BIOGRAPHY

Jens Laugesen was born in Denmark in 1967. Arriving in Paris in 1987 he studied Haute Couture Design at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, graduating as top student in 1991. He subsequently worked as a freelance fashion journalist for the Scandinavian press, before returning, in 1994 to take a masters degree in Fashion Management from the Institut Français de la Mode.

The following six years saw Laugesen working for a number of internationally renowned design houses in Paris at both haute couture and ready-to-wear levels.

In 2000 Jens Laugesen relocated to London, joining the MA fashion (womenswear) course at Central St Martins graduating with distinction in 2002. His graduate collection was chosen by Paris boutique Maria Luisa to be exhibited in the windows of the store during Haute Couture Week in July 2002.

His first runway presentation was held in September 2002 as part of Fashion East, supported by Channel 4 TV and the Old Truman Breweries. In February 2003 he was awarded the Top Shop New Generation Award, a prestigious financial prize which allowed him to present his Autumn/Winter 2003 collection, on the official London Fashion Week schedule. He was consequently awarded the Topshop New Generation prize the following 2 seasons, the maximum allowed times.

Since 2003 he has been designing a capsule collection for Topshop, and he is currently also teaching in both Womens and Menswear Fashion on the MA Course at Central Saint Martins.

Today the collection is stocked in more than 22 high profile stores world-wide, especially in Japan where he has just signed a distribution deal.

In the past Jens Laugesen collaborated with world famous Knick Night and SHOWstudio on a film that was the centerpiece of the installation he did for the exhibition UNIK Danish Fashion that was shown last year at the Danish Design Center.

Most recently he has been selected by Alexander McQueen to be featured in a new fashion reference book SAMPLE 100 Fashion Designers, edited by Phaidon this year in London, and he is also seleted by influential magazine ID to be featured in the new FASHION NOW book edited by Taschen to come out later this year.