Peter Jensen is standing in front of remnants from past catwalk sets: a lone gold palm tree from Nina SS12, giant letters spelling "Sissy" from SS06, a backdrop of Charlotte Mann illustrations from Tina SS07 and his neon rabbit logo. The soft pink glow of his bunny emblem serves as a reminder of just how far he's come since graduating in 1999 from Central St Martins and moving into his Shacklewell Lane studio.
It's been 10 years since Jensen created 'Mary', the first collection featuring his off kilter muses. Since launching his label in 2001, over the decade an endless fascination with unlikely women has served as the driving inspiration behind the Danish designer's collections. The likes of Gertrude Stein, Sissy Spacek, Mink Stole and even his own aunt from Greenland have been responsible for his eccentric pieces and idiosyncratic prints.
Jensen's unique label has thrived from a small well loved outsider to a more grown up affair (yet not without its quirks) which can still boast the tag of independent, no mean feat when other London labels have come and gone. And in celebration of his ten candles on the cake, Jensen has clocked up quite a momentous year. He won sponsorship and an exhibition by the Danish Design Museum, launched a book and most recently showed a collection of his greatest hits for the V&A's Fashion in Motion series.
Though stand out moments are hard for Jensen to recall:
"I do have various things that I am proud of when they happen and looking back I do think 'God I am really proud and happy' but I would never be one of those people who would say 'Oh I am so happy that such and such is wearing my things'. I think that's great but that's not the core point of why I became a fashion designer."
"But something that I am really proud of is the ice skating show. I watched it not long ago and I started to almost cry. I just remembered that whole time. We were so poor and had no money to do this show and we did it by sheer will. It's always the one show that people always talk about."
The ice skating show, 'Tonya' for SS05, was inspired by Olympic ice-skater Tonya Harding and was known as Jensen's breakthrough moment. Professional skaters from across the country were sent out onto his ice rink wearing crisp white shirts, pom poms and full dresses with tulle petticoats beneath. A perfect example of Jensen's penchant for picking a muse, Tonya was the first American figure skater to perform a triple axle and was notorious for an attack on her competitor Nancy Kerrigan. But choosing who to focus a collection around isn't a straightforward process:
"The women that we pick and why they get picked, that I can't say. I think that they really come from my own personal interest. They are all strong women, they all have a story. I think they have proven a point of any kind of sort and yes they're not the obvious fashion choices but I think that's what's good about them," says Jensen.
The V&A's Fashion in Motion series gave the public a rare chance to see the collections that Jensen created from his muses over the years. That's where we caught up with the designer to find out more about the retrospective and inspiration behind SS12.
