The garment, made by Danish designer Peter Jensen, is a patchwork of wigs of the same short, textured matronly cut. I can’t help but picture a face behind it — and even invent a story. She’s a moneyed lady, no doubt. Blazing red lipstick and wire-rimmed glasses. Her hairpieces change with mood and time. Some have dark-ash roots. Some are tinged with gray (maybe a wig she wore later in life.) “I think that’s one of the stories that’s happening, right?” Peter says. “You’re thinking, would she be wearing this in the summer? Maybe it’s more autumn.”

This is one of the many head-turning pieces from the designer’s presentation in Copenhagen, where he unveiled his new brand, Yours Truly — after more than 27 years of living and working abroad. There were larger-than-life tulle gowns; there were prairie-style smock dresses made from fabrics he’d salvaged while driving through a small, rundown town in the U.S. There were trench coats adorned with ponytails, and tea towels cast into frocks worn underneath the aforementioned hair capelet.

“I grew up, more or less, spending half my time with my grandmother, and she had all these ladies who would come over to play cards and gossip and smoke cigarettes,” Peter says. “There was always one lady, she had a wig, and it would always sit slightly off. But I always really liked her. So I always liked the idea of wigs — they’re just so weird.” Exactly right. They are weird — but that’s just the whimsy and delightfulness of Peter’s design sensibility.

The most brilliant factor of the presentation was not just the garments, but the unique cast of models wearing them, too. “I wanted all the ladies to be over 50,” says the designer. It’s fitting for a collection centered around championing individuality and strength (Peter was inspired by 17th-century portraits of powerful women). Something else he really wanted? Working with creatives he actually wants to work with — talents like photographer Annie Collinge, artist Julie Verhoeven, and stylist Jacob K.

You see, the designer is no stranger to this business. In 1999, he started his eponymous label in London, regularly showing at London Fashion Week. Each inspired by a different muse — some of fashion’s most left field, according to Vogue reviews from the early aughts — his collections were laced with humor and quirkiness. In 2018, he left London and turned to academia, taking on the position of chair and professor at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia. Now that he’s starting a new chapter in his homeland with Yours Truly,” he’s determined to do things just a little differently. Here, he shares more about his decades-long career and his new brand. 

This interview has been edited for style, flow, and clarity.

I would love to hear more about this collection — walk me through it. 

The thing about this is something more like a project. It’s an idea of a project, of something that comes later on, next season. So, this is the starting point. It then develops into something more, if that makes sense. The important thing for me was that I could work with people that I really wanted to work with. I worked with Annie Collinge, artist Julie Verhoeven, and stylist Jacob K.

Let’s talk about the capelet; where did you source the wigs? 

There was my favorite antique store called Highland Row in Atlanta, and they sort of got them for me. They found this lady, and it was like an estate sale. And you know, it was all her leftover wigs from whenever — I don’t know.  

That’s such a unique piece — a one-off, for sure. How long did it take to make?

Oh, it took forever. 

And this trench coat? 

It’s just the idea of a Burberry mac (or a Mackintosh raincoat), which is an iconic piece of anything to do with England. I lived in England for so long, and my husband is English. Also, my former training was embroidery. I went to an embroidery boarding school when I was very young. 

An embroidery boarding school? 

Yeah, it’s over in Jutland. I was the only boy amongst 89 girls. It’s specifically for embroidery — you’re only there for six months, so it’s not long. It’s a great school. It still exists, and the work they do is just phenomenal. 

And again, the theme of the hair is just reoccurring [in the trenchcoat], but underneath is my hand embroidery. They’re all hand embroidered, like black dots. So, there’s like small secrets. But it’s a cape. They’re capes. 

What about this voluminous dress? 

This big monster right here. It’s unfinished. You can see it here — it has all of the writing from the pattern cutter. So, she writes on the pattern, and then it goes on to the machine. But for me, it was just important to include this — to celebrate these women who do all these behind-the-scenes work. And then I thought, [let’s do] an evening gown where you have all these secrets inside.

Beautiful. Walk me through some other pieces in the collection.

There’s an artist’s smock. I love artist smocks. I think they’re great. I love the idea of painters — that they would wear these to protect their suits and clothes underneath, but then the personality of them would come out on these smocks, because they would do everything with them. You know, it’s like a tool. It’s like a carpenter having a hammer. 

Then there’s this opera cape. We were at the theater, and there was this beautiful, beautiful woman outside, and she was, I would say, in her mid 70s, but she had beautiful gray hair, and she was wearing blue jeans and a gray jumper, and then she was wearing a cape on top of that. She just looked so perfect. And I just really like that look. 

And then this one … the fabric is — and you would know this — is Trader Joe’s tea towel. 

Oh, Trader Joe’s! 

That’s where I grocery shop every day — I love that store. On top, I wanted the contrast of something which is labor intensive. This is for ice skating, you know, on their costumes — something that’s a bit more glamorous on top of something that’s so labor intensive. 

Only you’d put together ice-skating and Trader Joe’s in one garment … 

[Peter laughs]. 

I feel like your inspiration comes from so many different places … 

I know — it’s terrible. 

Is there an overarching theme for this collection — something that ties it all together for you, even if it’s abstract?

Well, I think it has to be abstract because I think it’s more to do with me. To me, everything makes sense, and I know that it doesn’t for a lot of people. 

Speaking of you and your brand, how do you feel you’ve evolved with this collection, and how is this different from what you’ve done before?

This one [came about] — and I’m sure that’s happened to a lot of people — during the pandemic, truthfully. I just needed to do something with my hands. And it just came naturally to do something, you know, again, creatively, after I’ve gone away from it. And I just wanted to be a collaboration and take my time doing what I want to do. Really. 

You also had a long career in academia. Do you still teach? 

Yes, I do. That’s what I do in Atlanta. I’m the chair of a program. But I’ve always loved doing that, because I think it keeps you in touch with youth, first of all, and it keeps you in touch with what’s happening and where everything is going. I think the more interesting part of it is that you can really see how people develop. You know, people who came out of college in 2005 are not the same as the ones [graduating] now. So it really has developed.

Having taught so many students, and having been in the industry yourself for as long as you have been, what’s like the biggest thing you’ve learned? What’s a piece of advice you’d give to an emerging designer? 

I think my latest one is — take your time. 

That’s a good one. 

People are in such a hurry, trying to please everybody. You know, I have these students, they come to my office and they are very upset. I say, “Look, your time will come. Trust me. You’ve got great talent. You’re somebody that people will [notice]. It might not be right now, but it will happen. You just need to take your time.” People are so eager, and they’re so pure when they graduate — they don’t know.