Shop Hours Tuesday 11:00 - 18:00, Wednesday 11:00 - 18:00, Thursday 11:00 - 18:00, Friday 11:00 - 18:00, Saturday 11:00 - 18:00, Sunday sometimes open (check IG), Monday closed. For made to measure we ask you to book an appointment: info@janue.be +32 479 17 73 94, Points of Sale BELGIUM The Housewarming Antwerpen, La Vie en Rose Knokke, Profiel Leuven, L'héroïne Brugge, Suite Gent, Avenue Belsele, L'Opéra Aarschot, Annick Goedhuys Beveren, Smits Studio Tessenderlo, Things That Make You Happy Knokke, Dresscode Schilde, Blue System Genk, Boboli Waregem, Yannucci Turnhout, Pure Mechelen, Obelisk Oostduinkerke, Edith of Oxford Mortsel, Studio Manoir Sint-Genesius-Rode, Enfin Kortrijk, Au Fuseau Spa, Iconic Lauwe, La Bottega Hasselt, Scarpina Sint-Truiden LEBANON Piaff Beirut, JAPAN Finn Tokyo, Valeur Ishikawa Prefecture.
JANUE has two faces so she is multiple, mainly under control but sometimes restless and even confused. It’s hard to have one face, let alone two. She still resists growing in time, like a human being, from the young to an old age. However, the choice is made for movements from the prototype to the unique, from the virtual, the sudden intuition to its repetition and to the exceptional. It’s a different idea of time, made for those who are not bothered with ends, with straight lines, with bodies growing old.
JANUE was founded in 2019 by Belgian 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 move from the generic prototype to the unique, from the virtual, the sudden intuition to its repetition and to the exceptional.
First, there is the “JANUE, the prototype”: the cuts that make us think and feel. The balmy touch of a memory we cherish, the shape yielded by an instant we remember and that haunts us in future creations. They constitute the memory of the house, its own history, somewhere between the cut patterns and the actual collections, more of artworks than as series. In rare cases, a prototype never becomes more than that and in that case, it is a unique piece.
Second, there is “JANUE, the archetype”: we grow in different directions, the restless life of forms following the touch of fabrics we encounter. This includes all the variations on the existing prototypes and they can vary with season and fabrics. So, instead of counting series from year to year and season to season, the idea is to have a dynamic, sagacious, resplendent and growing relation between ideal prototypes and varying archetypes.
Third, there is “JANUE, sui generis”: artistic works, unique pieces that go beyond conventional genre boundaries. In case someone wants to adapt a piece to their own specific requirement then one can improvise on an existing archetype.
The main ambition of JANUE is not just to produce new shapes but to combine them with feeling, imagining and thinking. JANUE is an old dandy with antiquated ideas who thinks that words matter and reflection is important. She struggles on that border between an old medieval Brussels and the new boulevards. Without even knowing it she is closer to Charles Buls, defender of the Mont des Arts and portrayed on the Grass Market with a handlebar moustache, a book and his dog the modern. JANUE is a dandy following either the meandering steps on the rare cobbled stones of Brussels or exercising some cool strutting on what’s left of the new parts.
All of JANUE is entirely made in Belgium.
JANUE studio and shop
More about VITA ACTIVA
Céline Van den Bossche in conversation with Marlo Saalmink for REVS magazine
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Address A: Rue de Minimes 58, 1000 Bruxelles M: info@janue.be T: +32 479 17 73 94
