Like a good playlist, Mfpen’s latest collection evokes emotions that exist almost outside of time. Though there are hesitant dabs of light blue and pale yellow, the clothes are mostly rendered in a palette of moody grays and blacks that hardly scream “spring.” Ditto for materials like pinstripe (these are tropical weight).
Because Mfpen uses only deadstock fabric, textile and color choice are somewhat limited, but this is also a choice on the part of designer Sigurd Bank. Look more closely and you’ll see that a rib-hugging rocker-meets-grandad cardigan is made of a mesh knit; you’ll spy a sliver of midriff above a pair of flat-front slim legged women’s trousers, and notice a cheerful white floral fabric used for shirting. There’s also a necklace that, when closed in front, reveals two sides of a heart broken down the middle.
This collection is not a meditation on melancholy; rather Bank, with blue eyes sparkling, explained that he put aside hardcore music for a moment to listen to the late-’90s post-punk he first heard as a teenager in Jutland (in the North of Denmark) in the early aughts. The designer’s been drawn to the underlying gentleness in the music, which put him in a mood “reminiscent of teenage romance and just also how teenage romance always brings teenage heartbreak in a way.” Love is somewhat interchangeable with youth here, as Bank was focused on the in-betweenness that defines the threshold of maturity.
“There’s this tension between yo.
