"PARIS, PARIS” JØRGEN SIMONSEN FOR SWAKARA 2018-’19
It can be a rather daunting affair to try to follow a smash hit that seems almost impossible to surpass, so when The Namibian Swakara Board and Kopenhagen Fur came knocking for the 2nd consecutive year, asking Jørgen Simonsen to design for the 2018-’19 SWAKARA campaign, Simonsen did not ponder long to accept the challenge to try to, if not surpass his own work, then – at least – recreate the magic.
Following his iconic 110-year anniversary creation and subsequent shoot in Namibia from the previous year, Simonsen decided to bring it all “home” – back to Paris, where he is based, and from where he is catering to a private clientele worldwide. But also back to his roots in the French haute couture, as this specific pelt and its unique, rare qualities loans itself so very perfectly to clothing made in the upper echelons of the French fashion business.
Three silhouettes – an overcoat featuring a “cold shoulder”, a skirt-suit (or “tailleur”) and a cocktail dress – were designed and made up by Simonsen in raven black, beautifully black spotted and pristine white Swakara.
All shot on location in Simonsen’s Paris: innovative, evocative, modern, sensuous silhouettes featured against iconic Parisian landmarks to really underline the luxury feel of the Swakara pelts, but also to set off and give the entire shoot – a love letter of sorts manifested in an afternoon stroll in central Paris – a juxtaposed, cool, contemporary cutting edge Hitchcock-ian feel – lifting it up, over and out and thus run Swakara much further into the 21st century.
Enjoy.
Photography: Oleg Covian
“THE HORN OF PLENTY”
Five cases of beautiful, polished horn bangles on loan for the Jørgen Simonsen Gadjo Manoush Inuit H.C. collection from January 2018 sparked a fruitful collaboration between Danish artisan, designer and craftswoman Sara Brunn Buch from Hornvarefabrikken – the last establishment in Denmark dating back to 1935, still working, shaping and designing in horn – and couture designer Jørgen Simonsen.
Sara Brunn Buch approached Jørgen Simonsen with a request to design a 10-year anniversary piece for her company – a necklace to be specific. Just the one necklace…
True to form, Simonsen ran with the request from the amazingly skillful artisan, and returned the proposal with a counter-offer: why not do 10 innovative, groundbreaking and utterly o.t.t. show-stopping necklaces, shown along with 5 original pieces of couture featuring horn as a prominent material/detail in the different silhouettes AND 5 panoplies from the Simonsen archive featuring 5 new, original pieces of horn jewelry designed by Sara inspired from the archive pieces.
Sara Brunn Buch was possibly blown slightly away by this offer, but nonetheless she immediately saw potential in the proposal and the collaboration between the two artists went under way, spanning their respective two home countries and several months to birth the unique, handmade collection.
All done in lush materials; hand brushed mohair, mink, alpaca, cashmere, wool crêpe, python, wool bouclé, lurex woven wool jacquard and tulle – ALL in stark black to properly set off the natural, diversified beauty of the African horn in all its guises: raw, polished, lace-cut, broiled, pierced, diced, gold plated, woven, sliced, twisted, shaped into magnolia blooms, hole punched – the collection was presented at a show held on the the 1st of October 2018 – the
actual date of the anniversary take-over of Hornvarefabrikken in Bøvlingbjerg, Denmark.
This series of photographs was shot the day before the collection was presented to the public in an abandoned factory building to document the collaboration between the two artists.
Enjoy.
Photography: Mads Krabbe
“GADJO MANOUSH INUIT – le New Look Néo-Groenlandais”
“GADJO MANOUSH INUIT – le New Look Néo-Groenlandais”, might be a bit of a mouthful, but none the less it is the title of the last JØRGEN SIMONSEN HC A/H 2018-’19 collection. Behind this very title lies a hybrid of 3 different sources of inspiration, that on paper might seem very distant, but through Simonsen’s way of interlacing and making these co-exist, are coming together in a surprising, innovative and utmost interesting way, shaping up the collection and addressing itself to a strong, feminine, daringly individual yet sensual woman of the 21st century.
The point of departure for this Autumn/Fall couture show, was the capsule collection in seal skin, made by Simonsen as a commission for NAPA in Greenland – hence the INUIT in the title. This collection was an exercise in what happens, when a creative is inspired by a foreign culture and its heritage, adapting it into his or her own field of work. The national costume from the west coast of Greenland was reinterpreted, reshaped, revisited and revitalised – merely as a suggestion, and not as a dictation from Simonsen. It was subsequently met with massive appraisal for its sartorial outcome and deep set respect for the original source material, and today the 5 silhouettes are living as a traveling exhibition. As Jørgen Simonsen was invited to exhibit this capsule collection in his place of birth, Struer, in Denmark by Rie Nyborg at the Art and Cultural Centre “GIMSINGHOVED”, the pair thought it would be a great idea to open the show – with another show – namely a proper couture show, presented as it would have been in in Jørgen Simonsen’s hometown, Paris.
