Cowgirls of Copenhagen: La Bagatelle Launches Japanese Selvedge Jeans

La Bagatelle’s Malene Malling landed on a winning formula for her denim launch. On a sunny, blue-sky day during Copenhagen Fashion Week, she assembled hay bales and ponies (a pair of them, Egon and Frede) outside of her dreamy shop, dressed fetching models in her latest collection, and offered libations. “I just wanted it to be super cute,” the designer says. “I wanted it to feel like you’re in the countryside, but you’re in the middle of Copenhagen—I kind of tried to do my own mini ranch. And also I love a touch of humor, and if you see a tiny horse, you can’t help but smile.” (It’s true.)

Malling, a publishing veteran and, yes, a clotheshorse, launched La Bagatelle in 2021. “There’s been so much talk of the Scandinavian girl. I wanted [the label] to be the Scandinavian girl who grew up and traveled quite a bit and was interested in arts and crafts and wanted to buy something and keep it forever instead of throwing it out after a season,” she says. So Malling, who definitely has an editor’s eye, decided to focus on a limited number of styles—wardrobe staples like a ruffled blouse, pull-on velvet pants, and a stand-collar jacket.

These she makes from fabrics she discovers and sources from all over the world. Malling might have only enough vintage ikat fabric to make two jackets, c’est tout. Silhouettes don’t change, the textiles they’re made of do, and that brings a constant sense of newness and exclusivity. “Coming from magazines, where you are always reflecting on what everyone else is doing and everyone else’s processes and what’s going on in society—for once, I just wanted to do something that was deeply personal,” the designer said in 2024. “It wasn’t like I wanted to do a brand; I wanted to do something that felt really good and really true.”

La Bagatelle’s Jimmy jeans, four-year wash. They’re “how the dark one will look if your wear it for four years,” says Malling.

La Bagatelle’s Jimmy jeans, four-year wash. They’re “how the dark one will look if your wear it for four years,” says Malling.

La Bagatelle’s Jimmy jeans, four-year wash. They’re “how the dark one will look if your wear it for four years,” says Malling.

There’s nothing more true blue than jeans, the fulcrum of the modern wardrobe for billions of people across the globe. La Bagatelle’s first pairs, priced at about $595 for the dark blue and $650 for the lighter pair, are made in Japan using a Japanese selvedge denim with a firm hand that will soften with wear. “You can work in them, you can wear them to pieces; they only get better when they’re worn, which is basically the idea with everything that I do except for the velvet,” says Malling.

Jeans have been an obsession for Malling since a young age: “My mom allowed me to buy so many jeans ever since I was little, so basically I’ve worn everything. Growing up in Oxford, it was vintage Levi’s. I’ve worn Frame and I’ve worn Celine. Within the past few years I’ve just been buying everything that I thought was kind of interesting and then finding out what I liked and what I didn’t like.” And so Malling developed a fit that’s slim and “kind of men’s tailored, because that way it’s sexier,” she notes. “I didn’t want to do pretty; I wanted to do strong and sexy.”

La Bagatelle’s Jimmy jeans. “I’m a big believer in going for your dreams. The world doesn’t owe you anything; however, if you’re lucky enough to be given a chance, you should grab it and run with it. I was given a chance with Jimmy Duus, the art director who started working with me on my magazines more than a decade ago,” says Malling. “So when I very early on whispered that my dream was to one day do denim, he listened. And he kept reminding me of the dream, because, like me, Jimmy loves denim. So credit where credit is due: The launch of La Bagatelle’s first pair of denim, Lot: 01, was always meant to be called Jimmy jeans.”