Designers 101

[Mippipopolous]

Could anyone give me any info on The Viridi-anne?

[thomaspaine]

I am oddly fascinated by Band of Outsiders but I know very little about them and that Childish Gambino wears a lot of it. Please enlighten me.

Band of Outsiders is pretty much the definition of modern prep. I think of Band as a modern Ralph Lauren with slimmer cuts and a west coast influence. The label just turned 10 so they were one of the early brands riding/pushing the prep wave that's taken over mainstream men's fashion. For the most part they're known for their OCBDs which are cropped and slimmed.

The designer/founder Scott Sternberg used to be a hollywood agent which gets remarked about a lot since you always see various actors in it, but I think that connection is pretty overblown. From this interview (on having Frank Ocean model for them), it sounds like they go through the same process as everyone else when it comes to getting actors to model for them:

Is it always someone you know and are friends with ahead of time?
No, never. I mean, I’m not that social. I don’t have a lot of friends. [Laughs]. Okay, I have really good friends, but, uh, I don’t fly around with actors all the time. They’re mostly working on movies and stuff. We go through normal means—you know, cold-call publicists, that sort of thing. The ones who get it immediately say yes, and the ones who don’t—you know, no harm, no foul.

They get a lot of hate on the internet for not being terribly avant garde and kind of boring, but that's what I like about the brand. It's the stuff I wear when I just want to look nice, and maybe has some minor detail that I find interesting but doesn't look like I'm trying to make a fashion statement.

The problem is that these days a lot of people find they can create the same look with Uniqlo or J.Crew pieces but at 1/3 the price.

[balloons]

nbhd and sophnet are two brands I don't know much about and would like to know more about

[ramseames]

I can talk about both of them tonight once I'm into my hotel.

[sid3000]

does anyone have an opinion on 'arts & science'? I cant tell if it's something worth monitoring or a kitschy #lifestyle brand

they make a lot of knick knacks (my weakness)

[whinefields]

anyone have any info on 08 sircus? this one store in la carries the brand - along with mastermind and kolor - but i had never heard of it before.

[Vaeltaja]

Any info on Obscur?

I know a bit about the brand, but not a whole lot.

[ramseames]

Balloons I don't feel 100% right now so I'm just gonna run through NBHD quick and then tomorrow I'll go over what I know about soph aight?

http://www.neighborhood.jp/index_e.html

Founded in 94 by Shinsuke Takizawa. The name literally refers to the neighborhood of Harajuku, where him and his friends were living at the time (and where the vast majority of Tokyo's fashion culture is situated nowadays). The general concept behind the brand is doing relatively basic pieces with influences from motorcycling (they actually have helmets for sale) and then to a lesser extent other subcultures/themes like the military, trad wear, etc. They have their mainline which is quite american in terms of where those influences are originating, they have Luker which is supposed to be a little less expensive and looking towards Britain instead of the US, they have SVG archives which I don't really understand the distinction between mainline and it but they release some of the best pieces under it so its worth mentioning, and then they have their kid's line One Third, literally referring to the scale of the pieces. They've got 10 stores of their own, 2 flagships (harajuku and shibuya, like a 15 min walk apart), and then 8 stores in Japan and China called Hoods. They collaborate occasionally, they did converse first strings recently, some limited edition denim for Heineken, a rain smock with cav empt, they do loads of sunglasses with Effector, and probably some others.

No different from any of the other brands at this price point/doing this sort of thing where a much greater portion of what western stockists carry than they should is just screenprinted tees and sweats and stuff. Which is a shame, because the things they do really well are stuff like the flannels, denim, and big shitty looking milsurp-esque coats and such. Quality is generally quite high, its not a repro brand and some things come predistressed, but its all "worth" the price and probably a lot better value than most. Plus there's a large secondhand market for it and you can find things in good-decent condition for fractions of MSRP in places like: http://stylisticsspace.bigcartel.com/category/neighborhood

Album of some of my favourite/the most unique pieces they've done:

http://imgur.com/a/Qcfkr

Lookbook links:

http://www.neighborhood.jp/collection.html

http://www.neighborhood.jp/archive.html

http://www.luker.jp/collection/2014ss/

Short interview that haven did with him:

Spoiler:

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/59690059[/vimeo]

[bels]

someone explain the difference between Robert Geller and Patrick Ervell to me?

