In a holiday season defined by separation rather than gathering, a collaboration with Swedish denim giant Weekday has made a virtual homecoming possible for Per Götesson, the London-based Swedish menswear designer. The designer supported himself through school working in retail for the company, and his first job out of college was with Cheap Monday. “Weekday has been a very big part of my life,” said Götesson on a call. He remembers his days on the shop floor fondly: “It was amazing to work there. We were always encouraged to be quite friendly with the customers, so there was almost an after-party feeling in the shop.”
Ten years later Götesson has much to celebrate. Since completing his master’s at the London College of Design and going out on his own, the designer has been supported by Fashion East and become known for proposing new masculine ideals. Götesson’s work has hypebeast appeal and poetry, and he’s brought that aesthetic to his 11-piece Weekday collection, which goes on sale December 10, 2020, at 12 p.m. CET (6 a.m. ET).
Götesson is one of three guest designers participating in Weekday’s Studio Made holiday program, which is focused on sustainability and has a charitable component—all proceeds will be donated to Civil Rights Defenders. The designer was given a free pass to source garments from the company’s web shop and a free hand to develop them into a collection. “I tried to pick the most plain and normal things; that was kind of my objective. I always see it as a challenge to make something very ordinary into something special or precious,” he said.
Götesson transformed the found pieces into unique one-offs that carry his own brand signatures—volume, for example—and also a message about responsible design. Making new from old is a concept that comes naturally to the designer, who traces the practice back to his small-town, working-class roots: “I come from a very picturesque place, but we had nothing, so I can be quite resourceful with stuff. It’s very natural to me.”
That inventiveness is on full display in this capsule. In fact, it’s easy to see the collaged sweats and the chap-like jeans going into a full production run. The showpiece is an oversized poncho toward which Götesson took a more-is-merrier approach, incorporating as many preexisting garments as possible, eight in all. As a whole, the collection rates a 10.
