fashion teacher who was head of the MA fashion course at Central Saint Martins until her death in 2014. Read her obituary here.
STEM X GANNI , more here.
STEM is a Danish fashion label by textile designer Sarah Brunnhuber. They say: “A Stem garment is made from (recycled) natural fibres and produced using our unique weaving, cutting and sewing technique. To counteract our throw-away culture and to ensure that each garment is valued, we share each garment’s production story. We reconnect the wearer with the craft of creating beautiful clothing by displaying Stem garments in the context of their fabrics. Our pre-order (and limited stock) retail model disrupts the current cycle of overproduction and encourages mindful purchasing of pieces made to be worn and loved. “
SCOOP is a Danish model agency.
PIERRE BORDIEU “was a French sociologist who wrote extensively on power and social relationships. Bourdieu studied under Marxist philosophers, and he believed that ownership of economic capital was the root of power. However, he theorized that there were three types of capital— economic, cultural, and social. He considered social and cultural capital to be ‘disguised forms of economic capital.’ These disguised forms of capital appear as benefits and resources that are generated from access to economic capital but are made out to be disconnected from wealth. For example, having a refined taste in art as a result of attending a prestigious university has cultural advantages that appear to be unrelated to the economic capital required to pay the tuition fees. This means that social and cultural capital conceals how powerful economic capital is.” Via Simply Psychology.
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