[germinal]

This took me forever to find but here's a post i made on radgenius exactly one year ago today:

they're often mentioned together because they're both designers showing in ny that put out consistently wearable clothes at a pricepoint sightly more accessible than most designers. they are also very compatible in many ways; both are sporty and trim and have aviation influences in their designs - geller also incorporates a Romantic, gothic aesthetic (a continuation of his time at cloak), whereas ervell adopts a more minimal, alpine, retrofuture-inspired look.
both brands rely on a core selection of pieces that return every season (geller's dipdye, flight pants and tees; ervell's knitwear and shirting) and (presumably) sell best. geller is probably the more experimental of the two, though i think most people would agree he's been taking a more commercial approach in the last few seasons (not that you can blame him); very few of the cooler runway pieces or gimmicks make it outside of japan. i think most of geller's stuff is made in japan; most of ervell's in america or peru(?) for the alpaca knits.
in my opinon, both represent good value in their price range (even if the designs aren't all that inspiring) - they're the sort of brands that mfa would love if they had a bit more cash.

neither of them represent as good value any more, edit: because their prices have spiralled upwards over the last year, to the point where if you're spending that much on an item of clothing i'd opt for a more interesting/exciting designer

[can-]

ervell's clothes are much more modern, restrained and fundamentally based in American sportswear. the geller ideal is more in line with ann, schneider, harnden-- it's a very gothic, dark and romantic characterization coming from the 1800s

[Vaeltaja]

Could anyone give me any info on The Viridi-anne?

Tomoaki Okaniwa graduated from the Tokyo Zoukei university in fine arts, specifically oil painting. He wanted to make clothes so he made the "Caterpillar Produit" in 1987. It mostly focused on women's clothes and he was largely part of the underground Tokyo runway scene. He eventually wanted to make clothes for himself, so he founded The Viridi-Anne in 2001. Apparently his Caterpillar Produit was successful enough for him to fund The Viridi-Anne. The loss of the Caterpillar Produit was because he wanted to make slim and avant-garde clothes. The main philosophy of The Viridi-Anne is basically the duality of beauty and perfection; in other words, he likes wabi-sabi.

[ramseames]

http://care-tags.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=418

@balloons dun worry i didn't forget about you

[grippers]

Any info on Blackmeans & Yujiro Komatsu?

[Mippipopolous]

How about Nom de Guerre? I've seen some cool pieces I like here and there in SF WAYWTs and classifieds, but know next to nothing about the brand.

[balloons]

Tiger of Sweden

anything worth knowing about them or is it just kind of like Acne but not as big here for whatever reason

[parastexis]

I've been reading a little about Hiroshi Fujiwara but would like to know more

[ramseames]

Fujiwara I covered a little bit in the short thing I wrote about soph, but basically he's like the godfather of harajuku street fashion. He has his own design company called fragment, he designs for soph with uniform experiment, he had a collab with levis for a while called fenom, he's the H in nike HTM (http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/1 ... chine.html), he's designed guitars for eric clapton, he was a hiphop DJ in the 80s, etc etc.

I preordered this book on him back in september but it keeps getting delayed which blows: http://www.amazon.com/Hiroshi-Fujiwara- ... 847842398/

[can-]

How about Nom de Guerre? I've seen some cool pieces I like here and there in SF WAYWTs and classifieds, but know next to nothing about the brand.

NdG was first a men's retailer just north of soho in NYC, they were really early to stock certain brands like BoO, w+h, common projects, CDG play which are all abundantly visible these days but were all just getting off the ground then. the space was essentially unmarked, just a stairwell leading down to a dingy cellar room with another unmarked door which led to the actual shop. I think there was briefly a cafe that you had to walk through to find the retail space. this place was all word of mouth, and had a strong industrial vibe not dissimilar to supreme locations.

at some point, I think 03, they started producing their own label of exclusively japan made goods. their lead designer, iirc, jumped ship from running supreme's marketing to work at NdG full time. one of their staples was a perennial Japanese selvage denim not unlike APC's offerings.

their garms were extremely and aggressively militaire with some prep and street influences. they sent models down the runway and in presentations with bullets, officers regalia and mil spec night goggles. the fit is very trim, they put ties on everyone-- it looks nothing like milsurp, but more a very urban, sharp and put together military look pulling mostly from mid century army garbs (tailored for a trendy 2000's man)

unfortunately they shuttered in 09 or 10 and there's no trace of the original location. their collaboration with oliver peoples, the NDG-1, has found a permanent place in the OP pantheon.

it's easy to look back on their marketing and see something that is garish or tasteless in the military excess or fit, but considering their timeline and the huge military trends which took NYC over between 04-09 I think they deserve a ton of credit for being ahead of their time while remaining accessible

wear it your desk job, and wear it with: barbour, moncler, maggie howell

[Syeknom]

Damn I wish money wasn't tight right now



Can anybody tell me more about Sircus than what's on Totokaelo? It's pretty wishy-washy.

