Peter Jensen and The Cardigans' Nina Persson on the debut of Yours Truly at CPHFW

After 27 years of living and working abroad (from building his namesake brand in the UK to teaching in the US), esteemed designer Peter Jensen has made a homecoming to Copenhagen – Copenhagen Fashion Week, to be precise – to launch his new brand Yours Truly. “Copenhagen Fashion Week has a big place in my heart,” Jensen says. “I have followed it over the years and I like the way it thinks. It’s modern, moving with the times and looking for new ways of presenting fashion.” Despite being based abroad for almost three decades, Jensen has still made a point of spending summers in Denmark – often with renowned stylist Jacob K. “We have a tradition to meet at my place in Copenhagen over the summer and at Christmas,” Jensen explains. “It’s the perfect way to spend time and create ideas. This is how the presentation came about.”

The presentation was unveiled this week at Copenhagen’s Gammel Strand institution to the keen eyes of the fashion industry, being the first outing for Jensen’s new brand Yours Truly. “Yours Truly brings together two of my favourite things: sustainable fashion and emerging artists,” Jensen explains, “with an aesthetic influenced by the homespun and folkloric.” But more than just a brand, Yours Truly is a platform to be shared, with its website serving as an online gallery for up-and-coming artists to promote their work. “The idea is that the platform facilitates contact between the viewer and the artist,” he says.

The brand itself sits within the environment of collaboration, with a sustainably made and gender-neutral collection inspired by the classic artist’s smock. “The smock – or reform dress, as it is also known – has been worn for centuries by painters, writers, and sculptors. Male and female alike,” Jensen says. “We propose it mainly in calico, a fabric noted for its ancient and versatile history.” These days, calico is mostly known as the fabric that ateliers use to make toiles: fitting for a brand so focused on the folkloric, democratic and unpolished.

Inspiration doesn’t end there, though. Jensen has long admired powerful women. While his usually fixation is the female identities depicted in 17th-century portraits, it extends to contemporary women as well – which is where Nina Persson, lead singer and lyricist for the Swedish rock band The Cardigans, comes in. A longtime pal of Jensen's – and now a key face in the presentation of Yours Truly's first collection – Persson serves as something of a muse. "I see Nina and her art as a modern way of acting," Jensen says. "I love her music and her way of life, it sits really well with mine. We get one another and have the same point of view of the world."

According to Persson, the admiration is mutual. "I think Peter is a designer that really sees and appreciates women without the standard ways of objectifying," she tells Vogue Scandinavia. Peter widens the term 'muse' to include women of all kinds, where other strengths than traditional beauty or mythology are valued. Complicated, quirky and real get to be part of the equation. And I am proud to be one of those," she says.

Fittingly, each piece in the collection narrates a story of strength and individuality, celebrating women over 45 and their place in the world. Adding to the appeal, Yours Truly utilises responsibly-sourced materials, organic cottons and silks from Europe and collaborates with international artisans including knitting artist Jenny Richie, known for her expertise in sustainable fashion.

In line with this celebration of women of all ages, Persson comments on how her style has evolved over the years. "I have finally managed to stop suffering in clothes," she says. "So I have my comfortable and predictable day-to-day costume where everything works and feels good. Then I really enjoy my occasions to play with clothes, like for shows or parties, or whenever else it is actual fun and not just dressing for approval."

As Persson knows, with The Cardigan's enduring musical legacy, there's power in a name: be it an album, band or song title. The same applies for a fashion brand. "The name Yours Truly comes from the 1975 Sidley Lumet film Dog Day Afternoon starring Al Pacino," Jensen says. "Pacino's character robs the First Brooklyn Savings Bank to support his boyfriend's sex surgery. In the background, across from the bank, is a hairdresser called Yours Truly," he goes on. "My boyfriend was the one who suggested Yours Truly and I liked it straight away. It makes sense as the platform can be anybody's. I can pass on Yours Truly to other people and it becomes theirs."

As for Persson, she's lapping up her time with Jensen in Copenhagen. But what she's most looking forward to? "A drink with Peter after his show!"