Postcard

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

As we in the Northern part of Europe return to everyday life I find myself wishing to be Southern European where holidays with lazy days and late lunches are still on the agenda. Mostly because I really enjoy writing and creating from home with my daughters around me. I come from a talkative family, and I have always preferred to do my own thing with life around me. Luckily I have been working so long with my colleagues that they are almost family too. We are a small team handling everything out of our studio on Værnedamsvej with a close knit group of tailors all working out of Copenhagen, so everything is personal and handled with care. Just how I like it.

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

It’s been very busy days at La Bagatelle lately. There is always a lot to do before the holidays, but this year a little something extra has been cooking. You might already have heard about it, I have launched a swimwear label called Bellini Bikini together with print designer Amanda Borberg. It’s the perfect classic triangle bikini and the swimsuit is genius. I love life by the sea, so it made sense for me to do it. The quality is impeccable, the cut is great and the prints and colours are just lovely. So I have packed my Bellini Bikini swimwear along with my La Bagatelle clothes for the summer holidays. As well as new arrivals in this Postcard, I have made a list of my summer essentials. I hope you will enjoy your summer.

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

As busy and festive days are coming to an end with the month of June, I am looking forward to a different pace in July. At La Bagatelle we’re always open online and the Studio is open every Wednesday and some Saturdays throughout July. So I will still be on, however, I can’t wait for alarm clocks no longer to be relevant. I am heading to my new country home in the North of Zealand, and I am very excited about our first summer there. I will decorate the house and make it a home. Other than that, I will be swimming, cooking, reading, seeing friends and family, having naps, reading books and drinking just a little (a lot) wine. Enjoy your summer, whereever you are. And if you come to Copenhagen, pop by the Studio. 

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

I believe Værnedamsvej is one of the most special streets in Copenhagen, and I couldn’t believe our luck when we moved into one of its famous little houses in December last year. It is filled with picturesque shops and eateries of a very high standard that makes popping in and out of them a pure pleasure. Here are a few of my current favourites where I get my sandwich, coffee and books. If you are in Copenhagen for 3 days of design be sure to visit our exhibition. We are open from 11am to 6pm Wednesday the 7th through to Friday the 9th of June.

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

The late author Joan Didion is not only one of the best writers ever to have lived, she was also terribly chic, fiercely intelligent and had a very interesting life. I have recently rediscovered her writing and where I read everything she had written a decade ago, I have now listened to it via audio books, it makes it really easy to get through a lot of text at some speed. She mastered the art of making great thinking on complex issues accessible and highly relevant. I am immensely inspired by her at the moment, so we decided to do a small Postcard in her honour. 

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

One of the many reasons why La Bagatelle came about, was that I stumbled across a few tiny rolls of Japanese and Chinese vintage cotton, made in private homes on small weaves close to a hundred years ago. They were so charming I couldn’t resist buying them not knowing what to use them for, but fully aware that they had to come home with me. For a long time they were lying the daybed in my office, till it became apparent that they had to be turned into little precious jackets. And thus the first Ida Jackets came about. Later I have introduced the Beate Jacket that is slightly slimmer in the fit. However, both are made from rolls of vintage Chinese cotton like the first rolls that I initially discovered. No two rolls are alike. They all have different patterns and colours so each jacket is a “one of a kind” – there is just enough fabric for one jacket. And that makes each and every one of them ever so special. I get equally excited every time I find a roll, hoping it won’t be the last but never knowing for certain. I don’t buy all the rolls I find – only the very best ones. Just as it should be for La Bagatelle.

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

I love it when people excell at what they do. Recently I met a man who is a master at toning linseed oil to any colour you might desire. Rarely have I met anyone who understands colours like he does. He told me how warm tones in a room with warm light feels harmonious to the soul. He also spoke of the vibrations of colour, and how he had experienced that people who had lost their eyesight could still “feel” colour and sense its vibrations. He told me, that he wasn’t certain whether it was scientifically proven, but that he had experienced it himself with clients. I would love it to be true. And I am certain that my life has had more meaning since I started wearing clothes hand died in natural colour such as is the case with the La Bagatelle shirts, skirts and dresses in handwoven Indian cotton. Colours matter, the wrong ones can ruin an experience. But the right colours can add a spiritual touch to the every day.

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

I love working with those near and dear to me. I like the community feel, but I also know how excellent my friends are at what they do, and that they will give it their all when working with me. Emmanuel Martini is the perfect example. He is married to one of my closest friends and I am very lucky to now call him my friend too. Emmanuel is a parfumer with great taste, and thus it was both natural and fun to develop on the world of La Bagatelle in scents with him. Our latest scented candle is inspired by his childhood years growing up in the Caribbean. Something I felt was perfect for setting the mood for my summer nights. I dream of open fireplaces and open windows at night and the scent of La Bagatelle dancing through the air. There is more about Emmanuel in this Postcard and please meet our new scented candle called “The library” launching today.

This Postcard is also dedicated to something else that I love which is stripes. By chance I stumbled across a few rolls of striped Indian handwoven cotton early last summer in London. The feel of the fabric and the colours in particular were so very appealing. What is special about Indian fabric in general is the charm of irregularities, the hand feel and the wonderful and quite sophisticated sense of colour. When the colours are combined in stribes it is as if magic happens. Colour combinations that let you dream of warmer and easier days come woven into the fabric. There is usually very little of each fabric, so everything we do with them be it shirts or skirts is very limited indeed. 

