Greg Lauren (Q4191)
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Greg Lauren is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Greg Lauren |
Greg Lauren is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Greg Lauren started spring 2023 by thinking about the cowboy: the archetype, the myth, and the real deal. It’s not all boots, denim, and big hats (though there is plenty of that). Instead, his collection, titled Re-construct, taps into his muse’s renegade spirit. “There’s something at the core of the idea [of the cowboy] that resonates with people that has to do with individualism, and the idea of the figure that doesn’t conform and has the courage to draw their own path,” he says.That individualism expresses itself in unexpected ways. The spring 2023 lookbook opens with a pale pink trucker jacket. It’s made from scraps of fabric that were discarded to make last season’s pink tuxedos. Through a process called stitchwork, these teensy bits of fabrics are patched together to make a textile that can be used to make a pink jacket for a cowboy. There’s a nice cyclical energy to that, which Lauren clearly relishes, after all, repurposing pre-loved materials is what put him on the map.The most interesting developments here are the contrasts. Consider baggy cargo pants and a relaxed blazer made out of herringbone fabric, or the many jackets with tails Lauren created this season out of denim, ivory satin, and, spectacularly, leather. Lauren had fun picking apart black- and white-tie dress codoes, playing with ways to make a tuxedo jacket or tails casual through fabrics. Make no mistake, it’s still elegant. The craftiness running through the collection—the continued collaboration with Gee’s Bend quilters, the top made of vintage Cub Scout shirts, the stitch work fair isle sweater—only underscores the designer’s maverick qualities.
24 June 2022
Greg Lauren’s collections can start from anything, “even a scrap I find in the corner of the floor,” he says from his Los Angeles studio. In the past, his clothes had a distinct look of being made from something else—and to many, that crafty feel was the draw.For fall 2022, Lauren has done a slight pivot, replacing obvious collaging with a more streamlined elegance. Even though his tail coats and suits are made from reused materials, they lack the homespun quality of the draped shirts and cargo pants of former collections. Smaller, quilted panels are replaced by large swaths of fabric—in most cases denim, twill, or salvaged cotton. On tailcoats, relaxed suiting, and long beautiful overcoats, the well-loved materials look better than ever. That’s good for Lauren’s business—while he has a cult following of clients who swear by his craftier pieces, this twist into streamlined tailoring has potential to introduce his thoughtful and sustainable brand to a wider audience.Not to say he is abandoning what made him well-known in fashion. Cargo trousers with oversize pockets are patched with roses and irises, his mother’s favorite flowers, made from upcycled blankets. Fisherman sweaters are chopped up and dyed piece by piece in indigo, then stitched into cardigans with a color palette that looks like the ocean outside Malibu. Lauren also offers them in a peachy rose, the result of dye made from madder root. His partnership with the quilters from Gee’s Bend continues, expanded into a larger part of the business. The quilters worked closely with Lauren this season to create pieces that integrate into his core ready-to-wear message—no longer will their work be a capsule one-off. It’s a good balance between the old and the new.
10 February 2022
Greg Lauren has been making clothes out of damaged and upcycled fabrics since at least 2011, long before the practice was deemed “sustainable” and a full decade before it became a couturetrend. He’s always chosen to celebrate and exaggerate the humble, hand-crafted nature of his garments, leaving edges raw or adding heavy distressing; at his first runway show in 2014, he said he was going for “destroyed elegance.” But now that patchworking and upcycling—or at least the look of upcycling—has gone mainstream, he’s felt compelled to go the other way. Spring 2022 marks a pronounced aesthetic shift toward a cleaner, more refined sensibility, one he’s now calling “relaxed elegance.”It may be best symbolized by an accessory Lauren avoided for years: ties. Several looks were styled with a wide satin tie upcycled from varsity jackets, and the effect wasn’t kitschy or ironic; it was quite polished. With a shell jacket constructed from denim overalls, the tie had an elevating quality; with a blazer and wrap-effect trousers, it completed Lauren’s version of “the new suit.” Other looks sans tie had a similar air of formality: cotton wrap coats were cut with tails; a tuxedo shirt flowed out past the knees; and new tux jackets came with shiny nylon lapels and a range of botanical tints. (The rosy pink came from matter root, while the sage green was courtesy of pomegranate peels.)It isn’t just that Lauren wanted to distinguish his label from the glut of patchworked and deconstructed collections out there (though there is something to be said for clothing that doesn’t “look” as rigorously sustainable as it is). As pandemic headlines declared the death of tailoring and athleisure forever, he was predicting a return to refinement. That hardly means actual tuxedos and ball gowns; we’re in a “dress up” moment, but Lauren had our competing desires for comfort, ease, and timelessness in mind, too. We expect a lot from fashion these days: Can you wear it to work, to an event, or out on the weekend—and for years to come? That’s what strikes you about so many of these pieces: They’re casual, yet special; versatile, but distinctive, with room for your own style and interpretation. That each one will be handmade and one-of-a-kind is just icing on the cake.
