FASHION

Love Story

Johan Lindeberg left his corporately owned and creatively unsatisfying eponymous label in 2007 knowing that his next line would have a generic name, but be deeply personal. “I realized over the years that that’s when...


Johan Lindeberg left his corporately owned and creatively unsatisfying eponymous label in 2007 knowing that his next line would have a generic name, but be deeply personal. “I realized over the years that that’s when I do the best work,” he says. As such, his months-old sportswear label BLK DNM has become a mirror unto his life: the biker jackets, loose T-shirts, and pleated trousers that comprise the menswear are designed in Lindeberg’s own image; the women’s silk blouses and slim high-waisted jeans are inspired by the females who surround him; and the film he created in collaboration with Danish director Martin de Thurah to present his debut collection took the breakdown of his 14-year marriage to his wife Marcella as its starting point.

Lindeberg’s subsequent obsession with a younger woman is the subject of Film 2, which was directed as well by de Thurah and premiered last night at BLK DNM’s temporary shop in NoLIta. Simultaneously poetic and unsettling, it documents model Raina Hamner as she makes her way through the city, a narrator methodically noting her every move.

All this honestly might make some men uncomfortable, but as Lindeberg sees it, it’s not only good for his psyche, but also right for the world today. “2011 has been an emotional year, and we need a new brand based on new values,” he says. “All I can do is be myself, and let people decide if they like it or not.”

BLK DNM’s Film 2