Wear your Values
Founded in 2015, luxury womenswear brand Jakke is the brainchild of East London-based designer and Creative Director Nina Hopkins.
Jakke is a brand with a truly global origin story, the designer's influences emanating from her Welsh father's love of conceptual art and her Nigerian mother's love of vintage. A worldwide perspective accentuated by her love of Scandinavian design, which reveals itself through the name that she chose to represent her brand, Jakke being the Danish word for jacket. It's an appreciation that's underpinned by an ethical intentionality which manifests itself in a wholly cruelty-free ethos.
For A/W23, Nina took as her primary inspiration the 1996 cult movie "The Associate", which mined the same territory as other corporate dramas of the era, such as "Wall Street", and which featured the power dressing that defined the genre and that generation. In the movie, the central character Laurel Ayres, played majestically by Whoopi Goldberg, finds herself a woman of colour navigating a white man's world with all the inherent prejudices that brings with it. To circumvent this institutional racism and sexism, Laurel founds her own business and creates a fictional male to manage her financial affairs. Like many of that glass-ceiling challenging generation, Laurel dresses herself in the workplace armour of the power suit.
All images: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Re-imagining that iconic 90s aesthetic for 2023 Creative Director Nina Hopkins A/W 23 collection incorporates her signature outerwear with a more elevated aesthetic, one which also sees the designer expanding into RTW. This latest iteration of outerwear, which is synonymous with the brand, sees oversized faux fur coats with a masculine edge, vegan leather jackets, while this season also sees the introduction of faux wool tailored coats.
With A/W23, Nina Hopkin explores a more muted colour palette, with grey, chocolate and burgundy accompanying Jakke's signature playful prints and bold colours. The most divine button-front shirts feature while skirts in both midi and mini length are cinched at the waist to give a sensual silhouette. Sheer knitted tops also appear, which while emulating nakedness, are designed to be worn as a layered piece and send the unequivocal message that a woman’s body is her own and not to be ignored.
A/W 23 also sees the designer build on last season's expansion into accessories bringing us the most delicious faux fur bucket hats, faux fur mittens and obsession-inducing oversized faux fur scarves. Alongside these, Nina introduces two new bags to accompany the uber-popular Betha, a cross-body bum bag named the Carrie and the Greta, a twisted handle grab bag. Future icon pieces are named after fashion icons who rose to prominence in the 90s and who have retained that distinction.
The Jakke mantra is "wear your values" and with her A/W 23 collection Nina Hopkins continues to gift us the most stunning of garments underpinned by a genuine commitment to the environmental empathy which is at the core of both her personal and professional values.
You can find out more about Jakke here website jakke | Fashion brand with a conscience – Jakke
and on IG @jakkeldn
Many thanks to Anna and Natalie at AB Comms for all their help.
Show Credits:
Styling: Georgia Medley
Styling Assistants - Bridget Knowles, Coline Agold, Nathalie Owen
Photographer: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Hair: Claire Grech
Make-up: Jane Richardson
Production: Antony Waller
Set Dressing: Max Randall
Shoes: Vagabond
Glasses: Safilo
Tights: UK Tights
Underwear: Commando