Funding was secured by Mrs. Nyborg and a group of most generous sponsors (amongst them Færchfonden, Kopenhagen Fur, Hvidbjerg Bank, Bang & Olufsen, Revisionsfirmaet Krøyer Pedersen, The Kirsten and Peter Bangs Foundation, TROMBORG, Millesime, Louis Nielsen as well as the entire hair and make-up team) and Jørgen Simonsen sat down over a period of 5 months and built out the existing 5 outfits with another 52 passages for the planned show in January, 2018.
Fleshing out the Inuit angle from the capsule collection, Simonsen thought of another stigmatised, misunderstood and ill perceived element (besides the beautiful, natural and outmost sustainable material, that the seal skin is!): the Roma tribal people and their rich, intense, proud – and visually “loud” – culture full of tradition and history. Not necessarily the Romas as we know them from the Balkans, but the original travellers hailing from Rajasthan/Punjabi in Northern India. Colours – and interestingly clashing juxtapositions of the same – as well as combinations of patterns, textures and materials in general stems from this source of inspiration in Simonsen’s latest collection. Having been pigeon holed for so long for “only being able to do fashion-black” – this is a smacking, vibrant, highly visual, spectral answer to that statement. Finally Simonsen pays homage to the 70-year anniversary of Dior’s “New Look” – an utterly feminine silhouette, celebrating freedom, life, excess, beauty and refinement, albeit in his own Scandinavian Cool-infused handwriting, for a modern, daring, strong, individual, 21st century couture-loving woman.
Contrasts at play, visualised to total perfection, is one of Jørgen Simonsen’s strongest suits and a central, carrying pillar in his fashion, always aiming for the ultimate outcome as a créateur, a craftsman and as a creative, it is his hope, you will find it here in this collection.
Enjoy.
Photography: Helle Moos
Kopenhagen Fur & SWAKARA
When I was first approached by Kopenhagen Fur and SWAKARA, and proposed to be the creator of their 110-year anniversary garment in the inimitable, gorgeous, natural pelt SWAKARA, I did not hesitate a second to jump onboard.
As a couturier, one does not necessarily have the insightful knowledge of what goes on before we, as designers, sit with a SWAKARA pelt in our hands, deciding what to dream up next with this unique material. A trip to Namibia last summer, by invitation of the National SWAKARA Board and Kopenhagen Fur changed this for me personally – a mind-blowing and utterly fascinating trip, that gave me, as a creative, a much deeper understanding of the SWAKARA pelt, added admiration for the craft of breeding the livestock and an undying love for this powerful, barren, captivating, but ever so beautiful country in Africa…
Inspiration is abundant – everywhere in everything, when you, as me, live from visualisation and conceptualising these visuals into creative matter. But Africa blew me away. I had already planned what I wanted to do for the SWAKARA/Kopenhagen Fur collaboration, and luckily Namibia proved me right in my sartorial decisions. I wanted to create something very special, close to my Haute Couture background and heart, but at the same time honouring this tradition, land and pelt.
I created an opera trench coat-dress, as I wanted to merge some sort of utility (and a relatable design) with the opulence of Haute Couture – all capsuled in a gorgeous silhouette in supreme, pristine White Swakara. I did a “cross-referential shape” part strict business, part wild party, merging the two sides of couture: tailoring and “flou” (draping) in one garment. You see the result here – I hope I have done everyone proud.
During my visit, I was visually bombarded by everything I experienced in the Kalahari – it sat with me, and left me hungry for more. Leaving Namibia, I jokingly suggested, that since we were doing a piece for such a big anniversary, we really ought to shoot the photos for the catalogue on location in Namibia… It was honestly meant as a joke, but both Kopenhagen Fur and SWAKARA ran with this idea, seeing and loving the prospects of such a campaign. I managed to pull a few strings with some key fashion friends, and we had our amazing trip planned. We shot everything in Namibia at Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, Spitzkoppe, Sandwich Harbour, Swakopmund and at the Moonlandscape on my dear friend and gorgeous supermodel Carmen Kass, beautifully photographed by my other dear friend Peter Christian Christensen – featuring my opera coat-dress (at the utterly stunning, mesmerising and captivating location Deadvlei) and other selected styles I managed to develop on my own for this shoot. The entire trip was largely orchestrated by the amazing local crew from SWAKARA in Namibia – my deepest, most sincere thanks goes out to everyone involved in this project, both in Africa, Denmark, Estonia and France.
Thank you all. You rock!
Enjoy.
