In The Frame

A pair of fashion insiders is making denim downright glamorous

- Eric Wilson

Perched at their usual spot in the lobby of The Mercer hotel in New York’s SoHo, Jens Grede and Erik Torstensson look like attractive bookends. The precise fit of their faux-worn-out jeans, Grede’s slim T-shirt, and Torstensson’s frayed chambray shirt mark them as fashion insiders, obviously successful ones given that both are wearing Patek Philippe watches.

Fast friends since they met nearly 20 years ago while breaking into the London publishing scene, the two Swedes have gone on to devise some of the most talked about fashion endeavors of the past decade (they brought Justin Bieber to Calvin Klein, helped H&M introduce its COS concept, and launched the men’s site Mr. Porter). They’ve also started two magazines devoted to the beau monde and founded their own denim label, called Frame, five years ago. Their business is seduction, and their designs are catnip to an obsessive fan club that includes virtually every successful model today: Karlie Kloss, Lara Stone, and catwalk veteran Sasha Pivovarova, who appears in the shoot for this piece, among them.

The allure is simple.

“Erik and I love good looking things,” Grede says.

“We don’t make things that are not flattering.”