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Could you quickly introduce yourself, tell us who you are, and what you do.

My name is Larrend Lacuesta. I am based in Greater Brisbane, Australia, originally from the Philippines where I lived for the first 16 years of my life. I’m the founder and co-owner of Neuterlab, a genderless fashion label that explores experimental silhouettes. By day, I work as an HR manager and by night, I build Neuterlab. The brand reflects my creative philosophy and quiet rebellion.

You grew up in the Philippines and spent half your life there, before moving to Australia in your late teens. Did moving to Australia help you express yourself and find your personal style and identity?

It’s impossible to compare what resources a 16-year-old may need VS resources a 28-year-old need (when I started the brand). When I talk about resources, I talk about financial independence, creative freedom, convenience in accessing museums, and the space to explore fashion and my personal style. In the Philippines, I was still too young to start anything, and I didn’t have the means to pursue design seriously. However, “maturing” in Australia gave me the opportunity to build something on my own terms. I would say 50% and 50% how I was influenced by my significant other (Karl Leuterio), who is also the co-owner of Neuterlab! When we started dating in 2013, that’s when I really formed my style DNA and it has stayed consistent up until now, if not evolved slightly. Me and my partner, Karl, gravitate toward monochromatic, androgynous silhouettes with a grunge edge and an undercurrent of elegance (at least that’s how I see it).

What’s the meaning behind the name ‘Neuterlab’?

Neuterlab is a fusion of two ideas: “neuter,” as in neutral, non-binary, stripped of gendered expectations; and “lab,” as in experimentation. It’s a space where clothing isn’t confined by rules, rather expressing freely. The name reflects our ethos: genderless, conceptual, and quietly defiant.

You did not study fashion, how did you end up pursuing fashion design and establishing your own brand, what was the driving force behind your decision?

I never studied fashion formally, but I’ve always been immersed in it emotionally. My creative journey started with photography when I was 16, initially self-portraiture. If you want to see some of my photos, I have a separate Instagram page called @ninthsheep.larrend. For over a decade, I used photography to explore my identity. When I met Karl, I found out he was a fashion designer so I wanted him to make something conceptual for me then to photograph them. Karl is THE professional designer, and I was influenced by him. Eventually, I began sketching what I would like to wear. Mainly clothes with designs I couldn’t find anywhere else. That intuitive process led to Neuterlab. The driving force was, I wanted to create a world I could live in, one that felt true to my values. One that felt permanent because it’s in my control.

Was fashion design something that you’ve always wanted to do, or have you pursued other creative endeavors prior, in order to clench that creative thirst?

Photography and short fashion films were my first creative outlet. I released three self-published magazines called Ninthsheep, featuring nostalgic travel photos, self-portraits and conceptual fashion styling with my partner Karl. That visual storytelling naturally transitioned into fashion design. Neuterlab is an extension of that (or vice versa), it’s a continuation of the same emotional language, just in a different medium.

What are some of the biggest challenges that you’ve faced as someone who didn’t study fashion, but also what type of advantages do you think you’ve had based on past life experiences that you could implement into your business model?

The biggest challenge is technical construction. I don’t know advanced sewing techniques, and I’m limited to making clothes on a domestic sewing machine. I have so many design ideas I want to make, that’s why I work with a manufacturer who can execute my designs and sometimes I work with other Australian creatives to make those ideas come to life. The advantage is curiosity will always drive that passion, whether you studied fashion formally or not. Another advantage is learning in the process. I’ve learned how to respect the work of other Australian designers I’ve collaborated with. In addition to that, I’ve studied business, and my professional background is Human Resources so that gave me a strong commercial mindset. I know how to position the brand, manage (small) operations. For example, draw boundaries when agreement is compromised, etc.

Do you think your outlook on fashion design, and fashion in general, would have been different if you attended fashion school or have you always had a certain distinct style and vision in mind?

I don’t think fashion school would’ve changed my outlook. There is so much educational fashion content on the internet. It is the content that you feed your mind at the end of the day. Fashion is a term that is used broadly. If I may inject the term lifestyle, please. That lifestyle is formed through lived experience, through research, museums, networking, fashion films, music, performance art, behaviour, etc. That lifestyle will never stay stagnant rather it evolves as you keep meeting new people, see a new film, hear new music. One thing is for sure though, that the grassroots of that style DNA (once you know exactly the path to take) will stay strong. The style DNA/ or that vision in my mind has always been (in the last decade) androgynous, monochromatic, experimental, and elegant.

Do you draw inspiration from your Filipino heritage when it comes to your designs?

I would like to say yes, the way my brain is wired and how I behave is rooted from my Filipino upbringing and my exposure to Philippine entertainment. That contributes to how I see the world around me. However, if we’re talking about inspiration that is translated into a visual design then I have to say no. I am saying no with a bit of guilt. It never crossed my mind until this question. I am now curious about exploring Filipino art and fashion subcultures, to honour parts of myself.

Could you describe your research process when it comes to creating your garments and collections.

My process is entirely intuitive. I don’t do traditional research or patternmaking. For example, if I’m watching a film and I see a costume I like, I would sketch that, so I don’t forget. If I go to a museum and see a texture, I start to think which hardware store product would closely resemble this texture. If I see someone wearing something cool, I will digest the components of their outfit and envision what silhouette would work on me if I were to wear something similar. To me everything is reinventing. I remember sewing some of my one-off pieces design, I would just start cutting fabrics and sew them based on my vision alone. No markings, no measurements. Just instinct.

