THIS BRAND HAS (A) CHARACTER
FROM COPENHAGEN
Many fashion brands and creative entities claim to be inspired by a culture, usually a particular element of it. Maison Kitsune is associated with prep fashion and the signing of emerging electro-pop artists but is it really more than a portmanteau between a French record label and a Japanese designer? Brooklyn We Go Hard have collated a bloc of inspiring photographers and held exhibitions when launching new clothing lines, but in which elements of the artwork do they find their inspiration? In trying to carve out a sharp and prominent brand story and purpose, brands associate themselves with something more than great clothing, but this link can be strenuous.
This is not the case for Danish design house Hans Kjobenhavn and their spectacularly odd short films which double as their look books.
blocwork has taken their admiration to the next level by evaluating what itis about the way they communicate the authenticity of their inspiration and received an education along the way. We have been schooled on how to create a sensibility.
The Scandinavians are trail blazing their way through menswear in their typical streamlined and understated fashion right now. Many have made it big through combing classic and simple design with near-perfect execution, a distilled strategy for a distilled aesthetic. But that’s the boring part. What Han Kjobenhavn has that engages you with their sensibility far beyond their products is an incredibly rough branding diamond that doesn’t need cutting — the character of the rowdy Danish worker.
For each season, Hans Klobenhaven produces a short film of their ageing resident Danish workers letting loose with a couple of young and distressed models that look like they’ve been on a month-long bender with Pete Doherty. The only other common denominators are stuffed animals, sometimes just their heads, an axe, and illicit substances. These are the tools that they use to create a sensibility through character.
Each of these short films abides by the golden rule of filmmaking. No matter what the budget, the stories and scenes are fundamentally character driven. The rowdy Danish worker’s uniform and the devilish, and at times vice-like behavior of these jaded gentlemen depict the character from which Han Kjobenhavn take their aesthetic.
While the films become more ominous each season, they keep a focus on friendship and the two opposing forces that test any — loyalty and envy. Seeing this dynamic explored through something other than a romantic comedy or a prison drama is refreshing. Seeing it cross generations, where someone who looks like our Dad gets high with someone looks like our sister, making us think whether our elders do still get F***ed up and could actually teach us a thing or two about it is mind blowing.
But for me, the takeaway from the movies is this: each of these guys has their own character which becomes defined by the most obscure of things — we see a pigeon flyer, a Bruce Lee inspired axe wielding mad man, and a psychedelic stuffed tiger-dancing romancer — yet they can all be placed neatly into one box labelled the rowdy Danish worker.
This, my fellow citizens, is evidence of art aiding commerce and nothing is lost, but so much is gained. Brands like Han Kjobenhaven remind us that fringe culture and commerce is not a zero sum game where commercial acclamation leads to critical condemnation; that the spectrum that begins at authentic and ends at sell out is not linear and only appears to be this way in the minds of the agitated, the anarchist, or the individual that is desperately trying to supersede culture and beat it to the punch. Being an early adopter is cool, but authenticity is truth and culture,which in this case is defined by character, is king.
