“I would be dressed head to toe in Cheap Monday as a teenager,” states Faustine Steinmetz of a past life, pre-CSM, NEWGEN and London Fashion Week.
Announced today, for SS16 the French designer has joined forces with the Swedish brand to produce a limited edition capsule collection. A year and a half in the making, the eight piece line-up was inspired by Norwegian Black Metal Kids, noticeable in the monochrome palette observed throughout the collection.
“With a background in working with denim archetypes but in a new way,” asserts of the hook up, Cheap Monday’s Head of Denim Carl Malmgrem, “both Faustine and Cheap Monday strive to constantly reinvent what we are doing. It’s a challenge and also very inspiring to try and find new ways of expressing something with such a history as denim history.”
A partnership formed through mutual appreciation and a shared interest in the iconic fabric, Cheap Monday x Faustine Steinmetz is an exciting if pretty natural fit; throw in also, the fact that each has some relationship with sustainability that goes beyond recycling in-studio lunch time waste – the former with its C/O Cheap Monday Project and Steinmetz through her dedicated practice – and it speaks volumes.
“It was refreshing to adapt my ideas to another brand’s aesthetic,” the designer adds, before also noting, “I guess it was pretty similar to doing my own collection except I used Cheap Monday as my inspiration. I think we really share the idea that we wanted to take an everyday basic pair of jeans and make it as special and unique as possible.”
Shoutouts too to Lola Chatterton and Mischa Notcutt – both long time Faustine collaborators and Clash fashion editor and contributor, respectively – for the look book’s styling and casting.
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