Seven Emerging Men’s Brands at American Collections Week – WWD
Chelsea Grays
Year Founded: 2019
Design Aesthetic: The Cleveland native has elevated her aesthetic and concepts since first showing at New York Fashion Week in 2019, where she was part of a showcase from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Grays’ texture usage, destroyed and mended tops and gender-fluid silhouettes allude to the punk and grunge eras when the youth rebelled and rejected the status quo.
Inspiration: Her fall ’21 collection, Homage to 2020, channels the year’s overarching themes, including COVID-19, police brutality, protests and voter rights.
Key Pieces: Plaid outerwear and separates come in muted patterns, while military green outerwear and sweaters tie the collection together. A standout look features a knee-length, button-down shirt and long, slightly baggy pants with a matching screen-printed pattern made in Paris.
Looks from Chelsea Grays.
Courtesy of
Ka Wa Key
Year Founded: 2015
Design Aesthetic: Fun, vibrant, colorful.
Inspiration: The fall collection, Through the Looking Glass, draws inspiration from energetic, enigmatic fictional characters like Willy Wonka and the Mad Hatter and retains the brand’s bright aesthetic.
Key Pieces: The collection boasts a bevy of knits and heavy textures in widely ranging color spectrum, as well as stripe and gingham patterns. The brand references escapism through music and television, manifested in this collection via bootcut pants, sporty and oversize silhouettes and mismatched sweaters and scarves. An open-back turtleneck sweater is half sweater and half scarf, and a separate zip boat neck sweater is two pieces with similar color and striped patterns sewn into one. Like Wonka and Mad Hatter, the collection is alluring madness.
A look from Ka Wa Key.
Courtesy of Ka Wa Key
Brand: Koh T
Year Founded: 2019
Design Aesthetic: Moody yet elegant
Inspiration: Designer Taisuke Kohji drew inspiration from the ceramic works of 16th-century Japanese craftsman Hon’ami Koetsu and the mantra “everything in this world by nature is beautiful.”
Key pieces: Kohji developed original and recycled textiles with craftsmen for this collection — described as “urban luxury” — with pieces that resemble vintage and modern workwear, along with military elements. Suits are slim and tailored and are balanced by anoraks and hard fabric pieces that resemble field work uniforms.
A look from Koh T.
Courtesy of Koh T
Brand: Stan
Year Founded: 2019
Design Aesthetic: Gender-neutral, one-of-a-kind quilted jackets and clothing made from antique-found materials with a story.
Inspiration: Founder Tristan Detwiler, who has been a member of the Bumann Quilting Group in Olivenhain, Calif., since 2019, regularly shares the histories of antique textiles and quilting with a group of elderly women. Quilting has become a lost art, and the Bumann Quilters see Tristan as a conduit to the modern generation for their art form, where he is a storyteller of lost narratives.
Key Pieces: An ocean waves quilt jacket; a red and white Cathedral Window quilt jacket; an embroidered linen tablecloth overshirt; pink moire trousers hand painted with vintage surfer iconography; and a deep blue and white snowflake crochet vest were the standout offerings in the line.
A look from Stan.
Courtesy of Stan
Brand: Teddy Vonranson
Year Founded: 2019
Design Aesthetic: Classic American sportswear featuring both East and West Coast elements, combining surf, ski, skateboard and streetwear influences.
Inspiration: Manhattan Island: a love letter to New York City. An embrace of playful juxtapositions with a warm celebratory feeling usually reserved for a vacation wardrobe.
Key Pieces: A plaid double-breasted suit paired with a Hawaiian camp collar shirt; an emerald green suede jacket over a bright yellow wool sweater and a palm leaf shirt were among the strongest pieces, along with a pink wool suit over a mauve sweater and a tweed hat, and a jade wool jacket combined with a black Hawaiian print that was reminiscent of city lights at night.
A look from Teddy Vonranson.
Courtesy of Teddy Vonranson
Brand: The Stolen Garment
Year Founded: 2018
Design Aesthetic: Redefining conventional men’s garments with an emphasis on the fabric itself rather than functional details.
Inspiration: The fall lineup was inspired by the designer’s trip to a used bookstore in Seoul with his friends. Browsing the dusty adult book section of the store, the designer was captured by the tragic poignancy of each word that made up the titles of these books, most of which were published in the ’90s.
Key Pieces: The collection’s best pieces included a sequined camouflage tulle hoodie paired with white trousers; a color-blocked wool coat paired with a check printed turtleneck; and a yellow houndstooth poncho worn with a faux leather shirt and pant, finished with a Swarovski beaded and metal chain headpiece.
A look from The Stolen Garment.
Courtesy of The Stolen Garment
Brand: Nahmias
Year Founded: 2018
Design Aesthetic: Effortless and elevated style rooted in California aesthetics, mixing surf and skate-inspired athleisure with luxury fabrications and elevated details and fits.
Inspiration: Titled Lost in the Sand, Doni Nahmias’ fall assortment recaptures a period in his adolescence when he felt lost. A convergence of distant memories from the founder’s time in his hometown in Summerland, Calif., evokes the senses through custom prints and graphics.
Key Pieces: The message was best portrayed in a classic and clean work pant contrasted by Italian silk patches; a relaxed sweatshirt and trouser sets made from French terry sourced from an artisan mill in Japan; an array of tailored trousers and coats in shades of grays, whites, browns and clouded blues; and Italian silk shirt and pant sets in custom prints, including watercolor wine illustrations and stains that punctuate the collection’s muted and neutral tones.
A look from Nahmias.
Courtesy of Nahmias