Who, or what, are some of the/have been some of the key inspirations in your journey as a creative, as a designer, or in life in general? Is there someone that you’ve looked up to specifically when it comes to fashion design or fashion in general?

Rick Owens’ ceremonial styling, Ann Demeulmeester’s editorial photos, Margiela’s runway show casting, The Row’s furniture and jewellery curation and Patti Smith poetic eloquence. The two who I specifically look up to are Rick Owens and Patti Smith. Rick Owens on his philosophy to learn how to make clothes, work and work and produce and produce to reveal your identity. Patti Smith, because of her uniformity with the clothes she wears and artistic spirit (specially after reading her books) which inspires me to age with grace and imagination. Moreover, Patti Smith for me is a key influence, I feel she is the best link we have to many other artists like Rob Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, etc

Neuterlab also does art-pieces, can you elaborate on the idea and the vision behind it? Is it something that you’ve chosen to do based on previous experiences or is it part of the brand’s world building?

For our November 2023 Collection Launch (the collection has no name by the way), I created framed art pieces to extend the mood of the collection. They emphasize texture, rabbit fur, wires, leather strings, scarred cowhide leather, sharp pins. I have chosen to do this not based on previous experience rather part of the brand’s world building. The art pieces were not enclosed in a sealed container. I wanted it intentionally left uncovered so people who attended the launch event could touch them. It was about creating tactile experience, where part of the clothes can be framed and co-exist as framed art and wearable art. The framed artworks weren’t separate from the garment. They were their echo.

What type of world is the Neuterlab brand trying to build, and what type of message is it trying to convey?

Neuterlab is building a world where clothing is emotional, and self-expression is sacred. You wear it and you instantly embrace your uniqueness. It is a quiet rebellion. One that invites introspection.

On your website, it states that the Neuterlab brand tries to invent new cultures and new aesthetics. Can you tell us more about this approach and what would the end result be once these visions have, in your opinion, been completed?

We’re not trying to fit into mainstream fashion cultures. That means inventing aesthetics that feel personal to me. The end result isn’t a finished product. I see it as a living archive. A slow evolution of my style, my philosophy and emotional clarity. A vision that becomes tangible and will exist even long after I’m gone is something remarkable. So, there will be no end result until my last breath I suppose. To me it will forever be a personal project I share with the world.

You are the second Australian designer that we’ve spoken to, what is your opinion on the Australian fashion industry, and what do you think it can learn from the rest of the world? But also what do you think the rest of the world could learn from Australia?

I think the Australian fashion industry hasn’t yet made a defining mark globally. That said, Australians dress very nicely, especially with their stature, they clearly carry themselves well. I just wish more people were brave enough to dress differently even if they are not attending an event. Regarding what I think it can learn from the rest of the world is to try something different, something that makes you curious and open. What the world can learn from the Australian Fashion industry is… I don’t have an opinion.

You’ve previously interned at Han Kjøbenhavn, which is personally one of my favourite Danish brands. But like many other designers who graduate in this current era, you opted to start your own brand at an early age. Why, in your opinion, do you think more designers opt to start fresh and create their own brands these days. Is it the consistent amount of internships that leads to nothing? Is it the stress of working under someone else’s creative visions? Or do you think it’s just the best way of truly expressing yourself?

I knew, well, the reason I knew that I wanted to start Fine Chaos right after my education. Well, I sort of moulded the concept of it whilst I was studying. But I knew it after my internship at Han Kjøbenhavn. The reason for it was because I was in almost every department whilst working with them. So I started off in the design team when we worked on the runway piece construction. We did some very conceptual pieces with boning, and just avant garde in general. Created pattern cutting, and helped the production team with tech packs and such. I wanted to have a full view of how a company worked, because I knew that if I was going to start my own, I wouldn’t have to learn things from scratch after I’ve started it. So I wanted to learn a little bit beforehand so I could prepare myself. So I helped the sales team prepare e-commerce stuff like logistics and such, I helped with the showroom.

I am a former semi-pro Counter-Strike player, I don’t know if you managed to find that, but it’s because I was known as Marc Christiansen and not Marc Møllerskov. I wasn’t playing at a top-top level, but I got paid and I partook in tournaments and such. So I have a huge passion for editing and such, with graphic design knowledge from creating team logos and just playing around with Photoshop from a very early age. I think that’s why my knowledge of what good graphics are like, is very strong. Han Kjøbenhavn also picked up on that, and none of them knew how to remove a green screen. From the showroom, there was a model that was rotating 360 degrees, and they wanted to have a “fishbowl” kind of video, and they did not know how to edit that. So I did all the visuals, editing, and the nitty gritty parts of that. I also did tribal patterns, I was part of the early developments of that pattern, which they are using quite frequently now. At the end of my internship, they asked me if I wanted to stay for another six weeks, to help create a whole new knitwear collection and also work on picking the colours for the logo t-shirts and such. But creating the whole knitwear collection was crazy.

So do you have a speciality in knitwear?

Uhm, no, no, I didn’t know anything about knitwear before that. I mean, I knew a little bit because I did include knitwear in my final exam, which was after my internship. But I already sort of prepared and studied a bit regarding knitwear, just to have a small understanding. I collaborated with someone from the Faroe Islands for my final exam, and the way she was knitting, she was fusing knitwear and crochet. Crocheting some parts of the garment, and the rest was handknitted in a special pattern as well. I got to learn a lot about gauge and stuff.

