Beloved by the likes of Elsa Hosk and Emily Ratajkowski, we sat down with founder Madeleine Frandsen to speak about upcycling suits and launching a brand during a pandemic
"Havre Studio began in late 2019 as a hobby," founder Madeleine Frandsen explains. "It was very much a passion project." The now 24-year-old moved to Mexico City from Copenhagen with her boyfriend, where she stumbled across vintage tailoring and blazers while exploring her new hometown. "I bought a few suits and met a seamstress, Lupita," she says.
"It started by just having some trousers taken in to fit me. Then, I thought it would emphasise the silhouette if we cropped the blazer as well," says Madeleine. "I have always been a bit stressed out about waste, so my seamstress and I tried to use the discarded fabric from the blazer and turn it into a skirt. From then on, I've always tried to expand our horizons and think of upcycling in different ways."
Lupita initially thought Madeleine's fascination with men's tailoring strange but indulged her experiments. Twice weekly, the Dane would bring the seamstress coffee, and together they'd ponder about what to do with the excess fabrics and silhouettes of the suits. After only a couple of months, her network in Mexico City had grown. "I had three seamstresses that I worked with. We became quite close," she explains.