16 July 2021
“More with less” was Greg Lauren’s ethos for fall. You could say his work has always been about that—he’s repurposed vintage textiles, quilts, and army tents since he launched his line in 2011—but this collection pushed the concept further. He challenged himself and his team to become newly resourceful, using only fabric they had in stock (not just for the look book, either; the full production will be cut with existing materials). That included everything from Indian kantha quilts to striped blankets, Italian wool suiting, and heaps of scraps they’d collected over the years.Last fall’s introduction of GL Scrapwork, a line of clothes and home goods made from cutting-room scraps that normally got thrown out, inspired an even more ambitious project: GL Stitchwork, made from the scraps ofthosescraps, the tiny bits of fabric even a sustainability-obsessed designer might brush into the bin. Lauren explained that his team assembled the scraps and quilted over them with narrow, grid-like stitches to create the Stitchwork yardage. The flight suit in look two, for instance, was quilted with dozens of pieces of fabric in varying shades of camel and cream.It’s a time-intensive, artisanal process that can’t be mass-produced, and Lauren’s commitment to using fabric he owns means the Stitchwork pieces will be in short supply. The “Stitchwork 3N1 parka” was even more meticulous, and can be transformed into three garments: In addition to the full-length version, the bottom zips off to create a shorter jacket, and those panels can be zipped and cinched into two messenger bags. It pushed the “more with less” idea beyond fabrics and into functionality: What if your jacket could be more than a jacket?Those items were among Lauren’s more obvious experiments in sustainability—“obvious” in that theylookedsustainable and upcycled, with raw edges and a crafty, one-of-a-kind feel. Lauren was just as enthusiastic about his subtler items, though, like a hoodie constructed with leftover herringbone wool; styled with billowing tweed cargoes, it was Lauren’s version of a new suit. Even subtler were the pieces tinted with natural dyes, like a corduroy puffer dipped in pomegranate, tannin, and iron. The cocktail created faded shades of taupe and sage, the same “lived-in” look Lauren is known for without the environmental impact of chemical dyes.
28 January 2021
Upcycling was part of Greg Lauren’s repertoire long before we were calling it that. His early shows in 2015 weren’t described as “sustainable,” either; that term hadn’t become a buzzword yet. The bigger story was in the way Lauren subverted and recontextualized menswear archetypes, cutting Savile Row suits out of vintage army duffels or tearing apart and reconstructing vintage rowing blazers. That it could all be considered “eco-friendly” was an unintended bonus. Now, of course, Lauren is leaning into his make-do-and-mend instincts more than ever. Earlier this year, he introduced a new project, GL Scraps, in which his team repurposes all of their leftover fabric bits and pieces; they could be off-cuts of vintage denim, linen, wool, or even fragments of the tents Lauren transforms into parkas. Sometimes the scraps are sewn into patchwork designs on trousers or jackets, or Lauren’s team will arrange them side by side, like puzzle pieces, to create actual bolts of yardage, which they call Scrapwork. During our Zoom call, he carried his laptop downstairs to his studio to show a few giant rolls of it; one had been collaged from scraps of varying sizes, then overdyed a deep, inky indigo.Look closely at his spring 2021 menswear collection, and you’ll notice many of his plain-looking jackets and trousers are actually made of Scrapwork fabric. The black officer’s jacket in look 5, for instance, appears simple from afar, but actually features errant seams and patches upon closer inspection. It represents a big part of Lauren’s business, a just-classic-enough item with an edge; his tuxedo shirts and suiting might fall into that category, too. Most men don’t need a formal suit or tux anymore, especially in light of #WFH orders, but Lauren doesn’t think the silhouette should disappear. Maybe it can just mean something different in 2020, something that has nothing to do with corporate America at all. His gray three-piece suit in log-cabin quilted wool wouldn’t exactly remind you of an office, nor would the silk-lapel “dinner jacket” made of ivory Scrapwork feel out of place in a Brooklyn bar.Some items featured a bolder, craftier use of the scraps, like the roomy army pants in the opening look, which featured dozens of bits of denim hand-collaged onto one leg. Lauren held them close to the screen and said the technique—along with the entire collection—was directly inspired by the quilts of Gee’s Bend, the historic Black community in Alabama.