Japanese label 08 Sircus was founded by Hiroshima born designer Kiminori Morishita. Beginning his career at a young age, Morishita worked as a chief designer for various Japanese clothing companies before branching out to design his own label. He debuted the "Kiminori Morishita" label in Tokyo in 2003. The pieces are paired down yet execute unique cuts with a playful take on classic styles—utilizing both solids and patterns harmoniously. Technologically advanced materials are amalgamated with handmade techniques, a perfect union of quality and inventiveness.

I enjoyed the Marios Schwab RTW show at London - does anyone know anything about his work?

[McOdsen]

@cameron-, regarding the NdG original shop and its inconspicuous location and all that, what's the point? Exclusivity? How do they make enough money initially to keep going and all that?

[can-]

I have no idea where their capital came from. I know in 2014 that kindve place would have a terrible time trying to stay open because now there is a surfeit of retailers in lower manhattan selling the same kind of 'small batch' men's gear. I relate the place and the opening to supreme because of a similar focus on quality product, community and in-group coolness. likewise with supreme they sold all their own product direct with no middle men which helps.

they were obviously still struggling when the recession took them out in 08

[Rosenrot]

does anyone have an opinion on 'arts & science'? I cant tell if it's something worth monitoring or a kitschy #lifestyle brand

they make a lot of knick knacks (my weakness)

Are we looking at the same label? Because Arts & Science is so far from kitschy. They're minimalist, like a mixture of COS + Acne + Jil Sander with a Japanese farmer slant.

http://www.arts-science.com/collection_14ss/en/

[smiles]

Arts & science. Started by Sonya park, a stylist living in japan. The clothes are supposed to be unisex (to a certain extent) most of the shirts are blousey and most of the pants are baggy. Natural fibers and all that jazz, lots of linen. Definitely Japanese farmer as Rosen says but also on the same spectrum with brands like yaeca and sassafras. Wouldn't be surprised if inventory carried them at one point or another. From what I've handled of them they feel a little too 'warm' to be strictly minimalist.

Blackmeans. Head designer had a stint at undercover. Obviously influenced by the Tokyo punk scene and he was probably hanging out with jun in the 90's. Allegedly a very small operation, the shop is downstairs and the atelier is upstairs where crusty punks are creating your personalised leather garments. Lot of the stuff that doesn't get picked up by overseas retailers is much more wild from what I can tell. Similar to facetasm/sasquatchfabrix they are interested in Native American and other indigenous cultures and design motifs. Lots of embroidery and fringes.

Toga and toga archives and toga pula and toga virgilis. Designed by yuriko furuta iirc. She studied abroad and came back to japan to be a stylist. Started toga (which is toga archives) in 97 and introduced the other lines later. Lot of prints and colourful stuff from what I've seen. My girlfriend has a pretty cool toga short coat thing. See if I can take her picture.

[whinefields]

it's easy to look back on their marketing and see something that is garish or tasteless in the military excess or fit, but considering their timeline and the huge military trends which took NYC over between 04-09 I think they deserve a ton of credit for being ahead of their time while remaining accessible

Was at my country house this weekend and pulled out this NdG sweater from 06? Maybe 05. Thickest cotton you can imagine.

It wasn't a cafe you had to walk through - it was a printers shop right next to the swatch store on Broadway (linked to the Two Boots right there). When I first started going there - 04/05 - they used to have a whole showroom in the back devoted to tier zero Nikes. They always had the most incredible stuff. First time I ever saw CdG wallets was at that space. They also made my all time favorite tee, which I'm still trying to hunt down.

This really brings back memories of what it was like in SoHo during that time. There were no fewer than 5 sneaker stores all devoted to rare kicks and my friend and I used to skip school to head to Preme to pick up the latest drops. At that time, there were no lines, no worries, no nothing. You could walk in three days later and still pick up their shoes in a popular size no problem.

Fuck. I'm old.

[birdman caw]

Been interested in Jun Hashimoto lately. Does anyone about a line/sideproject/collab called AZ that he was part of?

[CleanThug]

Would like some general stuff on Undercover & Undercoverism

[deadkitty]

check out trashpile's post on mf

[CleanThug]

I knew about tnf purple label but what is White Label???

http://m.hypebeast.com/2014/3/the-north ... ean-market

like purple label except directly affiliated with tnf mainline?

[can-]

looks like the Korean only line?

Korean getting some cool shit recently. lavenham Korea comes to mind