With its very first collection, Stel offers up a foundational wardrobe of “tailoring you can skate in, denim you can dance in and shirts you can travel in”
Not every brand makes its Copenhagen Fashion Week debut with a hype quite like Stel’s. But then again not every brand boasts Astrid Andersen as its creative director. The Danish designer’s eponymous menswear brand – best known for its basketball jerseys and track pants – was a cult favourite amongst international cool kids of all genders. With Stel, Andersen (with the help of her partner, Anders Freund, who handles the business side of things) brings her singular sensibility to womenswear, one that’s evolved considerably over a couple decades in the game (when she launched Astrid Andersen in 2011, she was in her mid-20s. Now, she’s 40 with two young children). “Astrid Andersen was very much this quest of this guy I was trying to define or dress,” says Andersen. “For Stel, it’s much more about me, about where I am in life as a woman, as a human being in the world. In some ways, it’s a lot more personal.”
With Collection 01, Stel (which, in Danish, refers to both an industrial foundational structure and an item one would collect), Andersen presents the sort of foundational pieces a particularly cool person would have in their wardrobe. Think easy, relaxed tailoring, oversized shirts and slouchy denim that fits just right. As Andersen puts it: “It’s tailoring you can skate in, denim you can dance in and shirts you can travel in.” That last bit she means quite literally – rather than fashion the shirting from poplin, she opted for a lyocell cotton, which is less prone to wrinkles.
But these are more than just cool, roomy clothes – there’s a cleverness to the cuts and the details that serves a distinct purpose. “It is for this really active, loose, laid-back lifestyle,” says Andersen. “But at the same time, you’re a woman who wants to be able to transition throughout the day, throughout moods and throughout life, really.” The clothes are designed specifically to allow for changes in size of the wearer (or simply changes in fit preference), by way of stretchy waistbands, well-placed slits and vents and adjustable apron-like ties. “Maybe you’re up one size a season or down one size a season – it’s allowing for some flexibility built into the garments,” says Andersen. “Your wardrobe shouldn’t become something that you look at and it sort of punishes you for being in a certain part of your life.”
For the presentation, which took place in a fittingly industrial space, Andersen called upon longtime pal A$AP Nast to style the collection. “He’s just such an amazing soul,” says Andersen, who met Nast in Copenhagen about a decade ago. “He just has really impeccable taste, he’s very stylish and we sort of have a similar language when it comes to what we find interesting – when a female looks strong and powerful and sexy.”
A big debut calls for a big party. In Andersen’s case, this meant a full blown rave on the evening of her presentation. Why a rave? “For me, it was just really a statement that it’s not a fashion party. It’s not canapés and a lovely venue,” says Andersen. “I really wanted it to be pure celebration.”