You may know Dutch designer Duran Lantink as the creative mind behind Janelle Monáe’s “vagina pants” that actress Tessa Thompson crawled through for her cameo in the music video for “PYNK”. Perhaps you know him as one of the semi-finalists for the prestigious LVMH Prize for Young Designers who cheekily showed a Frankenstein Gucci-Louis Vuitton hybrid bag to LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault.

These days, Lantink is applying his signature puzzle-pieced style in a whole new way merging the worlds of fashion forward and eco-friendly. As part of Brown’s newly erected Conscious initiative, the London-based luxury boutique enlisted the helping hands of Lantink in creating a collection constructed from repurposed deadstock from the boutique’s archives reworking leftover stock into unique new pieces. V got the chance to chat with the budding designer in discussing the free-reign capsule collection, the future of fashion, and just where his one-of-a-kind style came from.

You have an original approach to reworked garments which has become increasingly popular as we become more conscious of sustainability in fashion, how did you get started in this style?

“I think I was 11 or 12 and I started cutting up my mom’s clothes and the clothes of my stepdad, which he really didn’t like. Somehow I always felt the urge to merge things together. Then I got accepted to Rietveld Academy for my first year where they were really keen on making patterns and fabrics and I really didn’t want to do that. I just didn’t want to make anything new, so I started doing recycling with stuff that I found in charity shops and that’s how I started making collections. From there on, I started doing research in luxury goods and I found that there were so many luxury pieces laying around, there were so many sites where there was constantly a big sale and I was like how could this be possible? In my reality, high end labels are sort of luxury, limited, but that’s what I really wanted to do, somehow get back to this limited luxury feeling. It’s super indulgent to do something with beautiful fabrics that don’t get used.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does your process look like when creating a piece?

“It’s always different. What happens is, I get invited or I’ll go to a stock sale and then during seeing the stock I start making puzzles in my head. It’s a very different way of designing Normally, you think of a theme, but for me it’s really seeing what there is and working with that. It starts my looking at the stock and thinking of how to apply this to new shapes.”

You were able to partner with Browns as apart of their Conscious initiative in redesigning a completely new collection from the archives. How did you go about creating the collection? What pieces caught your eye?

“I am very blessed that Browns gave me the trust and ability to go and look for myself. It was the first time I could really pick the items myself and I think that’s super important because you find these attractive pieces and you can make it so nice. There was a PVC green coat that was really nice and I fell completely in love with it which is ironic because it always happens that when you find a piece you’re really in love with, it always turns out to be the hardest to rework.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is your favorite piece to create from the capsule? Which was most challenging?

“There are things that catch my eye, but during the design process, I think I really love them equally. They’re like my babies. In my head I make these collages and I start designing, but then in reality you have to check what’s the fit. There were some coats where it was so much work to do the the lining because you’re cutting up clothes and putting them back together. It’s sort of a DIY project, but you should imagine making the lining perfect again, especially with luxury goods, they’re so beautifully made from the inside so you really need to find a way to make them more perfect or as perfect as they were but with a different shape. So I guess all the clothes were the most challenging. People always mistake it as just cutting up an arm and stitching it back together, but that’s not how it works, it’s extremely precise.”

What do you want to see for the future of fashion?

“For me, I feel the whole idea of being a brand feels sort of 20th century, I think to move fashion forward we need to treat each other equally, the competition should not be there, we should be much more harmonious with each other. I don’t feel comfortable calling what I do a brand, in my studio we treat everyone equally, I think that’s an important thing in fashion where we learn to share and where we learn to be a bit more relaxed. Because I’m only doing unique pieces, I’m working on an Artificial Intelligence program that is copying my collage so we can extend into broader ranges, but they are still unique pieces. Technology is super important for fashion, just not used in a creepy way.”

 

The bespoke 45-piece limited collection spans both women’s and men’s is exclusively available at Browns boutique.