Jan-Jan Van Essche’s first fashion show a huge success at Pitti

Dear Shaded Viewers,

It’s wonderful to watch that finally the talented Jan-Jan Van Essche who has been perfecting his craft for the past 12 years. His collection is a continual refinement with Jan-Jan himself making all of the patterns. He calls the collection ‘inverse multiculturalism’ and takes references from ethnic nomads creating and constructing silhouettes out of the finest textiles. For the most part they come from Japan. He has slowly been building his brand with the future rooted in history. Many of the silhouettes are oversized with capes and kimono inspired suits. There are utilitarian jumpsuits. You just have to look at the designer to understand the authenticity of his collection and the collection is just one part of a very coherent life path which extends to food as well as interior design. The collection’s laid back elegance is timeless, the true sustainable collection that you can keep in your wardrobe forever without it ever dating.

A range of tunics and shirts are in light weight wool chiffons and silken winter cottons, there are chunky knitted sweaters and hand crochet beanies.’Shibori’ pattern woolen cloths-hand-dyedin Japan , the ‘Bincho Tan’ coffee combined with ink-dyed cottons in a faded sand color, fiber dyed cotton checked fabric has saturated hues.

The handwoven series are handcrafted in the Jan-Jan Van Essche studio by artisan Lamine Diouf.

Vegetal tan leather McKay boots are hand crafted by the brothers – Ryo & Sotaro Ogino of Petrosolaum based in Tokyo.

The debut show was a triptych presentation going from a runway with a soundscape by composer Willem Ardui. The renowned choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaout created a dance performance with six dancers which emphasized the story of the collection and if that was not enough…for the finale 24 models lined up in front of the ancient frescos on the walls of Santa Maria Novella Cloister blending in with the color palette and merging the ancient and the modern and all this to the live music and singing by the Japanese Taiko player Tsubasa Hori underneath the open sky.

To say this was an astounding success is an understatement.

Later,

Diane