Leonneke, talk us through your background and what led you to starting the brand LĒO? 

LĒO is a Belgium-based brand that was established in 2016. The original LĒO team met in Paris, while gaining experience at fashion houses like Balenciaga and Carven. This period was the base on which our ideas were born, as we got in touch and ultimately became part of a new generation of young brands in Paris.

LĒO saw the light out of a necessity to do things different. The way fashion is created aesthetically but also how we wanted to work on a human level. We couldn't find this in any of the places we had worked and from there the idea for the brand was born.

After 2 years we moved our studio back to the centre of Europe (Brussels, Belgium). This was a natural outcome of the need to fully dedicate ourselves to the brand and focus on the quality of our product, which is produced exclusively in Europe

Now in 2022, the team has evolved and at the head of the brand you find myself, Leonneke Derksen (Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium).

If you had to sum up the brand LĒO in three words, what would those be?

Daring, forward, empowering.

How did the collaboration process start with Dickies, what drew you to working with them initially? How does Dickies as a brand connect and align with the LĒO ethos?

When Dickies proposed a collaboration with us we instantly got excited. We often draw inspiration from nostalgic references and to us Dickies is a brand that always brings back memories from a specific period in time.

Please talk us through your inspirations behind this collaboration with Dickies.

We wanted to start from what Dickies was to us, how we got to know it in the 90's and 2000's because that was an exciting time. Dickies had shed their workwear shell and found more and more ground in pop, rock and skate culture.

We thought of the iconic pieces from back then and decided that the Big Daddy* was an absolute classic that we wanted to rework. We loved the idea of making the decorative logo patch that was placed on the back pocket functional and that became the continuous theme of the collaboration collection.

*Dickies ‘Big Daddy’ is a 90s deadstock baggy fit jean, featuring the Dickies logo embroidered on the back pocket in a bold, italic font.

Pieces:

Lēo X Dickies Jacket - Our take on a classic Dickies workwear jacket in the famous polycotton fabric, that can be worn belted with a recognisable embroidery patch used as closing. Available in black and sand.

Lēo X Dickies Dress - One of the first dresses made for a Dickies collection ever, polycotton with overall details. Available in black.

Lēo X Dickies Skirt - One of LĒO’s classics, the asymmetric wrap skirt with personalised logo embroidery patch used as closing. Available in sand.

Lēo X Dickies Pant - Our interpretation on the classic Dickies workwear pants, elevated to a high-waisted model that can be belted and has also the embroidery patch on the back flap where the original placement of the patch was on the nostalgic Big Daddy model which served as a big inspiration for the collection. Available in black and sand.

Lēo X Dickies Bubble Top - The bubble top is the hero piece of the collection. It is the fancy version of the popcorn t-shirt that is synonymous with the era in which Dickies became popular to us as teens, for their skater looks and rock star wearers (like Avril Lavigne!). The popcorn t-shirt was never claimed by any brand at the time, but to us it is almost as if it could or should have been Dickies. We twisted it even more by adding a special LĒO print that initially came from photographs of scraps of tie-dye tests we have done.

Your most recent FW21 collection was full of bold prints and dual-purpose apparel, designed with adjustable details for customisable fits. Did these features influence your collection with Dickies at all?

That is a very nice way of explaining that collection, thanks! We actually kept the Dickies collaboration separate from what we normally do because it was fun to do something else for a change, but also because we wanted to respect the long heritage of the brand and work with that - with a fat layer of LĒO sauce on top of course!

What’s next for LĒO? Are there any more exciting projects coming up on the horizon? 

Yes, many! There are more collaborations that will come out this year, which combine our love for art and jewellery. We also have the new AW22 collection launching soon which we are very excited about, introducing many new accessories like bags and shoes. But mostly we are excited now for the Dickies collaboration to hit the stores and see people wearing it!

If you had to pick your favourite piece from the Dickies x LĒO collection, what would it be?

We love them all of course but the dress is very special to us. It might be the very first real Dickies dress ever!

We felt extremely flattered that Dickies asked us specifically for their very first womenswear collaboration. From that perspective we started wondering what the term ''womenswear'' collection still means to us today and we had to conclude that no dress should only be worn by women but by anybody who feels like wearing a dress.

Check out the whole Dickies x LĒO collection here