Did you feel like being part of a bigger brand put a limit on your creativity, or were you given free rein?

It was pretty collaborative, I would say. So Jannick (Creative Director of Han Kjøbenhavn) had a vision for example the knitwear and the artworks. It was very vintage inspired, it consisted of these knitted patchwear sweaters. I basically got to do my version of that, and I incorporated a lot of symbols that Han Kjøbenhavn, at the time, tried to become known for (with the tribal patterns etc). So I think there was a lot of creative freedom actually.

You’ve studied at Copenhagen School of Design and Business, but also at the London College of Fashion. Did your creative vision change once you went abroad for your studies, or did it just enhance your visions? What were the biggest differences between the two overall?

I got to learn more about myself, moving to London, I did not have the same amount of time and mind space to figure out who I want to be, in terms of being a designer. But also, what kind of story I’d like to create. I knew very early on that I wanted to create a story that people would care about, also make people feel like it was their own story. I feel like I dug deep into it whilst I was living in London, since I had to get out of my comfort zone. I didn’t know anyone before moving there, so living there for a couple of months helped me dig into my own persona a lot more. Because I get very inspired by my friends, and I didn’t have any friends there, so what inspires you then?

I had to pick my own brain apart and that is what I did in London. My design process has obviously developed further after starting FINE CHAOS, with moulding the brand’s vision based on yourself and then having a whole team following that direction. Back then, the way we did sketch books and documented processes in London, was crazy, maybe even a little too crazy.

It inspired me to do even more, for example, exploring different ways of draping, focusing 200% on draping for three days, and what now? I am going to work on my painting, then you paint roughly for another three days, and so you’d break your pencil multiple times. That type of education was new to me. In Copenhagen I learnt more about the value chain and more about how to realise your dreams, whereas London sort of made me dream, if that makes any sense.

Did you get to study in London during lockdown?

No, it was just before it happened. I went to school in London whilst living in Denmark, that was crazy. It was fun to do it that way, I had to live at my parents place because I didn’t have a place to stay in Copenhagen. I got to meet some wonderful teachers during my time there, I remember this guy who was so fucking good at draping, he was just draping a blazer and I was so intrigued because lapels has always been a challenge for me. For some reason, I always get the calculations wrong, and during his first lecture I could instantaneously drape a lapel. I was like; “how the fuck can I not do this on a table? But I can do it on a mannequin?” and he said; “because you are working with your mind and not just with your hands”. And I was like, that’s very deep, but I am assuming you understand what I mean, haha. His instructions were so simple and he was so old school but I still felt like he made everything so easy, so it almost felt very futuristic in a sense.

Your personal style and the design language of FINE CHAOS is very far from the regular Scandi-chic aesthetic that is portrayed by many Danish and Swedish brands. What helped you solidify this aesthetic, and what made you fully believe that it could be a success in Denmark?

So I don’t think we have solidified it in Denmark actually, I think it’s more of a Copenhagen thing. Our main base is in Copenhagen, whilst we do get people who support us outside of Copenhagen, it’s not as if we have communities outside of the city, which is still a challenge. It actually goes back to when I was growing up, my mum was working in fashion for a clothing brand called Uldahl, a womenswear brand that made very exclusive stuff such as jackets made out of rabbit fur and also had some very punk-like things. My mum has a very punk-like style, it’s her way of being.

But from an early age, I understood that clothing can spark conversations by being different. So what I did was, I dressed slightly differently, I still followed trends because I wanted to look cool and such in general, from a social hierarchy standpoint I guess. But I still dressed in weird ways, and I always picked colours that were never trendy because I wanted to shape things in my own way. I always got asked why I was doing this and I completely loved it because it was a conversation starter all the time. And the fact that clothing is a medium for it, that it can be so strong, when a stranger can just come up to you and say: “Those are some nice trousers, I wouldn’t dare wearing them myself, but I really appreciate that you’re doing it. Why do you wear them?”

As you may have realised, I come from a small city so standing out a bit is quite a lot there, with a population of like 5000 people, it’s kind of hard to go outside of your comfort-zone style-wise. But I think that shaped my future and I wanted to keep the same feeling, so I want our clothes to spark a lot of conversations and also connect people. I think it’s a beautiful thing.

There’s a bit of anarchy against the norm, isn’t there?

Yeah, it’s so funny because it’s a lot of people who are just saying that I am like “fuck the system” and that I am going against the system and society itself. But I am more so doing things my own way and sometimes we follow the norms. But as Margiela said, you have to know the rules in order to break them. If you know your target groups, you can then just create your own and connect with a lot of people so you don’t become this boring brand that is just for the business person or the techno-goer. Although some people still see us as THE techno-brand of Copenhagen.

So you’ve had a lot more success abroad, would you agree?

Yes I would say so, when it comes to wholesale, we’ve had a lot more success in East Asia, which is amazing. I mean, we have a very strong community in Copenhagen. But now with the Yu-Gi-Oh collaboration, it has opened up a lot more for us. I can also go into depth of how and why that collaboration happened. I don’t know if you’ve researched it?

We can do a lot of research, but if you feel like talking about it right now, feel free to do it!

I played and collected Yu-Gi-Oh cards when I was a kid. I really love the [Yu-Gi-Oh] anime, and I love Yami Yugi, because he’s this androgynous… Idiot, well, he’s sort of an idiot in this very childish way, because he’s like: “I am the king of games and I’ll win no matter what, and I’ll break every rule that exists in the game, even though I am the creator of the game, I break my own rules”. I really love that rebellious energy in the anime, and that’s probably why I gravitated more towards Yu-Gi-Oh than Pokémon for example. Fast forward till two and a half years ago, I needed a hobby because all I was doing was FINE CHAOS.

