Jan-Jan Van Essche

Origin: 2010, Antwerp, Belgium

Designers: Jan-Jan Van Essche

Fields : Menswear

Biography:

Graduating in 2003 from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp Jan-Jan Van Essche (born 1980) wins 5 prestigious prices including the Christine Mathijs-Dries Van Noten price, the FFI price and the Public price for best collection. Born  and raised in Antwerp, Jan-Jan has continiously been confronted with the new aesthetics of the Antwerp six. Having a clear idea of what he doesn’t want out of life and his career as a fashion designer he has been searching for new possibilities in creating fashion in these new times. Insipired by music, lyrics and his travels to the Caribbean, Mali and Senegal, Jan-Jan translates ethnic forms and details to his own perception on what fashion story telling is about.

Style:

Jan-Jan launched his first collection in June 2010 titled Yukkuri; translated as ’slow’ or ‘taking it easy’ from Japanese. Jan-Jan’s young but firm collection offers a mindset or even a lifestyle of easiness, a mixture of ethnic values and influences adapted to his experience of our modern times and city life. A concept capturing the philosophy behind his approach to create contemporary fashion. Unlike most designers Jan-Jan designs and produces one collection a year. His collections can be seen as annual wardrobes to be worn through the seasons by layering up and down.

Also by including embroidery, braiding and weaving techniques, Jan-Jan accentuates his personal credo: slowly but surely. Each garment is produced before the launch of each collection, preserving exclusivity and creating off-the-shelf collections. all pieces are individually numbered and produced in limited series. A one size collection with most pieces being universal in size and sex.