Lemaire

Looking and feeling Lemaire again it seems further solidification of the place of Lemaire as a quiet luxury brand. A brand that makes amazing closet staples for the wealthy that carry with them a sense of ultra-luxury. Pieces like a boxy cotton twill overshirt, a well cut blazer and trousers for casual use, a much needed wool overcoat for the cool cloudy days, things you need and won’t think much of throwing on, but done at a quality level both materials and cut. For exapmple, If I'm arriving in Paris, brought no clothes, and needing to build my attire, Lemaire is where I’m starting.The main thing that really impressed me and seems like a point of a lot of attention, intention, and resources is there selection of material. This seems to be the main identity of the brand, and their play of materials is magnificent. This is their, BEAUTY. They carry the fabrics throughout their items in a way that it seems to be the way they catargoize their collection. I’d imagine the process would be narrowing down around 4 main fabrics they’d want to use(exluding the use of cotton twill, as well as wool for staple pieces), and then sticking only to these select fabrics to make every piece of that collection. Thus allowing the signature cuts to carry through and stablize the brand, with limited but still defining changes to bring new life into each season. Their play with material is such an emphasize, that it reminds me of the same essense, and ethos that Stone Island has. In which it feels very experimentation and that a lot of resources and attention goes into their fabrics. Some even leaning in to more technical experimentation, where those in lab coats are hired specifically to just play with process and science of fabrics. A great example of this is the use of dry silk, a material that just oozes this ethos i’m touching on. A question that arose form all of this is, do they carry fabrics into the future seasons, or is there a defining point every season of a constant cycle of new materials? Another striking thing is their variety in manufacturing, when looking at these tags, making the conceptualisation in its similar essence as stone island I was fully expecting to look at the tag and see evidence vindictive of this showing evidence of Limonta, who is responsible for various nylons, and products for stone island. But was surprised to not only see non-Italian manufacturing but manufacturing from a surprising variety of countries including Morocco for denim, Portugual for leather sandals(to be expected), Romania for the dry silk, and cotton jacket, Spain for bags, Latvia for some pieces, just wild countries that really suprised me. Further adding to the story and that which lies behind the curtain of Lemaire.

Korea Leading the Way for Men’s Bottoms

Wooyoungmi SS24. Shot by Mathieu Rainaud, Models indiana.vts jbaiboon

The waves of the streetwear founding fathers continue to be felt by the style of of the people. We see it everywhere throughout the street, runways, and high schools. With bottoms specifically, the middle point or balance of what the masses are willing to accept, and what the designers want to put out has been dominated by these baggy sillouttes introduced by the streetwear founding fathers and then MASTERED and successfully persuade to the high end buyers and fashion world by Demna at Balanciaga. This than evolved to a short moment with flared pants- and interestingly enough continues to thrive with Pharrell doing a master class of it with his recent incorporation of the silloutte in his personal style. The style of bottoms has now evolved to the extra wide pant. This hasn’t fully been accepted, but the group of people who are willing to push the bonderies in there everyday wear and be on the frontlines of fashion, their pant of choice in the current iteration of fashion is. The super wide pant. Non-pioneering fashion Brands are starting to reflect this and inplementing these in there current line ups, but…Korea has been here and is great at it. And now the sillouttes and mindest they hold near to them, are also the ones being accepted and asked for, and it is creating this Beautiful expansive energy of the two. This current style iteration, goes kindly to the foundations that have already been established in Korea and in their menswear. Their choice of fabric is in pitch-perfect harmony with these silhouettes. It provides the perfect drop, the perfect length, the perfect motion, clearly showing this isn’t new territory for them. Many Korean brands are still making their way to western stores, and because of that I sadly havnt’t been able to see as many of the brands I would like to see. But one of the many brands I have been able to experience is Wooyoungmi. They arguably are the preferred brand when looking at Korean fashion as a whole. You can feel that this brand is THE ONE, it has history, it commands the throne, and is mastering their craft. Their wide leg trouser is a great example of this. The brand sources their fabrics from Japan, and Italy given that these are one-hundread percent wool you’d assume it would be from italy. I don’t usually like to go to other countries outside of Italy when it comes to wool; but the use of Italian wool with Korean Manufacturing is mmm. The minute tailoring acheived in that to create this perfect pant, I can’t put enough words to it, it’s fucking amazing. Their nylon like other Korean brands seems to be another strong point outside of their greatness in shape. And the use of wool at Wooyoungmi is top tier. All in all i’m intrigued and excited to learn and feel more Korean brands, and honoured to be able to experience this brand. And now confidently know the Absolute when it comes to wide-leg trousers.

Mastery. Galleries

When visiting the a handful of the countless private galleries here in the archives quarter of the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. I was immodestly astounded by shared characteristic of the galleries residing here, mastery. Every piece no matter the discipline, style, presentation was mastery. The strokes of the collar were where they needed to be, the fabric was aligned perfectly, the piece of blue tassel was exactly where it was needed, every stroke of the brush, every thread of the fabric, every smear of the black; all of it had an overwhelming quality of an alignment, an accumulation. This being mixed with immense knowledge, practice, experience; all to make everything correct in such a profound way. It’s remarkable to be able to see this, not only see it once, but to see it carry to multiple ownerships, multiple locations, multiple disciplines, multiple textures. To have such culture and standard to be maintained and honoured by the area as a whole, it’s just magnificent.