I just remembered my hobby with Yu-Gi-Oh and then I started playing a little bit with some of my friends, whilst also collecting cards. Before you know it, you have a Shiba Inu named Yugi, and his full name is Yami Yugi. We collaborated with WALLHACK, the gaming company, and we made a jacket and two caps with them. Me and their Creative Director bonded, funnily enough his name is also Mark but with a K. We started going to these fairs and he heard about my fascination with Yu-Gi-Oh, and the rest is history. So that [Yu-Gi-Oh collaboration] was a big milestone for us and it was the first time we worked with such a big company.

We’ve seen FINE CHAOS take a huge leap in the Asian market, particularly in Korea and Japan. Do you think there is a specific reason why you think these markets appear to be doing well? Especially considering the vast differences between the two countries, politically but also the difference in personal style

By having beautiful people who really believe in your brand from an early point, so a huge shoutout to Opener, that store in Seoul opened so many doors for us. Because it is such a well respected store, they have a certain niche, they don’t care about norms but they care a lot about good clothes. But also very expressive clothing. That niche in Seoul, they are just wilder than the niche we have in Copenhagen. The wealth in Korea has really helped us. But that specific store has helped us in many ways, with Kpop stylists and others going there to do their shopping, and suddenly our clothes are now worn by Kpop stars. It has happened so many times now, and now we’re selling in other stores, in stores that are a bit more bold in their selection, and who support new talents. I mean, we don’t have the biggest track record to show from a B2C standpoint, but they can see that our stuff just works. If you compare Seoul to Copenhagen [sizewise] , naturally the niche is also bigger there you know.

So that’s pretty much how things started, my fiancé lived in South Korea for four months, and that is how we sort of got in contact with Opener. At that point, we didn’t have our stuff in any of the stores in East Asia, and I was going to give it my all to get a meeting whilst I was there. I messaged a lot of stores, both on email, Twitter, Instagram together with Ludvig. But I think he can give me the credit for the Opener deal, I was sort of the one who established the connection. I knew I was going there, so it made sense.

What’s your research process like? Where do you look to gather inspiration (aside from anime)? Do you watch films, travel, or read books? What inspires you and your creative work?

We write a manuscript for every collection which is 30-pages long, and it’s an ongoing story that has been going on for like four seasons now. Those stories are a reflection of the everyday [lives] and the political landscape. But also about what’s going on in the world [in general]. We also get inspiration from people we talk to, so it becomes this full-circle thing. I think that’s just where the main inspiration comes from, life in general. Again, it sounds very cliché but we as a brand, really dare caring about political issues and more “brave” topics that other Scandi-brands don’t want to touch. We present them in a way where it’s not directly saying, for example, our SS25 collection was called ‘FEAR THE DOME: WAR’ and that was when the whole Palestine-Israel conflict was being brought up, alongside Ukraine and Russia.

We incorporated that in our storytelling with us reflecting on social hierarchies in war and sometimes how the opposites can’t find the beauty in each other, but instead, they try to eliminate each other. It’s not very human, but it’s humans that create these issues. So that is what we do, we try to reflect on these topics in our artwork, our prints. From that storytelling that we do from the manuscript, we try to take all these keywords from the manuscript and do research on how we can interpret this in a graphic way, what kind of silhouettes and more.

The last collection, Post Mort3m, we looked into a lot of club references. I watched Blade again, which is one of the most legendary films in my opinion. The colours from that film are amazing, and we actually used that colour-scheme for a lot of the prints that are in the collection. So yeah, it’s a summary of a lot of things, but it can also be small things. I remember watching Demon Slayer, the silhouettes, the clothes, the robes and all those things they wore and used. That flow of fabric, even though it’s not real, I want that to be real. There’s a character with tattooed circles on his face, those circles are a symbol of whenever he stole something in the village. So whenever he stole something, they would add another circle to his face. So that’s where we got that reference from (which one?). In our story, FINE CHAOS is the evil company that controls society and everything. We wanted to include that in some of our artwork as well, not as a print, but more as shapes.

You’re quite outspoken about social injustices, politics and more on your social media platforms, which can also be reflected in your design language, which has a very rebellious aesthetic to it. As we’re quite privileged to live in Scandinavia, do you feel like more people within the industry need to enhance the voices that are screaming for change? Even through fashion?

Yea I think so, just because the fashion medium can be that [voice]. I understand that some designers just want to live the simple life of making beautiful things, but I also feel like in a world where there’s so much clothing, it sort of needs more purposes than just being beautiful. If our clothes can make people dream about something, or talk about something important. I think that’s a lot more important than a beautiful t-shirt or something.

You’ve previously mentioned that you watch, and I quote: “a shit ton of anime”, for your inspiration when it comes to your designs. Do you have any specific manga artists and or anime/mangas/characters that specifically come to mind where you consistently seek inspiration from?

I am very inspired by Gachiakuta, the artstyle, the story and the absurdity of it. I love that a lot. I used to love the concept of ‘Tower of God’, the concept is amazing where you have to go through multiple floors in order to achieve “God status”. I like that because it’s a reflection of life itself, and that was a very fresh take on anime as well.

Who are some of the key inspirations in your life, in terms of design, and life in general?

