Stretched across the waterfront near one of the most well-trodden tourist paths in the city, there’s Amaliehaven — a petite park anchored by a fountain spewing tall plumes of water. Compared to the centuries-old architecture that surrounds it, Amaliehaven is merely 41 years old, and it feels like somewhat of a modern surprise — a verdant space that prioritizes order and geometry over opulent romance. 

As soon as I turn left past the central fountain, the garden reveals itself: elegant olive trees, red-berried shrubs, meticulously clipped box hedges, hydrangeas that puff out like cotton candy. Every which way I turn, there’s a different spray of color and greenery growing splendidly and harmoniously with its neighbors. With park benches for seating, the runway for Lovechild 1979’s spring-summer show weaves through these beautiful, well-groomed displays. 

A sand-hued, layered look opens the show: a timeless jacket thrown over a vest and finished off with side-fringed pants. Next comes a tan shirtdress, polished enough for a day at the office or a casual weekend brunch. These first few looks are a distillation of what expressive minimalism truly represents — pared-back dressing infused with just the right amount of personality. 

Updating Workwear

Long before minimalism became a trend, Lovechild 1979 made sophisticated understatement its raison d’être. The label was founded in 2009 by Anne-Dorthe Larsen, who put her own spin on Scandinavian minimalism with classic, menswear-inspired designs executed in rich fabrics. Since then, Lovechild 1979 has been breathing new life into even the most basic closet essentials, dreaming up timeless wardrobe heroes that transcend any particular style. 

This season, Lovechild 1979 zeroed in on a specific point of transition in our daily lives — walking the route between home and office and back home again. “For us, the location and setting are a perfect example of showcasing that transition,” design manager Hanne Yoo Andersenne told Odalisque Magazine. “We work very closely with the creative studio Alpine, which has been in charge of the creative direction for the show. Amaliehaven is right next to their office and was newly restored. It somehow seemed like an obvious opportunity to utilize an open green space that still had an urban feel to it.”

in living color

Every season, when bringing its concept to life, the brand pays homage to a different creative in other disciplines. Last season, it was designer Mohammad Qasim Iqbal’s AI-generated structures that informed the collection’s body-swathing silhouettes and voluminous wools; the season before that, it was American photographer Irving Penn. Back in February of last year, when I attended my first Lovechild 1979 show, Severin Hansen — a mid-century modern furniture designer — was the muse for the collection, which focused heavily on proportions. 

This time around, it’s German-born American sculptor Eva Hesse. Within her short life, Eva produced works that, decades on, are still considered strongly influential to the post-minimal art movement of the 1960s. Her pieces are known for their ephemerality. Many of her installations and constructions have transformed in the years after her passing. For example, since its creation, the creamy, almost off-white hue of Expanded Expansion has taken on the sepia tone of an aging photograph. Others have degraded, disintegrated, and changed appearance with time. (In fact, preserving Eva’s work is still a subject of study.) 

This palette is carried out through several looks. We see gorgeous whites, the color of vanilla ice cream, which are then warmed up to a golden wheat hue. A tea-stained brown shows up once or twice, giving way to blacks with the occasional green pulled from the landscape. The quiet and subtle richness of these tones, combined with textural fabrics, results in a mix of familiarity and newness that’s hard to achieve. 

Texture on the Move

Speaking of texture, this was perhaps the defining characteristic of Eva’s work, which burst with sculptural and textural complexity. She dipped fiberglass cords into buckets of latex and suspended them from the hooks of clothing hangers. She covered wood with a layer of papier mâché, and hung cotton ropes vertically at increasing intervals. In some pieces, she exercised order and control. In others, she allowed chaos to rule — manipulating such fabrics as rubber, plaster, cheesecloth, and latex into large-scale installations that draped, dangled, looped, and tangled onto itself.  “Just as [Eva] journeys from material, this is where our inspiration begins, and our garments take form,” the brand’s press release reads. 

Pulling visual cues from Eva’s work, Lovechild 1979’s play with textural fabrics is a masterclass in optical tactility. An oatmeal-colored denim shirt jacket is pricked and tufted to create dimension. Translucent, nearly weightless cloth is rendered into an easy slip (and layered over equally breezy pants). A tiered dress makes excellent use of plissé fabric, creating the kind of lightweight, loose-fitting number anyone would reach for on a hot summer day.

Throughout, we see sheer tencel, linen blends, supple leather, cotton silk, and a textile called “Naia acetate,” created from pine and eucalyptus wood. We also see a few open-work knitwear pieces, like an ankle-grazing dress and a chunky cardigan. Also noteworthy: the accessories, which lend the collection even more Eva-Hesse-esque texture and offer a clearer look into the design team’s vision. Take, for example, the coffee-colored belts. Thick strips of knotted leather dangle like one of Eva’s installations. Slouchy handbags feature fringe, knots, and ropes. “Inspired by her box works and preoccupation with grids, we incorporate structured elements, enhancing the sculptural form of the collection,” the press release reads.

You can always count on Lovechild 1979 to present polished and principled garments with an edge, and this season is no different. “The blurred boundaries and minimalism of [the collection] aim to meet the demands of contemporary work-life balance,” the press release reads. From raw to refined, loose to structured, and masculine to feminine, these are the tried-and-true, expressively minimalist pieces anyone would be happy to sport between home and the office — and really, anywhere beyond.