PARTY
ntil recently, the path to creating a well-respected
fashion brand was narrow and, in the main,
inflexible. Earn a spot at a prestigious design
school, cut your teeth at an established fashion
house and then, andonlythen, start your own
label: the non-negotiable steps to success.
ver, the rulebook is being rewritten. Some of the
most compelling fashion brands on the market aren’t the brain-
children of design students but of influencers who are turning
their highly curated personal brands into highly coveted fashion
lines.This shift was initially met with heavy doses of cynicism and
scepticism from the industry, until brands like Attico (the Italian
label helmed by street style stars turned designers Gilda Ambrosio
and Giorgia Tordini) launched, proving bloggers could flawlessly
marry design chops and business prowess to produce wares the
industry and the A-list embrace with equal fervour.
This is the climate in which Jeanette Friis Madsen and Thora
Valdimars — two Copenhagen-based stylists and digital influenc-
ers — started discussing a label of their own. “We were working at
[Copenhagen fashion magazine] Costume, and we were always
going to different events, often struggling to find party outfits that
were sexy, extravagant, fun and feminine,” Madsen says. “At the
time, we didn’t have the means to spend a fortune on the dresses
we really wanted, and we became certain a lot of other women feltScandi label Rotate Birger Christensen
turn dressing into a celebration.
GRACEO’NEILmeets the
PEOPLE
It girls behind the brand
74 HARPERSBAZAAR.COM.AU April 2019
TheBUZZ