New ideas, new concepts, new designs- MUUSE!

I have always been keen on buying one sartorial garment from a local designer, instead of buying three from Bestseller. It’s these shops, for example Vero Moda, Villa, Object, EXIT, Name it, Selected, that deliver us ultra- mass-produced and commercial fashion; their pieces are also standardized and boring at the end.

Being a shopaholic is not cool in my eyes since it’s not green. Isn't it silly to have three pieces of clothing from mass stores instead of having one from a unique designer? For me, local Danish designers can give the most individual character to our appearance.

Let´s recompense their hard work and craftsmanship, and MUUSE (http://www.muuse.com) is a great one to start with. Since 2011 based in my beloved Copenhagen with world-wide selling!

You know, dress is generally believed to provide information about the wearer. Personally, I don't like wearing standards and look like everybody else in the city. Buying less but from local designers might be a tempting solution to look more interesting and wear very good fabrics on your body.

MUUSE is a clothing brand launched in Denmark. It presents collections of the best of young design talents, putting very often conceptual fashion into your wardrobe. Very high quality clothes present uniqueness in limited edition.

Below my interview with Gitte Jonsdatter-co-founder of MUUSE!

 Photo by Nicolas Følsgaard

1. Could you tell me a little about yourself? Where are you from? What is your educational background? 

I am from the US, with a background in fine art and design innovation. I moved to Copenhagen in 2007, but first founded MUUSE in 2011, together with my business partner David Dencker. 

2. How long have you been working with MUUSE and how it started?

I co-founded MUUSE in 2011. It started with my partner and I contacting schools and building a website, researching where to do production, and then hiring a small team to work with us in Marketing, PR, Production and Sales. 

3. How do you select those young designers to be part of MUUSE?

We work with scouting partner Vogue Talents for some, for others we look to who is coming out of great schools internationally. I am often invited to sit on juries for school graduation shows, this is a great chance to see who is coming out. 

4. What  do you think about upcoming Danish talents? Does Denmark have many promising fashion capability?

There of course are great talents coming out of schools everywhere. In particular I've been impressed by Kolding's combination of textile innovation, fashion design, and industry partnerships with firms like Ecco, that can bring the knowhow about how design turns into commercially-produced product. 

5. How would you define your city´s fashion?

Danes dress very tastefully, if somewhat conservatively in blacks and greys. Because the city's fashion scene is fairly small, it seems that trends catch on quite quickly ad broadly. 

6. Who is your favourite Danish designer and why?

I adore Tilde Bay Kristoffersen's work - she makes exquisite art pieces that are mysterious and extravagant. We developed a small capsule collection with her of ready-to-wear styles that capture her spirit and aesthetic, which will launch in shops in July.  Also Anne Sophie Madsen is very talented and Henrik Vibskov, I love the way he combines artist presentation and wearable fashion.

7. What are your reflections on Danish fashion. Could you name its 3 main aesthetics if you need to describe Danish fashion to someone, who doesn´t know it at all?

I would like to extend fashion to Danish design generally  - for this I would say: integrity, functionalism, ethics

8. Do you participate in fashion gatherings as Copenhagen Fashion Week? If yes, do you like them?

Each year we present our collections at CIFF trade fair for buyers and press, and at DANSK Design collective for the press. 

Fashion weeks are a great time to meet international press and buyers, since this is when they gather.

9. How do you feel about the city hall, which becomes a main runway during the CFW?

City Hall is a gorgeous space - so much better than holding fashion shows in a tent, which always strikes me as seeming cheap. It would b great if they could create some kind of bleacher seating, so the people in hte back also can see something. It's unfortunately just the first couple rows that see the clothing. 

10. As a Copenhanger, do you enjoy fashion on the streets of Copenhagen? Do you think the city itself is a portray of fashion here?

Bikes seem an integral part of fashion here, since everything has to be something that people can bike in. There is a lot of street style fashion in Copenhagen right now - it's interesting, but it would be great to see a bit more variety. There are a startling number of older people on the street here who are quite stylish.