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

For me New Year’s Eve never felt like the beginning of something new, something fresh. The 1st of January has always left me with a feeling of Winter gone old. However, Easter and the holiday that comes with it is an entirely different story. It is a new chapter, a new beginning. A time of year when I am very inspired, and I get so grateful for and excited about the return of the light and all the opportunities that it holds.

As usual I will be going to France. For as much as I am constantly seeing out new talents, adventures, crafts, books – anything really, I also have a profound need for and love of traditions. I often joke that Easter in France with the whole family is my absolute favourite week of the year. Jokes aside, there is a lot of truth to it. This year I have done a sting of new pieces all with the Easter Holidays in mind. All items I can’t wait to wear in beautiful colours that suit the flowers I can’t help but fill my home and the La Bagatelle Studio with. Pieces that are great if the sun shines, but equally perfect with a jacket for a grey day – and with a shawl and a book in my bag.

I hope you have a wonderful time, wherever you are.

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

One of the lovely things about doing La Bagatelle is meeting our brilliant clients. One of them is Cathy Nordström. A stunning Swede with impeccable taste who has a beautiful space in Stockholm where she shows her own line of textiles and wallpaper all of which is produced by skilled artisans in Sweden. We share a love of fabrics, colours, craftsmanship and both, it seems, try to perfect the art of having a good life. When she visited La Bagatelle last autumn we got the idea of doing a Pop Up together. And now it is happening. 

I will be flying to Stockholm next week and we will host the Pop Up on Thursday the 23rd of March. If you are in or around Stockholm please pop by, and you’re very welcome to bring a friend.
When I worked at Elle Magazine I spent quite a lot of time in Stockholm and doing Cover also brought me back time and again. But I haven’t been for a while, so I can’t wait for it all. I will be collecting all the insiders' tips I can get hold on and do my own guide to Stockholm in a later postcard.

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

They are one of my favourite couples because they have shown that it is possible to meet profound and life changing love later in life. I knew both Camilla Larsson and Henrik Bülow years before they knew each other. Today it is inspiring to be around them, because they manage to make the other one lighter and deeper at the same time. Henrik is a renouned fashion photographer and Camilla is a stunning stylist, so when they offered to shoot a few of Camilla’s favourite La Bagatelle pieces on their holiday I leaped at the chance. The destination was the epic and historic hotel The Oriental in Bangkok where the stylish Danish author Suzanne Brøgger hung out when she was young, and where my oldest daughter learnt how to swim many years ago. In other words it is a wonderful old world kind of place full of stories that make it hard to leave. I hope you enjoy the little string of images they sent home.

For more than half a year I have collected just enough vintage rolls of striped cotton as well as a few checkered ones with just enough fabric for one jacket. All become super soft with wear. I have collected them in other to do a small edit of them for Ida and Beate Jackets and they are all online as of now. It is such a thrill for me to discover just the right roll of fabric and seeing it turn into a very special jacket.  

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Dear friend of La Bagatelle,

I’ve changed my mind. I have to admit it. Late Autumn last year I wrote a La Bagatelle Postcard and a column in the newspaper Børsen Pleasure about how I had pretty much stopped wearing black. How it no longer interested me. However, the moment it was published, the only thing I felt like wearing was black. I laughed at how childish I was being, that I always want to break the rules, even the ones I make myself. But none the less, that was how I felt. 
Through the past few years it isn’t as if I haven’t worn black at all, but I have found myself drawn more to all the colours that I adore and that are a big part of La Bagatelle. But during the winter months I have had lots of days in all black or at least with black in the mix. 
        So on the occasion of Copenhagen Fashion Week we are introducing “The Gray Collection” inspired by Eileen Gray, the Irish architect and furniture designer, who was a pioneer in the world of modern furniture and aesthetics. It will be a constant part of the world of La Bagatelle from now, on so it will be possible to find pieces for the dark days as well.

In December I spent quite a few hours putting together the massive bookself in my new office space. During that process I glanced in the many magazines I have done over the years. One of them featured the home of Eileen Gray E-1027 (the second last issue of Cover). Another one was of a shoot for my magazine The Horse Rider’s Journal at The Royal Cast Collection, and then there were numerous images of my dear friend the filmmager and write Emma Rosenzweig from when she was a cool kid who modelled. As those images were stirring in my mind, my mother gave me her old and very beautiful hexagon shaped Baume & Mercier watch. Naturally it was black. Combined all these factors made me dream of showing a more reflected version of Emma – the intellectual, strong and poetic side of her (and La Bagatelle) in the largely monocrome palette of Eileen Gray. Another dear friend, the photographer Philip Messmann, wasn’t hard to persuade and The Royal Cast Collection were kind enough to open their doors. I so hope you will like The Gray Collection – this permanent new addition to La Bagatelle.  

Lots of love,
Malene Malling

Emma is wearing Bendix Shirt, cotton lawn white and Lilli Pants, Ashes black French linen.