Music in general [insert artist name here] is amazing, he’s joined in so many sessions so it almost feels as if he’s playing for me. I really love his music, because it stimulates weird thinking, I can’t really grasp why, but I think it’s because it’s the level of layers with different instruments and such that sort of categorises electronic music. It’s very inspiring.

I loved Dante back in the day, it used to be a big reference as well. Basquiat is also something that is everywhere in my house, books, notebooks, even replicas of his notebooks when he was alive, those kinds of things. I love that. His rawness, his honesty in an industry that isn’t honest, it’s super inspiring. I think those are the major ones.

I have a fascination with uniforms that have developed lately, not just the functionality of them, but the shapes, there are so many small weird shapes in uniforms. I was playing Counter-Strike two days ago and I was looking at the skins as well. It doesn’t make much sense, you have small round pockets everywhere, some of them are sharp and I am like, what kind of objects can you store in them? A knife, a lighter, or what is it for?

But I am also probably very biased because of the research we did for the last collection, and it also had somewhat similar shapes. But we looked more into the “exclusive” armywear, like [high-ranking] officers and more. That has nothing to do with artists in general, but that really inspired me.

FINE CHAOS is very open to different types of collaborations, ranging from Yu-Gi-Oh to Cengiz Güdücü. What drove you to pursue collaborations, especially at such an early stage of the brand. Do you have any dream collaborators in the future?

Nike, it’s the brand that first came to mind. I used to collect Nike shoes, and so did my dad, he still collects Nike Shox. A Fine Chaos x Nike Shox would probably be my dream. Another dream would be to work with Raf Simons on something, I don’t care what it is, but just something. Raf has something that I’d call the “Virgil Syndrome”, he used to do so many small projects. Ranging from small sketches, he made a chair, and industrial design before fashion. There are just so many projects where he had a small influence on. When he joined Prada, I was like, of course he joined Prada. He just loves to do small things.

My sister is a model, fun fact, about me or well, FINE CHAOS in general, my dad and my sister always walks our shows. My dad was the older guy who was wearing the “I am DJ” shirt. The closing look is my sister.

The brand was founded in 2021, is that correct, could you tell us more about the beginning of the story?

Well, the brand was officially founded in 2021 but moulded before that, I made the painting in 2019. It wasn’t a company at that point. I made samples because I knew what I wanted to create, I was just not 100% sure on how it’d look like. For example, the first FINE CHAOS logo was made with the font ‘I hate comic sans’. The reason why I chose that was because I wanted to choose something that everyone hates and change it into something that people [will] like. But that was too hard of a mission so I got bored of the idea. The name FINE CHAOS used to have an exclamation point because I love things that scream. But it was fun because it was lower-caps.

So that is why everything is in caps right now?

Exactly, you are 100% correct. We have this funny MF DOOM reference going on when someone doesn’t spell the name with all caps, saying you know; “when you spell my name, spell it in all caps”, haha! But I cannot actually make the logo from scratch anymore, the reason why is because I made it when I was at Han Kjøbenhavn, it was like 5 AM on a Saturday and one of the co-founders went to the office, and he went out, and he came back and he was like “what the fuck, are you still at the office, should I bring you a burger?”. I was like yea, sure, and he brought me a burger and then I was like, I don’t want to do whatever I was doing at the time. So I decided to work a little on FINE CHAOS, and you know, saying that at 5 AM is kind of crazy. But I started working on the logo, I was tired of the logo at the time, so I took ‘FC’ and then used a liquify tool on Photoshop, I then chose how random I wanted the liquify effect to be, so I chose 100%. Which means I could never ever get shadow behind the ‘FC’ ever again, I cannot recreate that.

There’s a Photoshop document, with like, I am not fucking kidding, 1000 versions of that shadow and my cooked brain couldn’t tell the difference. The first logo actually had a full circle around it, but then the idea was, it sounds very cliché yet again, but break the circles, become this platform for things to happen. That later goes out of the circle, the first cut was 45 degrees, and then we changed it into 36 [degrees] I think, I didn’t want it to be perfect.

So it’s asymmetrical to piss people off? Exactly, people don’t really care.

What was it like to create the brand during the peak of COVID-19 with lockdown and such, did you only do things online through Discord in order to create your community?

No, we did the complete opposite. We knew we were going to have a tight-event strategy, to help us create the community around the brand. Then as you know, COVID just went on and on, and it never gave us the opportunity to host events. So in the end, we were like, fuck it, we’ve got to do it either way. If the police show up, then we’ll just explain our way out of it. So yea, I don’t think we sold that much the first year, it was very tough, and we could just see our investments plummet. We don’t have a rich investor in the background giving us money when we need it, all the owners are around 22-29 and we all put our own money into it. By the way, we’re six owners, and we’re all way different.

But yeah, we did one event and it went super well. I remember that we were super, super stoked about making 30 000 DKK. We were like, fuck yeah, we’re going to make it now. But in reality, you get nowhere with 25-30 000 nowadays, and produced a whole collection but it was so hard to sell the first one. You have to convince people that it is worth the money, you know. And the prices have to be low enough for it to be an easy entry. It was a challenge, but we’re still here, and as Ludvig’s dad said, he’s amazed that we haven’t gone bankrupt yet, haha.

The Fine Chaos Spring/Summer 26 show took place at Bella Center which is the regular CIFF venue. As soon as you walked through the ever so beautiful entrance which, during CIFF’s 65 iteration, had scattered poppy flowers, a red fountain in the middle and orchestral music being played in the surrounding speakers. But the day before the show, as I walked through the entrance for my first day at the event, something caught my eye to the right. A trade show booth unlike anything I’ve previously seen.

