Founder & Designer
Spending most of my summers on a picturesque little island called Bohus-Malmön.
I remember finally getting my dad to buy me my first pair of Levis 501 and trying to replicate one of the super cool Levis ads based in our tiny little boat house.
The blue water, rocks and rustique red painted boat house provided the perfect back drop to my home made Levis ad.
I loved my 501s so much and when they wore down I patched them up with Snoopy patches and all kinds of other inventive ways. I loved the way they faded and I loved how they would just keep getting better with age. Unlike any other fabric i know, denim just keeps getting better with age and its flaws just add to its story. Soon I had a waiting list of friends who would come to me with their torn jeans for me to repair and make cool with my Disney patches and inventive ways of stitching them together.
Then Diesel came to town and with their uber cool movie adverts, shops and Diesel parties, they introduced me to a whole different world of denim.
It was a life style, not just a pair of jeans. There was just no turning back at that point for a 16 year old me, I wanted to be them, and live that life style...
I moved to Paris to study a business degree. My dream was to study design but since I'm rubbish at drawing I didn´t think I could ever get into any of the prestigious fashion design schools. All my ideas are in my head. I find it very difficult to put them down on paper. So I got on with my business studies... But mostly I hung out with fashion people, modelled a little and learned about how fashion and fashion styling works.
After I finished my studies i moved to London and totally fell in love with how accepting londoners were of of all ethniticities and cultures. It inspired me and brought out all my creative vibes for sure. I started working as a stylist and when my clients asked me to make them the same, customised skirts I was wearing, I jumped at the chance! I wanted to preserve the story and beautiful faded denim fabric in each pair of jeans i was either donated or bought on ebay or charity shops. And with the ever growing problem of sustainability in the fashion industry, I wanted to do my part in saving our beautiful planet.
If you would like to contact me please send an email to miki@studioina.net
/Mikaela Bornling
