Hussein Chalayan Relaunching Men's Line

[Thefrenchy]

June 03, 2014
By SAMANTHA CONTI

BACK IN MEN’S: Hussein Chalayan is relaunching his men’s wear line. Later this month, the designer will unveil 22 looks for spring 2015 in a capsule collection he’s dubbed Moor’s Chorus. Chalayan said men’s wear will be an ongoing part of the brand’s offer. “I missed men’s wear, and this had been on the cards for a long time,” said the designer. “We had a really good following, especially in the worlds of art and architecture, and our customers haven’t stopped asking about it. Some are still wearing their old clothes.”

Chalayan wrapped up his men’s wear offer about eight years ago, after he stopped working with his Italian manufacturer Gibò. He then did a one-off men’s project for Yoox Group in 2007.

The designer said the new collection, which will be manufactured in Italy, is based around “iconic — and new — shapes,” and features a mixture of textures and prints. “It’s clothing I would wear. And the fit is important — we worked a lot on that,” he said.

Chalayan described the collection as smart and casual, with a blend of the structured and the slouchy, all done in lightweight fabrics. There are no immediate plans to show it on the runway, he said.

Prices range from 140 euros, or $190, for a T-shirt to 600 euros, or $816, for outerwear. Sweatshirts and sweaters cost about 350 euros, or $476, while shirts are priced at 230 euros, or $313. All figures have been converted at current exchange rates.

Men’s wear isn’t the only new project on the designer’s drawing board. Chalayan has created the costumes for the opera “Così Fan Tutte,” which opened earlier this week at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall. The music is performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and the set was created by Dame Zaha Hadid.

Chalayan said designing for the stage is very different from working on catwalk collections.

“You have to fit clothes on people of all different sizes and shapes — not on models. And the designs have to work with the set, so you have to think more contextually.”

- WWD.COM

 

[markese91]

i wonder if some of his old looks are in the archives of the forums here

 

[softgrey]

i'm looking forward to seeing what this looks like...
the info about the opera is also interesting...
the combo of hussein chalayan and zaha hadid makes me extremely curious...
and jealous that it is in LA and not in NY...

thanks for the thread!

 

[Scott]

i have been so out of the loop the past few weeks i missed this news. so happy to see this. i adored chalayan's original foray into men's....so much i still dream of his skeleton t'shirts frequently...wish i had purchased one when i had the chance. hopefully the standards and quality will be as good as that was.