Danish designer Ivan Grundahl has started his career assisting clients in choosing the right clothes and that took 15 years. He opened an exclusive brand fashion men then he declared: “I did not enjoy it all that much, to be honest. Men do not need much to be invented for them — all the creative, provocative, new and sophisticated things in fashion are done for women. So here I am.”
He is inspired by “the bitchy type” of women. The designer says his clients are “well-educated, good- looking, tough-borderline-bitchy- my clients can sometimes be really horrible. All my female friends are difficult, demanding and selfish… But complicated and difficult people somehow happen to be the more exciting people.”

photo galacticmauve.blogspot.ro

The silhouettes he creates are architectural and have asymmetric cuts, which makes people associate him with designer Yohji Yamamoto. The limited color palette keeps the austerity and simplicity of Nordic design. Most outfits are black with accents of gray, white, red or cream. He is not interested in prints, even if this is in opposition with the advice that might help him “develop and enrich business”: “Every now and then sales people try to talk me into bringing the flowers in but I resist. My darkness is dear to me.”

photo galacticmauve.blogspot.ro

His preferred materials are leather and fabric, mixed with accessories like bags with oversized pockets and straps of different sizes.
Grundhal has over 70 stores in Danmark as well as shops in the UK and U.S. His public is formed of women that wear 36-46 and aged from 20 to 70 years. The strategy is as pragmatic as it is good since the designer addresses a wide audience without precise boundaries between generations. Therefore, Grundahl ‘rejuvenates’ old people and encourages young people around 25 to get used to a certain implicity and well-tailored clothes that are also comfortable.

photo galacticmauve.blogspot.ro

This concept is rarely applied by young designers or by the major fashion houses : ” Most designers target young ages, which is very natural. You may think of a middle-aged clientele- which some top- selling designers no doubt do- take Versace, for example- but there is no way to survive in the fashion industry as a self-styled old women’s label. There is one very simple reason: everyone wants to look young. I am 55, and I would never go to a store advertising itself as selling clothes for men in their mid-fifties. No way!” The designer adds: You have to carry yourself with dignity and style — in the sense that there is no need to show your cleavage when all you have to expose is a bit of saggy tired flesh. Natural and cool, classy, comfortable and down-to-earth would do beautifully.”

photo galacticmauve.blogspot.ro

photo odalisquemagazine.com

photo odalisquemagazine.com

by Alexandra Ivascu

Alexandra Ivașcu is a fashion designer living and working in Cluj. She is pursuing her PhD at the University of Arts and Design, Cluj, studying the representation of the couple in contemporary art.

Website: http://www.ivascualexandra.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Artisallwehave