NANNA PAUSE:
THE ART OF DOUBLE FACE
BY AMY LAROCCA
Northern Sicily where Nanna Pause’s coats are handmade. Credit: Gudrun Bargmann for Nanna Pause
The German-born Paris-based designer Nanna Pause first encountered double-face fabric on a beautiful 60’s reversible tweed coat that was handed down to her by her mother and that she wore relentlessly through her teenage years and beyond, until it was threadbare.
At that time she thought she might have a career in journalism or in diplomacy, but under the influence of an inspiring mentor a change of heart came about and she took off to study fashion design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp instead.
Pause’s career since then has touched on many aspects of the fashion industry: she is trained as a tailor, she has designed complete ready-to-wear collections, as a trend forecaster she has given input for R&D and PR alike, but all the while she has sourced and developed textiles and other materials.
She has lived in Belgium, Hong Kong, Germany and Italy before settling in Paris and was employed by Jil Sander, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.
Her long career, her “360 degree fashion exploration,” as she describes it, ultimately led to the decision to step forward and create her own line.
The just-right blend of experience and expertise, affinity and serendipity informed her concept: It was a chance encounter with an expert artisan, specializing in the manufacturing of double face, which rekindled the love for this particular type of material and the artisanal know-how inseparably linked with it and placed it at the core of the brand.
The intention in Nanna Pause’s small and focused collection of jackets and coats is that the pieces become “beloved companions,” built to last and evolve.
Double-face fabric has double the warps and wefts of normal fabric and is constructed in two layers intimately linked with each other. Along each seam and edge the layers are first separated, then a sequence of 4-8 different manipulations by hand, again - along each seam and edge, is necessary to mount these garments—which is up to 7 times more than in a common product.
Many of Nanna Pause’s styles are reversible, all are incredibly luxurious and come in the most timeless colors and patterns. She introduces one or two new silhouettes a year while the preceding ones remain available for order.
She uses only top end limited edition fabrics, and because of the length of time required to make each item, and the highly customizable offer, Nanna Pause can only produce so many pieces each season. That one of her creations should one day inspire a younger generation seems inevitable.
