“JAY3LLE represents Blue’s and my combined energy,” says Johan Lindeberg of the new direct-to-consumer brand and creative project, which focuses on hero 'item' pieces
Swedish fashion heavyweight Johan Lindeberg has long been teasing a new brand. At last, JAY3LLE (pronounced Jay-Elle) has arrived. Conceived with his daughter, Blue Lindeberg, the brand has launched with a single item: a simple ballet flat, an abstract monogram stitched onto the toe. It comes in both black and white. “Going item by item allows us to give 100 per cent of our love to each piece,” says Blue. “Personally, I was just tired of big collections, and seasons,” adds Johan, noting that to him, big, themed collections no longer make sense. “I’ve been fighting for my ideas all these years. Now Blue gave me the support and new confidence to stand up for what I believe in.”
Why is the ballet flat dubbed Item 2? “Item 1” – a piece that will feel quintessentially Lindeberg – wasn’t quite ready. “We’re only producing and putting out pieces that we truly love, only when they feel exactly right,” says Blue. “It’s liberating to work so fluidly and organically, so personally and with such focus on singular items. It’s honest and real in that way.” Each piece is sold direct-to-consumer, via the brand’s website, not unlike the wildly successful DTC strategy launched by Phoebe Philo earlier this year (she’s since taken on a single retailer, Bergdorf Goodman).
For Johan, JAY3LLE is a case of “connecting all the dots” – a culmination of a career that brought him from Diesel in the 1990s (where he served as Marketing Director and then CEO) to founding J. Lindeberg to founding BLK DNM. Throughout his career, he’s ping-ponged between Stockholm and New York, building a varied creative community. Now, joining forces with Blue, JAY3LLE harnesses a network that spans generations (the first press images for the brand were shot by Blue’s dear friend Gray Sorrenti. The ‘Wild’ posters, which recently popped up around the streets of New York, were shot by Johan himself). “JAY3LLE represents Blue’s and my combined energy,” says Johan.
Through this project we are able to reclaim our name and put a project behind it that feels so genuine and honestly a beautiful mixture of my father’s past brands and my sense of New York community and love of psychology.
Blue Lindeberg
When Johan first floated the idea of the brand two years ago, Blue never foresaw herself taking on such a significant role. A clinical psychology student and sometimes-model living in New York, she already had a full plate. But she found, ultimately, that she “couldn’t keep away”. “Through this project we are able to reclaim our name and put a project behind it that feels so genuine and honestly a beautiful mixture of my father’s past brands and my sense of New York community and love of psychology,” she says.
Photo: Courtesy of Jay3lle
Photo: Courtesy of Jay3lle
The brand’s very first item, the ballet flats, are plucked from Blue’s childhood. “I remember when I was young my father would always take a nail file to my ‘too pretty’ ballet flats and scuff them up,” she says. “I always felt like the coolest girl in school with my scuffed up ballet flats.” Though JAY3LLE’s iteration of the classic early aughts shoe come in pristine leather, they beg to be worn with abandon, distressed as one runs around New York or Stockholm. As Blue puts it, they’re meant to be “danced in”.
While Johan never pressured his daughter to get involved in JAY3LLE, his sense of pride and gratitude in building this project together is palpable. “Blue is her own person. She has integrity and strength. She has always been my best friend. She has such an inspiring energy,” he says. “She makes me smile.”