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Sweden // Fashion designer
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Talk with Maxjenny Forslund
"My clothes should fit a body – their wines should fit a palate."
She grew up with Petrus, Château d'Yquem and Mouton Rothschild and has designed clothes for the Swedish Crown Princess and Madonna. Fashion designer Maxjenny Forslund shares her time between Stockholm and Copenhagen, always looking for the good things in life on the few occasions she is free.
As accurate as she is in her design, she is equally accurate in her choice of wine. She sees many similarities in the creative process of making clothes and wine – you work with different parameters for a harmonious and long-lasting result.
We managed to catch her for a chat about wine styles, creativity, snobbery and the importance of being stubborn.
What sparked your interest in wine?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
My mum's husband had built up a big wine cellar with stuff like Petrus, Château d'Yquem, Sassicaia, Mouton Rothschild… These are the wines I grew up with. He is extremely knowledgeable, so I learnt a lot. Not that I drank – I was in my early teens – but I got to smell, and I thought it was super exciting. Especially how he told me about them, that they smelled like “horse arse” and forest floor. But to be honest, those are not the wines I drink today. Serving me a well-aged Mouton Rothschild is like throwing pearls to pigs!
So what do you prefer to have in your glass?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
I’m not much of a red wine drinker, although I can appreciate a thick, full-bodied wine, preferably with an ounce of natural sweetness. Barolo is also exciting, but it's not the kind of wine I like to botanize. I'm more into whites, Grauburgunder (German pinot gris) and Crémant – slightly “porny” wines, if you can sa that… In Copenhagen we drink more Crémant than in Sweden. It's much freer here and I appreciate the wide variety of wine styles available (Sweden has an alcohol monopoly, author's note). I prefer elegant, mineral-driven wines – though also a thick Chardonnay, that makes your jaw tingle and where you have lots of layers and complexity. I simply drink what’s fun and enjoyable! The other day I had a great wine from Romania.
I simply drink what’s fun and enjoyable!
Where can you get what you want?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
– Copenhagen has many good wine bars and shops. One of my favourites is Rosforth & Rosforth under Knippelsbro. You used to be able to just walk in and get a little tipsy… I hang out a lot at Vesterbro where you have Enghave Plats 9; it's so relaxed.
I divide my time between Stockholm and Copenhagen, and I have to say that in Stockholm it's become such a hipster thing with natural wine. Copenhagen is more relaxed. But I do like natural wine, as long as it’s not primarily funky.
You were a furniture designer before training as a fashion designer in 2018, focusing on prints and accent pieces that complement and stand out. Your career got off to a good start when Crown Princess Victoria wore your clothes and then Madonna. How did that happen?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
– I was still at design school and had made a big wardrobe that ended up in Femina magazine – it was like the whispering game, you know how a story travels. Madonna noticed them and parts of the collection were used in the video "Sorry".
Creativity is a big part of being a designer. Do you see any similarities between your creation and the wines you enjoy?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
– Absolutely. It's about being creative in your field, being imaginative with what you have. I have white fabrics, they have grapes. Winemaking is a process that should result in something harmonious in the glass. You work with time, soil and fruit. I use time, fabrics, shape and colour. My clothes should fit a body – their wines should fit a palate. So yes – if you want to put it in a nutshell, we work within the same range.
That's very interesting. You are absolutely right that all creativity is based on using what you have. Material and human working together as a team. How do you view the creative process?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
– I don't work with fast fashion, not with collections. My clothes are slow in time and I am responsive and adapt to the clientele and the weather.
My clothes should fit a body – their wines should fit a palate.
We get into the comparison with natural wines again, where the idea is that the wine should reflect the grape and place as faithfully as possible. This assumes that the winemaker knows what he is doing, and can adapt to the path the wine takes.
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
– Funky wines, which are as strange as possible, have become fashionable. To me, it's like a dressmaker who doesn't know what he’s doing; someone who thinks all women are six feet tall and size 36. That is not the reality. It's a shame that this mischief has entered the natural wine world, because some wines can be really, really good. It's the "fast movers" who make a mess of things. My experience is that natural wines used to be more stable, but nobody says anything. I recognise this also in my world – if a famous designer makes something that is not good, nobody dares to say anything. It's a bit like the story of the Emperor's new clothes.
I have to come back to your wine upbringing, because it fascinates me. You started at the top, with Petrus and company. But today you appreciate other wines?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
– For me, I think the air has gone out of wines that cost €700 a bottle. I do still like what is traditional, but more small places, quirky neighbourhoods and people coming from below. Like wines coming from Lanzarote and Sicily – where you have the Viola brothers, for example. There are so many conventions in the wine world, and I'm drawn to those who try to break through – maybe because I'm a bit like that myself.
I'm drawn to those who try to break through.
When you travel, do you have a favourite place from a wine perspective?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
– When I travel outside of work, I don't want to waste my time, I want to go where there is good food and wine. And I like to be surprised, so I have to say Istanbul. It has a hundred per cent touch of Paris, but is nicer and more creative. And affordable. Turkish wines are actually really good. I'm not really a fan of Turkish food, but Ottoman cuisine, on the other hand... it's a much more sophisticated. One of my favourites in Istanbul is Nicole.
If you were to describe your clothes as wine, what would they be?
MAXJENNY FORSLUND
– Super Tuscans! I've read about them, and drunk a lot, and feel a kinship with them. They dared to break traditions, conventions and appellation systems and mix in new, international grapes. They were open, innovative and modern. But when they started, they were not looked upon favourably... but shame on those who give up. Now these wines are welcome in the Bolgheri DOC. I also dare to be innovative because I first trained as a furniture designer. I feel a bit like them. In the beginning, nobody knew me in Stockholm, which gave me an advantage. At home, we talk a lot about wine, and we often come back to André Ostertag. He was a bit of an underdog, as far as I have understood (André introduced barriques for white Pinot production in Alsace, an innovation that was met with various levels of resistance from the wine authorities, author's note). We are all rebels in our fields. For better or worse, you have to dare.
I'm drawn to those who try to break through.
Article - Lena Särnholm
A journalist since her teens, she started out as a news reporter and ended up at the equestrian magazine Ridsport, where she worked as an editor for more than 20 years. Then her interest in wine took over. Lena Särnholm studied as a sommelier at the Swedish Restaurant Academy and works as a freelancer in wine and equestrian sports. She writes mainly for the wine culture magazine Törst, Star Wine List and In Vino, and works part-time in a wine bar in Stockholm to keep up to date. She has also worked eight full harvests, mainly in Loire. She’s the Swedish ambassador for PIWI International.
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