August 6th, the second day of the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair three-day event, is an event I previously used to attend for different purposes. This time around, I wanted to scout brands to write about for the Codex, and I am so glad I went.

As I prepared myself for my trip from Sweden to Copenhagen, I brought my notepad, a charger, my phone, keys, and wallet. As I arrived at Bella Center after the hour-long journey, I walked around the fair as I normally do, and got in touch with a few brands that I had previously mapped out as interesting. But nothing piqued my interest as much as the booth that had dismembered mannequins, huge anarchistic messages, and overall a fairly dark aesthetic.

Having spent a good part of the afternoon walking around and networking, it was time for me to leave Bella Center for this time. I had no plans on going back the following day, but upon leaving, I wanted to actually see what the brand that I previously had seen was all about. I met Ludvig, a co-owner of the brand. He had his back turned against me, wearing a black tank-top, most likely from the Fine Chaos brand, black baggy cargo trousers, and his hair with bleached highlights were impossible to miss. He sat down by his laptop as is normal during fashion fairs whilst I looked at some of the clothes and some of the props that they had put up. Eventually I walked up to him and we chatted for roughly five minutes.

Ludvig, from my brief encounter, seems like one of the most joyous people I’ve ever met at CIFF. He had a very calm demeanor and it felt like we had known each other for years whilst we spoke.I had a lot of thoughts, and probably even more questions, most of them about the concept of Fine Chaos, and what they represented. He asked me if I was going to attend CIFF the next day, which wasn’t on my agenda prior to him asking. The reason he asked me was because he wanted to invite me to their show the following day. He told me that it’s better to experience it rather than him telling me what the brand is about. Later that night I attended a small party at SOHO House where I met him again. He remembered my name which is quite nice considering how many people you meet in this industry.

The next day, my legs were cramping, I was slightly hungover but I still decided to travel to Copenhagen and CIFF to see the show. It was one of the best decisions that I’ve made in recent memory.

As I had a press pass, I managed to get into the venue and wait inside Bella Center rather than standing outside in the growing queue, catching a glimpse of some of the preparations that were still ongoing before the crowd and queue that was gathering outside could come in. It was quite fascinating to see how people ran around, put things in place, did a few last minute checks and tests. The area was somewhat secluded by a 175 CM tall wall or so. There were devil nets and other semi-eerie things scattered, with a girl sitting inside of a stick house, adding to the cult-like feeling. The entrance to get into the show was filled with graffiti messages and logos, with a devil net on top whilst the rest was draped in black blankets.

A neon sign with ‘ENTRANCE’ in red, had been placed above the small doorway that had been covered in curtains, which felt like walking through a cave. There was also a person sitting inside the small entrance tunnel. The person didn’t greet you or acknowledge you looking at them, they just stared at you, which added to the already eerie atmosphere.

I had almost forgotten about the Jägermeister shots they were handing out as people gathered in line whilst the speakers were playing out a message I couldn’t really grasp, although it did echo something along the lines of “Fine Chaos is…”.

As I walked to my spot where I could get a good angle of the models walking down the runway, and where I later could see them walk up and down a set of stairs that belongs to the venue, I noticed a few interesting details.

There was an enclosed pot of flowers in the middle of the cross-shaped runway, a holographic cross was being displayed on the wall by a projector, dirt was placed around the LED light cables that shaped the cross, two see-through plastic “coffins” had been made with dirt around them, making it look like the caskets had been dug out of the ground.

The two caskets were later filled with two guys dressed in all black with hoods as they posed like they had been buried, with their hands placed on their chests. I later found out from a person who has worked with Fine Chaos for a few seasons that those were the DJ’s and they were about to have a “DJ battle”, which they partook in roughly five minutes later.

As the DJ’s rose from their “graves” that were placed on the right and left arms of the cross, they walked past each other and into the two DJ booths, decorated with sticks, that faced each other on the long end of the cross. As they took their positions, loud music with an initial drum solo was being played from the speakers. We had reached full attendance at the show and there was an exciting moment of anticipation as techno music started playing.

The first model came down the aforementioned set of stairs, dressed in a purple hoodie, a black cap, white and brown camo trousers with a large white belt tied around them, whilst wearing some type of tabi boots. They walked aggressively around the cross-shaped runway, walking up and down, and side to side. I was mesmerised, and from the miniscule research I had done whilst hungover a few hours before, the brand really lived up to its own image.

21 looks in total, featuring plenty of Yu-Gi-Oh inspired details in print and accessories, jackets and trousers that fit the brand’s rave-culture, skirts and shirts that somehow did not feel out of place with the theme of the collection, and lastly a long beautiful dress as the last model walked down the stairs, the music switched to something more serene as she walked a lot slower than the previous models. Was it because the dress was harder to walk in, or was it to encapsulate the end of the show but also something more “holy grail”-esque that fit the rest of the show.

As the models did one final lap around the cross together, the team behind Fine Chaos emerged as the models got back up, a huge round of applause and big cheers came from the crowd whilst the music was still playing. It felt more like a victory lap if anything, celebrating a successful and interesting show.

Ludvig certainly was right, he had told me that it was better to experience it rather than him giving me a few sentences, because some things cannot be described with words.