Their quilting tradition goes back to the 19th century, when women stitched quilts out of old clothing and textiles for the practical purpose of staying warm. They’ve since become known as some of the greatest works of modern American art, celebrated for their minimalist designs and inventive use of materials.Lauren is acutely aware of how those kinds of traditions have been appropriated over the years under the vague umbrella of “Americana.” There was a time when it was enough for a designer to simply give credit where credit was due, but now—particularly in light of the Black Lives Matter movement—they need to take it several steps further. Educating his customers about the Gee’s Bend quilters and casting exclusively Black models in his lookbook were a given for Lauren, but he also feels strongly about actually empowering and supporting the communities that have inspired him. When this collection ships, he’s pledged to donate a percentage of proceeds to the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, which promotes the work of Black artists in the South, including the Gee’s Bend quilters. The hope is that his collection will directly give back to the women and men whose work informed it; later this month, Lauren is also hosting a virtual panel with Black creatives to discuss fashion’s responsibility to these communities and how designers can highlight and support their work going forward.
16 July 2020
Zero-waste, postconsumer, and upcycled fashion at scale. Rarely do these terms become more understandable, specific, or wholly American than when you meet Greg Lauren. The artist-designer nephew of Ralph Lauren doesn’t jargon-ize in those terms about how he assembles his rag-picker American preppy-style, mainly because he started cutting his own way into it before sustainability terminology hit fashion.“When I first started, it was about investigating archetypes, and it was about recycling the image of the archetypes I was bred to appreciate and emulate,” he recalls. Somehow or another, it was aesthetic curiosity that led into sustainable practices, and not the other way around—an alternative viewpoint on the fixed points of traditional American masculine identity, starting with the possibilities of army surplus.“The truth is, I fell in love with vintage fabric. I’d go to the Rose Bowl vintage market at 5:00 a.m., looking for the perfect military jacket, and ask these guys if they had any more in the back, which is where I stumbled on all these mounds of military tents,” say Lauren. “This was nine years ago, before the bigger upcycling movement. And it would break my heart to see stacks—so big you had to climb on them—of these lonely things, collecting dust.”Working out of his studio atelier (whose address—Arts District, Los Angeles—is proudly noted as part of his branding), he had no inclination to go at it on an industrial scale. A geeky obsession with reconstructing something new out of the authentic makings of the vast volumes of stuff the American military discards was there in his first collection. “I had Savile Row–ready suits, but made out of army tents, duffel bags, naval uniforms,” says Lauren. “I’d make these things, and it was about craft, artisanship.” Taking things apart, he says, “was a beautiful education. And I wouldn’t throw anything away.” Before long, there were multiple storage spaces filling up with sacks of scraps. “I collected thousands of military tents, and my whole collection was usually made from cutting out these fabrics,” says Lauren.It took time to figure out the logistics of dismantling and repurposing the unused assets that were accumulating with every production round. Postconsumer (whether deadstock or worn) garments are generally regarded as a nightmare problem for brands, as dismantling processes are complex and specialized.
It takes a systematic brain like that of Greg Lauren to figure it out—and also the capability of someone who can work locally and build relationships on a reasonably small scale.
