Dear Shaded Viewers,
I enjoyed a visit to the DSMS Paris on the last day of Paris Fashion Week. While there I had the opportunity to chat to four of the designers.
PHILEO
Philéo Landowski who at the ripe old age of 21 has already produced 5 retro-inflected collections with minimal ecological impact using materials like canvas or plant-based alternatives. There is one pair in leather that as long as people eat meat, is a waste product and 100% recyclable and compostable. Shoes are light as air and made with love and love for our planet. “From the ancient Greek meaning “I Love”, PHILEO brings the designer’s passions to the surface by transforming his emotions into a collection.”
RANDOM IDENTITIES
Random Identities is designed by Stefano Pilati with an inspiration from the queer culture. The collection is divided into groups, one his signature pieces and then new looks introduced this season. Highlights include his clinical green 2 piece worn with heels, a all in one made in silky textile, low crotch shorts worn with a short skirt, new high heels loafers, fireman boots and worker boot in leather with new heel. He is known for the excellent fit of his trousers among other things, sexy shorts with zip in the back ready to twerk. Knitted bra logo to increase business and form an NGO where the brand can donate money for trans health.
SKY HIGH FARM WORKWEAR BY Dan Colen and Daphne Seybold
Sky High Farm Universe, founded by Dan Colen and Daphne Seybold in January 2022, is a mission-led brand built as a means of sustaining and expanding the work of Sky High Farm. While activating consumer culture in pursuit of a more just food system, we also model a corporate structure that inverts the traditional wealth hierarchy.
Sky High Farm Universe flips the script by prioritizing those who need the funds most: 50% of the brand’s profits will be donated to Sky High Farm each year; the remaining profits will be distributed next to employees, the community of the farm, and finally to investors. Additionally, we created an entirely new method for modeling the systemic change we want to see in our industry: through our Wholesale Donation Program (WDP), all of our 70+ retail partners (including DSM, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Nordstrom) are required to make an up-front donation to the farm before selling a single item, transforming all of their customers into the farm’s donors. In its first year the brand has donated over $300K to Sky High Farm through the WDP.
Our seasonal apparel collection, Sky High Farm Workwear, was created in partnership with Dover Street Market via their DSM Paris brand development department; they manufacture, sell and distribute the collection. The creative collective that fuels the brand grows and shifts with each collection, but is consistently tied together by Dan Colen, the brand’s Chief Creative Officer. Collaborators past and present have included visionary individuals and brands such as Comme des Garçons SHIRT, Balenciaga, Converse, Dickies, Denim Tears, Alastair McKimm, Mel Ottenberg, Samira Nasr, Heidi Bivens, Nadia Lee Cohen and Quil Lemons (also a Contributing Artistic Director).
In April 2023, together with FedUp Foods, we launched Sky High Farm Honey Pop, a sparkling water with gut health properties and nutritional value (probiotics and prebiotics from water kefir; 9g of fiber (32% daily need); organic; vegetarian; kosher) that debuted at family-owned, CA-based B Corp, Erewhon Market.
ERL is an American ready-to-wear brand designed by Eli Russell Linnetz in Venice Beach, California. The brand launched its first full menswear collection in January 2020, capturing the colorful and laid-back spirit of California with simple, sensual takes on all-American staples. Erl has since expanded its universe to include womenswear, suiting, accessories, and childrenswear for ages 4-14. All ERL photography, casting, styling, lookbooks, and campaigns are created in-house by Eli Russell Linnetz.
Other designer’s collections that I reviewed:
AIREI
AIREI is a Los Angeles-based brand from Drew Curry.
Shortlisted for the 2022 LVMH Prize for Emerging Designers, worn by Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, and other notables, while also gaining recognition from John Galliano, Suzy Menkes, and Julie Gilhart.
AIREI promotes humanity by elevating the perception of the outcasts, forgotten, and misunderstood.
Illustrating the human condition, Drew uses deconstruction and reconstruction techniques to call attention to fragility.
Single threads are a signature in his work, representing mending and healing. Each hand-finished garment is signed and numbered by the artisan.
Drew highlights the human touch by allowing the uniqueness of the garments to become the focus.
AIREI is stocked globally at all Dover Street Markets and other retail partners worldwide.
I love the brand but how about some pockets in your beautiful, comfortable jackets and coats….
RASSVET
Rassvet is an international skateboard company founded in 2016 by skateboarder Tolya Titaev. Growing up in a post-cold war capital, Tolya has always been surrounded by creative people be it from his local skateboarding scene, music and art worlds. Rassvet brings a fresh vision on fashion proposing a complete wardrobe inspired by skaters, designed for everyone.
The word Rassvet, meaning « sunrise », illustrates the brand’s community’s common desire to highlight a new dawn drawing its strength and uniqueness through artistic collaborations, open to the rest of the world. International friendship has built the Rassvet skate team.
WESTFALL
Born and raised in Southern California, Brett Westfall is a multi-disciplinary artist working mediums that include painting, sculpture, assemblage, installation, fashion, video, film, music and photography.
He started his brand WESTFALL with the idea of extending his ideas into clothing design that would read like poetry. Approaching as he would when creating a painting, sculpture, installation or music.
The colors in the garments he creates for his collections are hand dyed with his own color recipe; distressing garments and hand stitching as well as drawing the graphics/printing are some of the details done by his own hands for the WESTFALL brand.
Westfall utilizes his personal experiences as a human being, with nature, our environment, society as a whole and the growth that happens as a result of our relationships to all these elements for most of the inspiration for his work. Invoking thoughts and reflection of self and our time here on Earth.
LIBERAL YOUTH MINISTRY
Liberal Youth Ministry (LYM) is a Guadalajara-based brand founded by Mexican designer Antonio Zaragoza in November 2016. Each collection approaches the universality of youth and is deeply influenced by subcultures and political & spiritual youth movements across the globe. Every collection shows a new approach in Mexican ancient/modern philosophy and clothes. Since FW20, LYM’s collections are presented as part of Dover Street Market Paris (DSMP) during Men’s Paris Fashion Week. The brand is sold at all Dover Street Markets, in addition to many international retailers. Since its inception, the brand has garnered a following that includes musicians Justin Bieber, Bad Bunny and Thom Yorke among many others.
Later,
Diane
