In recent years, some exciting (and fashionable) talent have emerged from Copenhagen Fashion Week that just may not have been on your radar before–both on the runway and the streets of the Danish capital (just take a look at some of these noteworthy street style looks!) New to the official Cophegan fashion week schedule, we got to know Louise Lyngh Bjerregaard, who debuted her collection on August 12.
The Paris-based, Danish-born designer showed her collection digitally surrounding Couture Week in Paris last month. Now that shows can safely resume in an IRL format, the designer was invited to show during CPHFW, and of course, that was an offer she couldn’t turn up. “I am honored to be able to show the entire collection in my home city,” says Lyngh Bjerregaard
The Spring Summer 2022 debut collection was an intriguing hybrid of dark romanticism spanning decades. Lyngh Bjerregaard’s designs playfully cross the lines between ready-to-wear and couture. The results? Garments glamourously translating a poetic version of her imagination. Although, a debut collection Lyngh Bjerregaard has been designing individual pieces for herself for years. Her expertise is shown through a wide range of artisanal savoir-faire techniques such as deconstruction tailoring, draping, trompe l’oeill, upcycling, fabric manipulations, and unique knitwear.
Ahead we chatted more with Lyngh Bjerregaard on her debut collection, designing during the coronavirus pandemic, and creating an adorable fur coat for Lady Gaga‘s dog Fozzy.
GRAZIA: How did your brand come to be?
Louise Lyngh Bjerregaard: It was never my plan or intention to have a brand, but the clothing I made kept evolving and so did I. I have always been making clothing; even before going to fashion school. During my education, I rented a small atelier and continued to work there after school hours, during school holidays, during all my internships, and then after graduation when job interviews were on the agenda. Suddenly people started to talk about my clothing as being a brand and now I am here in Paris with a full team, having done the first runway collection and already working on the next.
G: Can you describe the “Louise Lyngh Bjerregaard woman”?
LLB: I won’t say there is a Louise Lyngh Bjerregaard woman. I don’t design with a particular person in mind. I express myself through textiles and my work with a body-related outcome. And whoever wants to wear it, can wear it, in my opinion.
G: What are some of the stand-out moments for you and the brand?
LLB: When I received The Danish Art Foundation two years working grand in 2019 and having my runway debut during Couture week in Paris.
G: Can you talk through your latest collection and runway for the SS22 Show? How did you devise the concept?
LLB: This is my first collection and who knows how many you get to create? So for me it was a chance to show what I am capable of at this point in life; what does knitwear look like when it comes from me, how do I drape – what does that look like – okay let’s show some volume, some tailored garments, and deconstruction, how do we approach this with this kind of fabric or yarn… I guess you can say that the inspiration has been that nothing is taken for
granted so you better give it your all with what you have available to you and then add another 10% on all parameters.
For the music part, I collaborated with Rune Rask from Tabu Records (Grammy-nominated producer.) He has produced Art of peer pressure on the Good Kid Mad City Album by Kendrick Lamar. It was Rune Rask’s first production for a Fashion Show, and we discovered that we have many similarities in our artistic and technical approaches within each of our fields which we really wanted to merge together.
G: How have things changed for you, your brand, and the way you work since Covid-19?
LLB: The slower pace the industry faced allowed room for us to catch our breath even though we still went to the atelier every day and worked on the collection. Which is made with only what we had available to us in the atelier since stores were closed; zippers, fabric, etc. I am obsessed with materials and unlocking which techniques go with which materials – aside from what tradition tells you – so this was such a creative treat and a great challenge. It has been challenging operating an atelier and the financial aspect, but the learning and unlearning that comes from this pays off in many other areas of life, and moving forward with new knowledge feels good.
G: What does your brand stand for?
LLB: courage, integrity, communication, disruption, and craftsmanship.
G: What’s next for Louise Lyngh Bjerregaard?
LLB: Unfortunately, that is locked in a nondisclosure agreement for now, but other than that I am looking forward to working on my second collection.
G: What’s a fun fact about you that most people may not know about you?
LLB: I once made a fur coat for lady Gaga’s dog Fozzy back in 2011.
