Constantly among the many finest lookbooks in menswear, Aimé Leon Dore’s “The World’s Borough” sequence displays unimaginable styling, however, greater than that, a human component that may’t be emulated.
Queens, New York. Aimé Leon Dore… doesn’t have a retailer there. Their flagship retailer is positioned on Mulberry Road, in Manhattan. However it’s, meaningfully, a Queens-based model.
The model displays its founder and designer Teddy Santis. Santis grew up in Queens, with Greek heritage. He loves enjoying basketball along with his pals. He noticed individuals carrying Ralph Lauren on the road. He noticed the best way rappers styled their clothes. These options of his upbringing are all mirrored in his work.
However none of them alone is the entire story. Whereas the model’s common lookbooks are fantastically styled, the model shines most within the celebratory lookbooks it calls “The World’s Borough.”
Moderately than hiring a small variety of skilled, stately fashions to current the clothes within the conventional method, The World’s Borough collects actual individuals—pals of the model, native athletes, individuals within the trade, individuals from town, individuals’s households, individuals’s canine—to symbolize the model extra naturally.
The lookbooks are nonetheless professionally styled in costly clothes, and shot by skilled photographers in skilled studios. However no one appears to be at work; the fashions are enjoying round in entrance of the digital camera, embracing the usually goofy styling of their clothes. They dance, they chortle, they hug. Their variety highlights the New York group fantastically.
The lookbooks have just a few regulars, like Mordechai Rubinstein and Aaron Levine, each legends within the trade and pals of the model.
Under, I will share my highlights from every of those lookbooks, with some feedback that can assist you see the allure I’ve described above. Take into account the hallmarks of the styling: “neo-prep” type, an informal revival of preppy and ivy tailoring; playful use of scarves and hats; layering; and signature footwear (loafers, New Stability sneakers, and low-top lug-sole Timberlands). And luxuriate in. I will embrace hyperlinks to every of the lookbooks so you possibly can select your personal highlights and save your personal inspiration.
The S/S24 album is the one album not based mostly on New York Metropolis, celebrating the model’s London retailer. It is not my favourite, nevertheless it’s not for me. The lookbook celebrates soccer instead of basketball, and usually options the London group, with which I’m not acquainted.
The picture of Aaron Levine right here, holding an apple, is especially iconic.
For my part, this primary lookbook is the perfect of the bunch. It feels most like New York to me.
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