JANUE was established in 2019 by art historian Céline Van den Bossche. Less interested in the latest clothes she concentrates exclusively on the right clothes. The infinite dynamics of the bodily motion, the potential growth of the soul in different directions at once and the Baroque aesthetics of the indeterminate folds are the leitmotifs of JANUE. 

JANUE recreates patterns that fluctuate between a generic prototype and the unique piece, between the virtual that can be refashioned and reinterpreted in various fabrics and the exceptional moment that motivates any repetition of a cut. First, there are the PROTOTYPES: these are the designs that make us feel and think. They are the balmy touch of a memory we cherish, a bodily gesture that impressed us to the point that we choreographed its movement.

_____ Then there are the ARCHETYPES: they are free improvisations on these haunting instants that return in various directions, on the restless afterlives of forms and their tactile renaissances that we reinterpret in different fabrics and reshape with varying cuts, details, and movements. The archetypes constitute the impetus of variation on the original prototypes. 

_____ Finally, there is the SUI GENERIS: these pieces are close to artistic works; they are distinctive couture works that transcend that conventional genre boundaries. The sui generis is a Denkraum, a thinking space where we develop the potential of phantasms and fabrics, words, and images emerging from art, its history and more. They are motivated by a curiosity about how bodily gestures translate into visual forms that return as reoccurring feelings, intense sensations, and beautiful words, all signed JANUE. 

Text by Vlad Ionescu

Stockists

Brussels - Janue
Antwerp - Housewarming

Knokke - La vie en rose

Team

Céline Van den Bossche design
Casper Venken patterns
Johanna Borlinghaus knitwear
Nicolas Huijgen communication