The Danish-born, Dubai-based designer launched her minimalist fashion brand Acolé – an acronym of “a collection of luxury essentials” – in 2019. Linda Bruun Lacin sees this break in the cycle as an opportunity to create more timely seasons for selling collections which are more relevant to consumers and more beneficial for businesses.
How are you finding the transition to a new way of working/life?
As I am still running a new business and am a part of a bigger fashion house in Denmark, my office here in Dubai has been from home since day one, so I am quite settled here between my sofa, kitchen table or whatever corner around the house I can find. What is new for me though is having my husband and three kids at home 24/7. We are all however, trying our best to establish somewhat of a routine to be productive and stimulated.
What have been the biggest challenges?
Work related, the biggest challenge at the moment is trading. The world has changed almost overnight and I believe regardless of the size of your business, whatever was predicted or anticipated will just look different and most of us will have to fight to get back to where we were. From a personal perspective, the biggest challenge has been not being able to see the people I love and care about, who I know my kids need and I need.
What’s been the most pleasant surprise?
Since I work from home I am fortunate to see my kids quite a lot most days, of course during these times even more. A pleasant surprise though must be the crazy amount of time I am spending with my husband, either one of us has always either been working or travelling, then family or friends would always be around – which is exactly how we want life to be. However, in the middle of this quarantine, we find ourselves spending hours after hours just talking, listening to music, and quite frankly this is what I live for at the moment.
What are your hopes for the future?
I hope we will all be more honest in our approach to what we do especially when it comes to our businesses. I hope we will remember where we are today and take even just a small bit with us and make a change in our way of thinking and acting going forward. To be specific to my own industry, it could perhaps be considering more timely seasons for selling collections which are more relevant to consumers and thereby adjusting sale cycles to make it more beneficial for businesses.
What message do you have for Grazia readers?
What is meant to be will be and stay home!
Photos: Courtesy of Linda Bruun Lacin
