JANBOELO

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‘Le Rescapé’ is the name of my spring/summer 2011 collection. Its all-covering theme is the feeling of survival. This is exactly what the title means: to have escaped from, having survived. The JanBoelo women are strong and in control of their lives, but these women also have a dark, mysterious and indefinable past. The models look like they’ve been fighting for their lives. A great passion for couture shows itself in abundant handwork in the clothing. Large amounts of embroidery as well as countless meters of hand-stitched hems and lining can be found in the collection. The collection’s silhouette is imposing, with a dramatic and stunning visual effect. Black is the colour mainly used and it returns in nearly all the items. Through the use of different materials - silk, linen, cotton, wool and leather - plenty of nuance in colour is created. The materials are of the highest quality and subtly finished, but then also sometimes crudely done or not at all. The collection is all about the details: an almost invisible button or shoulders made out of glass. Leather motorcycle jackets with unusual sized collars which are perfectly tailored. Hand printed, studded shirts from linen jersey are covered with silk chiffon. Large knitted scarf’s made of the finest quality wool can be wrapped around the head a dozen times and long small leather belts which can be formed to a small corset. Besides that, the collection features evening dresses made of lots of meters silk and lenient leather, embroidered with metal studs and Swarovski. Meters of fabric are blowing in the wind behind the model as she passes by. With its many pieces the ‘Le Rescapé’ collection is showing an image of how a whole wardrobe can look like. But by wearing the pieces loose from each other, they are applicable to every style. (photography by Gilbèrt François, make-up by Frederiek Beelaerts)

About the Designer

Jan Boelo is based in Netherlands. He studied at Utrecht School of Art.

Jan Boelo (1988) grew up in Heiligerlee, a small village in the north of The Netherlands. As a child he always played outside in the woods. He had a rich imagination and always imagined himself as a pirate or a cowboy. At secondary school he won the ‘concours culturel’, an annual art competition organised for a few secondary schools in the area. He won with a dress he had designed. A passion had been born.
Jan Boelo got in touch with Edgar Vos, and was very much intrigued by the way Mr Vos talked about his work as a fashion designer. Vos talked about dressing women and about his couture so passionately, that Jan Boelo got even more enthusiastic about starting his studies of Fashion Design at the Utrecht School of Art.
During his studies he developed a great fascination for techniques, the ‘how-made’ of a garment. He considers it very important for a fashion designer to know how a garment is put together. Because, when you know that, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. It’s all about the techniques that have been and can be used. These techniques can be adapted and employed the way you want and they can be combined with your own, strong design.
After various traineeships at Paul Schulten’s, Jan Taminiau’s, Marloes Blaas’s and Balmain’s, he started his own label in 2010. It is very important for him to have the absolute freedom to create his own dreams. Dreams of powerful people with a style and personality of their own.