WITH JÉAN
'THIS IS NICE’ SPEAKS WITH CO-FOUNDERS OF WITH JÉAN, EVANGELINE & SAMI, ABOUT THEIR NEWEST COLLECTION ‘SENSATION’
‘This is nice’: Before I get into asking about your newly released collection, Sensation (which I love!), can you give our community a bit of background on With Jéan and how the brand came to be?
Evangeline: We always had this mutual dream of doing something creative together so we both saved a little money and quit our jobs and here we are 4 years later.
Sami: Thank you, we love that you love. With Jéan was created together with the collective care for clothing and creating. We share many common interests, we are best friends and we were 24 and had nothing to lose. We are forever grateful for our creation and the endless support we receive.
‘tIN’: As mentioned I am loving your new collection, Sensation, what was the inspiration behind this collection?
Sami: We love to look back on certain eras and designers and create a meaning for each collection. This Drop features a lot of our best selling pieces which were worked out with new prints inspired by our 90’s favourites.
‘TIN’: In this collection we see the return of a few familiar pieces such as the Andy Dress and Naomi Set. How do you decide which pieces to bring back?
Evangeline: We don’t follow the traditional fashion calendar and pieces in our collections never have a conventional product life cycle thanks to our following and our reach on social channels. So we listen to our audience in recreating the pieces that have curated such crazy demand for!
Sami: We have created some core pieces throughout With Jéan’s lifetime and we love to continue these styles so they don’t become obsolete. We take our bestsellers and recreate them for the customer and for the lifespan of the style. Our customer’s respond well to this and love to have their core styles refreshed in new prints and colours.
FAST FAVOURITES
‘TIN’: Place?
Evangeline: Absolutely us in Italy but also Folegandros, Greece.
Sami: Italy with Evangeline.
‘TIN’: Song?
Evangeline: I have too many! Daddy - Charlotte Cardin for this month.
‘TIN’: Restaurant?
Evangeline: Sami and I stumbled across Les Garçons in Villefranche-Sur-Mer a few years ago and we still talk about it at least once a month.
Sami: Lupo, Gold Coast.
‘TIN’: Muse?
Evangeline: Zoe Kravitz right now.
Sami: Iris Law now, Kate Moss forever.
‘TIN’: Collection you’ve designed?
Evangeline: Probably our first ever collection because we had no idea of where it was about to take us.
Sami: ‘Morphology’, it holds a special meaning to me.
‘TIN’: Australian Designer?
Evangeline: Christopher Esber
Sami: Dion Lee
‘TIN’: International Designer?
Evangeline: Loving Dilara Findikoglu at the moment
Sami: Vivienne Westwood
‘TIN’: Drink?
Evangeline: Orange wine!
Sami: A good red
‘TIN’: Season?
Evangeline: Summer
Sami: Autumn
‘TIN’: Quote?
Evangeline: Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
Sami: Live, Love, Laugh. It’s the corniest but it’s the truest.
Sami’s current muse, Iris Law.
Evangeline’s favourite Australian Designer, Christopher Esber
Sami’s favourite International Designer, Vivienne Westwood
‘Tin’: Do you have a favourite piece from this new collection?
Evangeline: The Andy dress in chocolate
Sami: The Carla Corset in Cher
‘tin’: When you started With Jéan, who and what were you designing the pieces for? With Jéan pieces always make me think of summer, sunshine and having a good time.
Evangeline: I think there is this intramural struggle for designers in the landscape that we exist in where you hear “don’t design for yourself” and listen to your audience. For a minute I was more focused on the analytical side of the design process than the creative and in recent collections we’ve stepped back from that to some extent and are making pieces we want to wear.
Sami: Us, of course. I think every brand should be developed based on your own personal wants and needs, it’s important to stay true to your ideas and to differentiate yourself that way. Of course, we always envision them worn in the sunshine and having a good time.
‘tin’: Finally, what’s next foR With Jéan?
Evangeline: Collaborations, new categories and coming together. We live in different countries and are trying to find our way to one another, during these difficult times it’s been hard to be apart!
You can shop WITH JÉAN’S new COLLECTION HERE.
FILL IN THE BLANK… ‘IT’S _________ TO BE NICE’
‘IT’S NICE TO BE NICE’
-Evangeline, Co-founder of With Jéan
‘IT’S EASY TO BE NICE’
— Sami, Co-founder of With Jéan