27 January 2020
At this point, at least to those who follow the menswear biz,Greg Lauren’s aesthetic is very clearly defined and noticed. His clothes are torn up, ripped apart, voluminous, and luxurious—and they’re popular among men with avant-garde-leaning proclivities, particularly those dandies overseas who crave a bit of purposefully fucked-with Americana. (In a way, Lauren reminds this journalist ofThom Browne: Both designers take classic U.S. cues—Browne literally with his signature tricolor trim, Lauren with faded denim and army/navy surplus garb—and destroy them to build them back up again.)For Fall, Lauren’s clothes looked like Lauren’s clothes. That’s the best way to put it. And by now, that’s a good thing. It has taken awhile for the brand to catch on as more than a gimmick, but today there was something solidly thrilling in seeing his absolute commitment to a vision that is basically unique, bar a few mildlyAnn DemeulemeesterorJunya Watanabe–esque derivatives. In this collection, he showed his man under a series of types, including: the “Shoe Shine Gang,” which featured great, loose tailoring; the “Hero,” a much-photographed Tyson Beckford in a gnashed caped hoodie (“he’s been bruised, he’s been battered, but he still has his confidence,” said Beckford of his Superman persona); and the “Bajas,” the best, a squad of neo-goth, Web-stoner surfers in dirty, swashbuckling, and heavily layered imaginings of Baja hoodies. “That part was about seeing the beach during winter. Nobody ever explores the beach during winter,” said Lauren.The designer said he was after a slightly more relaxed and plush sensibility this season, due, in fact, to how much time he’s been spending in Los Angeles of late. The best example of the sentiment shone on an ivory, loose-knit T-shirt; it had retro-style suspenders charmingly sewn down the back. Said Lauren: “It’s about classic male archetypes, broken down.” Deconstructed, yes, but not desalinated or sanitized. Ultimately, these garments were proudly manly and, just maybe, Lauren’s best effort yet.
4 February 2016
By now, you know what to expect from aGreg Laurenshow. Vintage military fabrics, pieced-together jackets, hip-slung trousers, and hand-distressing are his brand’s unwavering signatures. They’re working for him, too: Before taking their seats, a dozen editors and admirers milled around Moynihan Station decked out in his vagabond layers, so there was no confusing which stage was his.Other labels have begun to embrace a sort of deconstructed, nomadic look (Yeezycomes to mind), but Lauren’s take is less severe than many of his contemporaries. Where other shows might have felt provocative and a bit dark, Lauren’s outlook was all about “moving forward while honoring the past” and inspiring people to think about clothes differently. That came through stronger than ever in his Spring presentation, which opened with a captivating performance by 10-year-old dancer Lil'Mini Phoenix, set to Nick Drake’s “Way to Blue.” “I saw her dance a couple months ago and knew I wanted her to open my show,” Lauren said backstage. “She’s an example of this next generation of strong females who are saying, ‘Don’t tell me what I should be or aspire to.’ I really believe women are leading the way in creativity, leadership, art—every discipline. They’re breaking boundaries, changing stereotypes.”How did that sentiment translate into the clothes? Lauren’s women always look powerful in their army drabs and rumpled suits, and there were plenty of those here. But an expanded evening range gave the designer the chance to inject a little more sex appeal: An ivory body-skimming silk gown looked ’90s-era minimal at first, but there were billowing swaths of parachute fabric spliced into the back. “I wanted there to be flow,” he explained. There were also subtle dance references, like a champagne dress with hand-placed strips of silk on the bodice, which mimicked the “casual but intentional way a dancer laces up her pointe shoes.” The final look was Lauren’s most experiential to date: The halter neckline of a fluid jet-black silk dress was sculpted, cast in resin, and then plated with gunmetal. He described it as “part relic, part liquid metal, but on a simple, beautiful silhouette.” It would make an interesting red carpet choice, but our money’s also on the silk lounge pants and robe coat, which offered a softer spin on the tuxedo.
