Designer Junyan Xu may be a newcomer in fashion but her collection feels like a finely aged wine. The sophistication in textile choices and depth of thought that goes into her collection feels very much beyond the 3 years of experience with Svencum. It was a very hot summer day when we all gathered in a small space just beyond the Louvre. A performance artist was reading a poem written by the designer in French about the human experience, or rather the human workhorse. Life was described as just non-stop work and enjoying a small morsel of the fruits of our labor until one day we inevitably perish. The collection itself is a translation of the years of human life, starting with mother nature. She appears in print throughout the collection and ties our existence with the Earth. Here are a few words from the designer herself regarding how she started in fashion and why "Svencum".

How did you get started in fashion?
I studied fashion in Paris three years ago and I am very interested in menswear because the cuts, the position of the shoulder line of menswear, as well as the aspect ratio are more in line with my own aesthetic system and can make my prints more beautiful. I love to use different fabrics to do [looks] and make them more enriched.

What do you prioritize first in your design process?

Firstly, I think of my life and I [get] inspired by my life, my family, my friends. And the big part is, my thinking. For example, I’m always thinking about death and time. What is time? What is death? I always ask myself so many questions about that.

In your presentation, the artist was reading a poem and did a performance in which he referenced a horse and galloped like one. Then he ate a phantom apple and seemed to pass away. Can you explain what you were trying to convey in this?

There are so many meanings for that presentation. Most importantly I wanted people to experience it and experience that expression in the poetry. It’s about women and life. For me, women give birth to everything on earth. And humans work hard. We all work hard to earn money and we keep running throughout our lives, we are working machines. We work and earn money to create our lives. We think there’s a God to see what we do, like when we’re lazy and we’ll feel guilty. But I don’t think this is good, I don’t think there is a God to see. In the end, we all die without God. In the end, God will not help you in death.

How do you start your design process?

Oh firstly, I have a story and after that, I start drawing. I use the ink and I use wood blocks. I carve wood blocks and it takes me about a month to make them for block prints. In this collection, I use this one that has a woman depicting mother nature. She appears throughout the collection.

I have to ask, how did you come up with the name, Svencum?

“Sven” in my language is elegance, but elegance is backed by knowledge. People who are “sven” have it in the back of their minds that they are a little naughty. I don’t know if I’m explaining this right [in English].

What projects do you have in the future, what’s next?

I’m not sure I’m there yet, it depends. Maybe I have to go to other places and change locations and see other things. I’m still inspired by the world so yes it will be something through nature.

Where can we find you right now?

So we have like one boutique in China and now we're just in talks about different concept stores in the Netherlands and Korea. It’s all in the discussion so far. It's very new so we just hope we can get more retailers.

Svencum SS24 and Junyan Xu Interview