You’ve previously mentioned that you’ve been obsessed with fashion throughout your whole life. How did that obsession come about, and how did it go from an obsession of “I love clothes” to “I want to design and make clothes”?

Not being able to find clothes that represented me so I kind of taught myself how to sew clothes at quite a young age and it grew from there, and by like middle school/high school I kinda figured out that that’s what I wanted to do with my career. And so after that, after school I studied university and then I went on to intern at a few other brands and now I am here just doing my own brand.

Were your parents supportive of this, as it’s such an odd career choice? And are they also in the industry?

Yeah, no they are not in the industry. But they’ve always been supportive of creative industries, like arts, music, and that sort of thing. So they didn’t really have any problems with me choosing a creative field, and they were always pretty supportive, and they still are.

Did you pursue any other creative endeavours?

Throughout school and earlier stuff, I did art, a lot of photography and digital manipulation work mostly. But also a bit of sculpture, but after school that kind of phased out and I turned to focus primarily on fashion.

Who were the key inspirations in your life?

Well, the first designer I interned for was in Brisbane, so she’s an Australian designer called Gail Sorronda. I actually still work for her part-time and she’s been quite a big inspiration to me… She was the first person to show me the inside of the fashion industry, and being able to work on major shows with her for Australian Fashion Week. So I’d probably say she’s the main one.

What is your worldview/worldbuilding like? What world or storytelling does your brand create?

I mostly look at historical figures and concepts, and I look a lot at religion. A lot of my work has been based on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. I’ve done collections for Inferno, Purgatorio, which is my latest one, and eventually I’ll do one for Paradiso. So that has been the concept for the last five years or so. A general basis for my work is kind of middle ages themed.

I went through your collection on your site again yesterday, and there were product names such as ‘cleaver’ and so on, which felt very medieval-themed. But also the photoshoot that you posted with the swords and the chainmail. What made you pursue that specific type of inspiration, especially because it is quite niche, and especially with people who don’t know much about you, would say it’s very similar to Rick Owens? Is that something that you’re emulating, is he a designer that you look at and get inspired by, or do you create your own stuff and say “hey, this is me, this is my work”?

Yeah I am definitely inspired by Rick and some of his work, but not so much directly. Maybe more so in the beginning when I was more so getting into fashion, I was influenced by things. But I actually tend to avoid exposure to current fashion collections, and social media. So that I can have more individual ideas that just come to me, instead of being subconsciously influenced by trends and things like that.

I actually love that, because you will look at something and say “hey that’s cool” and then a few months later, you will wonder “where did I get this idea from?” and it just turns out that you “stole it” from someone.

Yeah, I used to live in Berlin and the vibe that’s there definitely translated to my designs [whilst I was] there. But now since I moved back to Australia, I live in quite an isolated area, and I don’t have that exposure to current fashion as much. My ideas are coming in a lot more solidified.

You have lived in Berlin and worked there, was that for a different brand or yours? I worked for two brands there and I tried to do my own stuff on the side. But they expect a lot of time over there, and I found it really difficult to juggle and by the time I got to the end of staying there. I just thought I would prefer to focus my time and energy on my own brand instead.

If I understand things correctly, you also worked in Paris?

No, so I did a collection whilst I was in Berlin for Paris Fashion Week, for a designer called Gerrit Jacob.

Have you changed your identity after that? As you mentioned before, when you are in Berlin you are influenced by the people, the culture and the German brands all the same. So I am assuming that you have completely changed your style and you are not as heavily influenced from the work you did there previously?

Yea definitely, the style I wouldn’t say has completely changed, but it has definitely narrowed down. My personal style has come through a lot more than it did previously and I can kind of interweave it through all the concepts.

Touching on Berlin and Paris, for those who are unfamiliar with the Australian fashion scene. What are the biggest differences between the European fashion scene and the one in Australia?

I would say two things mainly, the weather and we’re on the opposite schedule. The summers here are really hot and we don’t really have much of a winter, at least where I am located. So I feel that kind of limits the scene translating from Australia to Europe, because it’s missing this whole chunk of seasons, like winter time. I would also say colour, people here are very attracted to bright colours and patterns, and that’s a lot of the mainstream fashion scene. And I think that’s at least a lot less prominent in Europe, at least from what I’ve seen.

Speaking of that, how has it been to have your own style, with gothicism, in a country that is very warm, and where the majority is wearing shorts and shirts all the time? How has that been, not fitting the mainstream category? But also working with a design language that might not be too popular in Australia?

Yea definitely, it means that I have to factor in a lot of natural fibres and breathable fabrics, so that my clothes are actually wearable here. Despite them (her garments) looking quite heavy, using mostly cottons and natural fibres makes them a lot more breathable in the summer. You definitely notice it with orders where things go in the world, a lot of the lighter pieces tend to sell in Australia whereas the more heavy ones are going overseas.

You define the brand as having a dark palette that is heavily adorned with gothic overtones: tell me about what gothicism means to you. Has this worldview always been steady or has it evolved over time?

I’ve always been kind of attracted to gothic and dark things for as long as I can remember so I think it has just naturally evolved from there. Like [I am] always seeking out natural locations such as cemeteries and admiring the architecture. I feel like there’s something really special about it, like the old cathedral buildings. So I think that has really informed the style over a long time.

Berlin fashion week is starting to regain its former spark – Are you still connected with the Berlin fashion scene, and if yes, is there a possibility that you’d like to move back/show there in the future?

