BLK DNM Blazer 15

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld has inherited his mother's eye for quality clothing that defies the passing of trends, pictured below wearing Blazer 15 from BLK DNM at their flagship store at 237 Lafayette Street in New York. BLK DNM by Johan Lindeberg rejects the typical tenets of the fashion world, choosing to focus on a few timeless basics rather than doggedly following the changing seasons of fashion. Centered primarily around denim in black, white, grey, or blue, this androgynous line is noted for its minimalism and its anonymity — the emphasis is on the person, not the garment or the label. Prior to launching BLK DNM, Lindeberg worked with Diesel and William Rast in addition to his own label, J. Lindeberg.

Vladimir's choice, Blazer 15, is a six-button double-breasted jacket created in Croatia using two-ply Italian wool in charcoal grey for the outer layer and Bemberg cotton for the inner lining. The meticulous attention to detail can be seen in the cut, the stitching, and the small touches such as the six corozo buttons and the functioning cuffs. Not everyone can work this six-button look but thankfully Vlad has the torso to carry the jacket with ease. Now I would like to see him in one of BLK DNM's custom leather jackets tailored to that torso...

Read the Nowness interview with Johan Lindeberg to learn more about BLK DNM.

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and BLK DNM photographs courtesy of blkdnm.com and nytimes.com

Rei Kawakubo

If clothes make the man, then what are the sartorial choices of a handsome, young, New York-based gallerist with one foot in the world of fashion and the other in the world of modern art? Let's consult the opinion of Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld on the matter. Vladimir is a man who smartly recognizes the long love affair that exists between the worlds of art and fashion and he has deftly secured sponsorship from luxury fashion labels for his free-spirited brand of art promotion in which museum-style art exhibitions pop up in industrial spaces around the globe. Most recently sponsorship has come from Giorgio Armani for a global tour of the famed 1980s street artist, Richard Hambleton.

Vladimir wears primarily black, chic, minimalist, fitted, high quality staples. Think Hedi Slimane for Dior black jeans and American Apparel tshirts for day, Armani suits and Martin Margiela coats for night. Like his mother, Carine Roitfeld, whose personal style reflects a brilliant twist of two extremes, the bourgeois and the provocative, Vladimir likes to wear classic clothes with an edgy twist. This would explain his penchant for the designer, Rei Kawakubo. It all makes perfect sense. Rei Kawakubo established the fashion label Comme des Garçons (or “like the boys” in English) in 1973 in Tokyo, starting with womenswear and then adding a menswear line in 1978. Her designs first enjoyed a surge in popularity in the 1980s. With her strong, austere silhouettes, dark color palette, asymmetry, and frayed, unfinished edges, Rei Kawakubo became recognized for challenging established notions of beauty. The Barneys woman had been deconstructed… and she liked it.

The Comme des Garçons success has grown steadily ever since. Much of Rei Kawakubo’s work has been described as avant-garde, and upon viewing many of her collections — most notably her notorious 1997 “Lumps & Bumps,” in which swollen goosedown-filled Quasimodo-like bumps distorted the body shape and shocked even the most jaded fashion mavens — no one would disagree. In fact, we could describe Rei Kawakubo’s work as the bleeding edge of avant-garde, at times, and no one would disagree.

However, Rei Kawakubo also designs more commercial garments, not exactly mainstream, but commercial. And while Vladimir will probably never don a Quasimodo jacket, we can expect to see him in a more subtly edgy Comme des Garçons piece, including many of the garments shown on the runway for Spring 2012. The menswear theme for Spring is “tailoring for punks.” Sharp tailoring, classic houndstooth, and Prince of Wales check is rendered punk with biker zips and slashes. The collection is conceptual and idiosyncratic with subtle, unexpected touches to suit a nonconformist gallerist with a penchant for modern art.

Rei Kawakubo photographs courtesy of Flickr, Tumblr, Comme des Garçons, and Opening Ceremony. All Rights Reserved.