Janson

Stephan (1957). French designer. He works in Italy. His shows have always had the atmosphere of an out-of-the-moment event, fantastic and mundane. He creates designs without following trends, but reelaborating the seasonal themes in a new and original fashion and sometimes even against the mainstream. Born in France, Janson’s neighbor in Paris is Yves Saint-Laurent, in Rue Spontini. Although he has never met him in person, he visits his atelier, observing, chatting with his premières, and watching the rehearsals. He is fascinated by couture. Some basic elements of his fashion were probably inspired by Laurent: the oblique cut, the frills falling down in a certain way, his love for geometric patterns. In Paris he studied at Saint Roch’s School of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. He then worked for some French clothing brands and, for some time, for Kenzo. In 1980 he moved to New York, invited by Diane Fürstenberg, who entrusted him with the direction of all the licenses of her clothing line and, later, of her couture Collection. Janson retained the memory of the taste for comfortable and practical clothes from this experience, which always plays down his highly tailored Collections. In 1986 he opened his own atelier in Milan and, in 1988, he creates his distribution company, Apolide. He collaborates, as style consultant, with some Italian clothing companies. In 1998 he was hired to design Pucci’s Collections, which turned out to be a short experience.
&Quad;2003, July. The designer creates a women’s larger sizes line for Marzotto, which he calls Stephan.