The Berlin fashion scene is heavy on individualism and innovation, which was inspiring to be around. I had a lot of great experiences working in Berlin, making lasting relationships and gaining a plethora of industry knowledge. Although that was accompanied by others that took advantage, which I guess can be expected in such a competitive and creative city. It was certainly unpleasant to deal with at the time, but it taught me what I value and how to handle industry relationships. Whilst Berlin was great for the time, at this point a business base there would not be sustainable, and I am very much enjoying running the brand from Australia. Being away from the city and being much more secluded from outside influence has really fostered my creativity and refined my design language, which I prefer for the moment. Although anything can change and I would not close off the possibility of moving back to Europe or elsewhere.

Your brand also does custom designs. How is it for a designer with such a strong vision to work with a customer’s ideas?

Yeah I don’t do a lot of that, it’s mostly things for when I work with artists, my partner is a stylist and we’ve worked with a few musical artists, and we’ve done a few custom pieces for them. So there’s not really that kind of pushback, we just create the options and we can then style them after. But I offer commission pieces, similar to what I do, or if I do one-off styles, like I do with a lot of the leather pieces. I can kind of do a lot of custom options to mirror what has previously been available. It definitely has to be in the same realm, or something based on another piece [of hers] or customised to suit someone. But definitely a similar vibe.

When it comes to balancing your artistic vision with the commercial side of fashion, how do you make sure you stay true to your ideas without feeling pressured to play it safe?

I definitely feel like my designs can sometimes be perceived as a bit too bold, especially for the Australian market. But the way I see it, it’s not gonna stop me from doing it [my way], regardless if the style doesn’t necessarily sell. I still want to produce some type of document that the style is part of the collection, and also be able to factor in pairing it with those pared-back and easier to work with pieces as well.

I’ve seen that you’ve used kangaroo leather, what’s that like to work with as it’s not a common material to use in Europe.

It’s my favourite leather to work with, I love working with it, I source it from a local place. So I specifically ask for the scuffed up and scarred pieces because they have a lot of character, and they really show the individual characteristics of the animal. So I love being able to use that in the design as well, and it makes individual pieces every time. Being able to do those ‘one off’ ones. It can be difficult to sew at first, but you get used to it and I use a mixture of machine and hand sewing with my leather pieces.

Is it thicker?

It can be as thick as cow leather but not as thin as goat leather. But it’s definitely tough to work with.

Are there any other leathers or fabrics that you can only get in Australia that you prefer to work with?

I’ve really been focusing on using kangaroo leather in the last few years, because it is kind of a niche thing in the country as well, and it’s nice to be able to represent that. I’ve previously used cow leather, goat skin, I always use deadstock too. I often find that they come with those strange characteristics in them as well, and ostrich leather is another favourite of mine. But it is quite hard to source. It’s got so many different characteristics and changes throughout the leather. It’s very thick as well and quite difficult to work with but I think the result is super unique. I actually got my skins from my grandparents as they used to have an ostrich farm in rural Australia. It would have been 25 years ago or something, and several years ago my grandma gave me a bunch of black ostrich skins and so that became my material to work with for a while.

How would you tell fashion students and enthusiasts to learn more about fashion? What should they be looking for?

I’d say, definitely get as much work experience firsthand because what you learn from uni is not always what happens in the industry. I feel like just getting proper industry experience outside of unity taught me a lot more than what I got from those practical classes.

When did you move to Germany? 

It would have been in 2023…

So you were roughly 21-22? 

About that I think, haha!

But you’ve had your brand since 2020, so you were roughly 20 years of age when you started your brand right?

My first collection I did was in 2020 and I was living in London actually at the time when I was studying over there for a period, and it was during Covid so I was in lockdown for about six months. So I was doing my collection alongside my uni online, which wasn’t really fulfilling me. So yeah, that was my first collection. I was designing for a while prior to that.

Did you learn anything during lockdown in London?

I really didn’t enjoy the online classes, I thought it really hindered me and I wasn’t learning a lot. So I think I got a lot more out of the practical experience of me just doing my own thing, and making mistakes whilst being able to teach myself more during that period.

We haven’t spoken to many designers who studied during lockdown, so I want to know what it was like to study fashion during it. Fashion is one of those things that is easier to study when you have a teacher next to you, telling you what to do, so I am assuming you didn’t attend any classes and just did stuff at home?

Yea I did about 50% of the semester in person and the rest was at home, maybe a bit less in person. But yea, it was definitely tough having to navigate through videos and zoom calls. It kind of led me to create my own way of doing things that aren’t probably necessarily right but just works for me.

I was going to ask about that, I bet that gives you a little bit more individuality in comparison to having a teacher telling you “this is what I’ve learnt throughout my life, and that’s what I am going to teach you”?

So in that kind of aspect I didn’t mind more of that freedom because it meant that I was kind of less dictated on, or swayed in a way that teachers would do.

You previously mentioned that you were inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, and that you’ve based two collections of his work (Inferno and Purgatorio), what other inspirations have you had for the other three collections?

So I’ve kind of looked into a lot of medieval references outside of that, catholicism, quite heavily into nuns, and priests. So everything along those lines has been the general inspiration for all of my collections I would say. And kind of looking into the works of middle-age era artists like Gustave Doré, as more visual references.

How do you conduct your research? Since a lot of it requires reading and sometimes even visiting places.

The visual stuff comes from visiting galleries and architecture, I actually take reference photos myself. I don’t love to do a whole lot of online research unless it’s for artworks or specific things. Or like clothing references for what people wore back in that time period.