17 September 2015
Backstage before his first-ever menswear show, Greg Lauren prefaced his Spring '16 collection as a "Noah's Ark" of male archetypes. There were dandies, athletes, suits, and even fishermen, each one disheveled and distressed to the Greg Lauren standard. "I took the opportunity to have a true men's collection, a real story," he explained, noting how in the past he had included men's looks in his women's ready-to-wear shows. "I started by looking at classic male icons, but wanted to redefine them with an artistic, handmade approach," he said. That meant the show was a bit of a mixed bag, from peak-lapel blazers made of tattered linen from old duffel bags to roomy jeans with pieced-together cargo pockets and lots of Lauren's signature military jackets. To the uninitiated, there may be a disconnect between Lauren's threadbare garments and their four-figure price tags. But each scrap of fabric is rare, vintage, and hand-distressed; up close, it's easy to see how that one-of-a-kind quality keeps his customers coming back.New developments this season included extra-long shirts, apron jackets, and new custom-distressed shoes, bags, and hats. But some of Lauren's simpler propositions were the most appealing. For example, his "athletes" walked the runway as a team wearing soft fleece joggers, beat-up sneakers, and waffle-knit thermals in cozy shades of cream and gray. "I think athletes are the new military in terms of style," he said. "They're a huge part of our world today." Amar'e Stoudemire was in the front row, but Lauren wasn't thinking basketball—his athletes were a "hybrid" between rugby and soccer players.Later in the show, Lauren took a break from his "artistic nomads" to show a twist on eveningwear: a three-piece suit made of rumpled vintage linen. He proposed men wear it to summer beach weddings in lieu of starchy shirts and trousers. Even the guys who aren't quite ready for Lauren's blanket coats and patchwork pants could surely get behind that idea.
15 July 2015
If you aren't familiar with Greg Lauren, his name alone might lead you to believe he designs in the same vein as his uncle Ralph—classic, polished, all-American. On the contrary, the painter-turned-designer's aesthetic could be better described as postapocalyptic urban. "It's part artist, part nomad, part soldier," he explained backstage. "I told the models they are all beautiful, unique, interesting creatures. The show is about individuality and the global village."He made good on that promise: His clothes didn't feel particularly connected to any region in the world, and they weren't quite like anything else presented at New York fashion week this season. They were, however, right in line with Lauren's signatures: think billowing parkas made of pieced-together scraps of tents, sexy hip-slung cargo pants, and blanket scarves wrapped haphazardly around models' shoulders. Those pieces have gotten him into coveted doors like Barneys and Dover Street Market. Considering the number of contemporary labels that often look the same and the fact that fashion of late can feel like one big dose of déjà vu, it's nice to see something different on the sales floor.That being said, Lauren has been careful not to take it too far. Common themes run through his collections, the military being one of them. This season, his sources went as far back as the Revolutionary War: "To me, that's the past, but could also be the future." He loosened up traditional navy military jackets—the girls' version was extra-long and lean—but kept the gold buttons and lapels. Elsewhere, Lauren got creative with classic silhouettes and fabrics, like the well-cut blazer made from pinstripe wool and rugged vintage leather. "A huge part of every collection is mixing iconic references, but in an unusual way," he said. That jacket worked well with matching pinstripe trousers, but would look just as cool with a pair of old jeans.Come fall, will shoppers actually buy head-to-toe Lauren looks? Probably not. But there were lots of individual pieces that could be plucked from the runway and integrated into one's wardrobe for a dishabille, decidedly not trendy update.
18 February 2015
As the nephew of an American sportswear legend, Greg Lauren grew up with fashion in his blood. But since launching his namesake label back in 2011, the designer has distinguished himself from his clan by finding beauty in the breakdown. Specifically, Lauren is best known for his artfully deconstructed men's jackets handcrafted from repurposed materials like vintage army tents; his line is carried by high-end retailers including Barneys and Dover Street Market. Making his official NYFW debut this season, Lauren set out to express his full vision and range with a thoughtful show consisting primarily of women's looks. "My collections have always been about a destroyed elegance," he said backstage. "You don't know whether the clothes are from the past or the future. At the same time, they're a celebration of feminine power, strength, sensuality, and—most importantly—pain coexisting with beauty."From start to finish, Lauren stayed true to his unique point of view. Guests huddled under a rustic tent pitched over the runway, while models emerged in distressed wares (skinny suspender pants, frayed ponchos, hooded lace-up dresses) cut from the same utilitarian tent cloth. Many of the looks here combined the aforementioned canvas with blanket-striped insets or distressed denim. More often than not, the effect wasMad Maxmeets Savile Row, as exemplified by a tailored heritage-tweed topcoat spliced together with faded twill and pinstriped cotton. Elsewhere, the designer proved his nomadic aesthetic can work for evening, too. A handful of lovely draped silk gowns (paired with ribbed hand warmers, of course) met with approval by the crowd, not least Lauren's wife, Elizabeth Berkley, who enthusiastically applauded after each look glided by.
12 September 2014