JANE JASPER of LAND’S END STORE
Jane Jasper is the owner and founder of Land’s End, the Sydney store that all the girls in the know lust after. Stocking Proenza Schouler , Balmain, Dion Lee, Rochas,Roland Mouret, Ohne Titel, Chinti & Parker and a brand new Australian exclusive , it’s the kind of place that always has the things you want. For me this store is a dangerously exciting liaison, one whose traces are covered carefully , hidden in cupboards and denied until I’m blue in the face. “You’ve been to Jane’s shop?” – says my boyfriend sizing up my new purchase on a night out. “What , this old thing ? I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Except it’s very hard to pretend it’s old when it’s so amazing all your friends comment ! Jane herself is a dear friend of mine , the kind of woman who is whip smart and wickedly witty yet unabashedly sexy and feminine. I asked her a few questions.
Tanja Gacic: When did you first become interested in fashion?
Jane Jasper: From birth! I have never worked in another industry so it’s kind of all I know.
TG: How did Land’s End come to be?
JJ: I had always worked between magazines and retail, and while I always loved retail, I thought of it more as a part time thing while I was studying and assisting. When I finally got my dream job at Vogue, I missed retail. So I decided to make it more fulfilling, to do my own thing so I could get more involved in the creative side as well as the floor.
TG: You are the buyer as well as the owner, which means you get the fun parts as well as the hard ones. What other things does your job entail? What is your favourite part?
JJ:I love selling and chatting to my clients, they are all pretty smart stylish women so that part is fun for me. I love also going away and buying, finding fabulous things for the store. I think business is all about doing what you are good at and delegating what you are not, so I do have a good team that help me with a lot of the back end that is maybe not my strength!
TG: In today’s economic climate your store is thriving despite all the doom prognosis.What is your secret?
JJ:I think the fact that I am so engaged with what happens on the shop floor really helps. I think sales is part of a lot of businesses that gets a bit overlooked and delegated but for me it’s my first priority, it’s what drives a retail store after all. That and having beautiful things!
TG: If you won a billion dollars on the lottery what would you do?
JJ:Well I would definitely book in a fitting for Raf Simmons Christian Dior couture collection! I am pretty happy with my life so it would be the same thing with better trimmings. And when I say trimmings I mean jewellery.
TG: You are the buyer as well as the owner, which means you get the fun parts as well as the hard ones.What other things does your job entail.What is your favourite part?
JJ: I love selling and chatting to my clients, they are all pretty smart stylish women so that part is fun for me. I love also going away and buying, finding fabulous things for the store. I think business is all about doing what you are good at and delegating what you are not, so I do have a good team that help me with a lot of the back end that is maybe not my strenght!
TG:What are you watching,reading,listening to right now?
JJ:I literally have listened to nothing else since I bough Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange this week!! Amazing. Loving the Presets new single Youth in Trouble also. Addicted to Girls, and Mad Men. And I just read Widow Basquiat which is an amazingly poetic biography of Jean Michel Basquiat’s bereaved girlfriend, Suzanne.
TG:When you want to pamper yourself what do you do?
JJ: Sleep! I am a sleep-o-holic and I make sure I have one night a week where I sleep at least 10 hours.
TG: What trends will you buy into next season?
JJ: I hate the word trend because it kind of implies it is something that is not going to last, but I would have to say my favourite stories from the runway would be the new polished use of animal print, the dots from Resort, that we saw everywhere but loved at Celine and also flares are fun.
TG:You have a brand new addition to the store and it is an Australian exclusive. Tell us a bit more about it.
JJ: So excited to be introducing Celine for Resort! A luxury label that manages to give such beautifully crafted investment pieces a got-to-have-it edge is really what fashion is at it’s very best. They are very selective about where they place their product so it was very exciting to be approached for the collaboration.
