The Truth About Building Your Own Fashion Brand | S1E4: Christian Juul Nielsen

Welcome back to the Fashion Host Podcast! Today, top models Vlada Roslyakova and Ines Crnokrak are joined by Christian Juul Nielsen, the visionary designer behind AKNVAS and former creative director at Hervé Léger. Christian reveals what it takes to climb the ladder in high fashion, sharing incredible stories of showing up uninvited to Christian Lacroix’s office for an internship and working on Haute Couture under John Galliano and Raf Simons at Dior. He breaks down the harsh realities—and massive financial risks—of launching your own brand, dealing with production disasters, and why designing clothes for real women’s bodies is the ultimate challenge. 00:00 - Intro: Meet AKNVAS founder Christian Juul Nielsen 02:00 - The leap of faith: Why he started his own advanced contemporary brand 04:52 - The harsh reality of production, factories, and building a fashion team 08:38 - The meaning behind the brand name “AKNVAS” 11:42 - Moving to Paris and the crazy story of landing an internship at Dior 15:35 - Inside the Dior Atelier under John Galliano: The magic of Haute Couture 18:59 - The dramatic shift at Dior when Raf Simons took over 22:23 - Where a creative director finds inspiration for a new collection 25:22 - Moving to New York to work for Oscar de la Renta 27:57 - Designing pants for real women: Why fit and elastic matter 30:27 - Dealing with customer feedback, returns, and cat hair 33:02 - The surreal feeling of seeing strangers wear his clothes on the street 36:02 - Business