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While I don’t think Kitsune is the only integrated music and fashion endeavor (the now shuttered April 77 also comes to mind), it might very well be the coolest.
Their menswear is uncannily on-point season after season, evoking global trends but with the right touch of tricolore to let you know where the clothes come from. Summer ’09 had polos, yellow coats with black satin collars, and easy v-neck sweaters. Summer ’10 showed a casual yet sophisticated golfing theme, and A/W ’10 is all about Ivy League. Sound familiar? Well in the abstract for the collection, the designers bluntly admit that there is “No need to run to keep ahead of the trends here…”. Indeed.
The brand also supports a variety of musical artists (my personal fav being HeartsRevolution), featuring them on their website right alongside the apparel collections. And in what has to be the most clever “lookbook” I’ve seen, each collection is launched with a music video. Models get clocked while dressing in looks from the upcoming season, with a perfectly curated soundtrack rooting them on.
Fantastique!
As if all of this weren’t enough, Kitsune has been doing some awesome collaborations. One of my personal favorites is their on-going work with footwear maverick Pierre Hardy (pictured below). They also recently participated in a Francophone inspired capsule at Opening Ceremony, which I was able to check out at the Ace store during Fashion’s Night Out.
From the listing on their website, Opening Ceremony is the exclusive Stockist in the U.S. On the other hand Japan has quite a few retail touchpoints. And if you know Japanese retail you know that means this is a label to keep your eye (and ear) on. Big things, and I’m sure more big collabs to come from Kitsune.
(Source: Kitsune.fr, Hypebeast.com)
