JAN-JAN VAN ESSCHE | What Remains

When I first saw the clothes of JAN-JAN VAN ESSCHE (JJVE),
even from a distance,
I knew they were good clothes.

The fabrics, the colours, the silhouettes.
The atmosphere around the clothes,
even the people who were there.

It was not any one thing.
Everything seemed connected,
forming a world of its own.

When I look at clothes,
the first things I notice are
the fabric, the colour, and their overall presence.

Then I move closer, touch them, and try them on.

Texture, construction, details.
The drape, and the way light passes through the fabric in movement.

What I sense from a distance,
I confirm up close.

Not made to be understood quickly.
Made to be lived with.

The space within a JJVE silhouette
is not decorative.

It leaves room for the body to move,
to breathe, and to live naturally within it.

Rather than asking the wearer to adapt to the clothes,
the clothes gradually settle into
the body and life of the person wearing them.

Worn, moved in, washed,
and carried through the seasons.

Sometimes I look at a piece after several years
and think it is better
than when it was new.

It feels less like wearing something
and more like it has gradually
become part of the body.

When I wear an older piece of JJVE,
people who know clothes sometimes ask me,
“What season is that from?”

Even after all these years,
I never tire of looking at these clothes.

No matter how many times I look,
there is still something new to discover.

Because something at their core remains unchanged,
each time I look
I see something different.

The world I sensed when I first encountered JJVE
is still there.

Clothes that draw us in immediately
and clothes that remain with us over time
are not always the same.

There are things in JJVE clothes
that only reveal themselves
as they become part of the wearer’s life
over time.

To wear it is to carry time.

— BORDEAUX