Eckhaus Latta: Everyday Things from Strange Materials
IN THE WEEKLY RUBRIC "NEW MARK" Wonderzine presents young designers and tells where and how you can buy their things. Our heroes this week are the creators of the avant-garde brand Eckhaus Latta Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta, young American designers who presented their new collection at Fashion Week in New York.
Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta met while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, the state capital of Rhode Island. Mike studied sculpture, and Zoe - textile design. As designers remember today, Zoe presented Mike with her pants with menstrual stains. Mike received an unexpected gift - so they became friends. After graduating, the designers moved to New York, where they worked at Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, Matthew Barney, Mary Katrantzou, quickly gathered and decided to launch their own brand.
So at the end of 2011, the brand Eckhaus Latta appeared, the name of which consists of the names of the children. They showed their first collection in February 2012. From the very beginning, the designers of Eckhaus Latta articulated the gender of things as completely as possible: Zoe and Mike created sports bras for guys and wide trousers for girls. All Eckhaus Latta collections are notable for unusual materials: elastic mohair, plastic, mesh, transparent leather, construction tape, film, even an IKEA shoe mat - all this is mixed by designers, creating wearable things of asymmetrical cut. For knitwear use complex textured knitting.
Among young American brands there are more of those that work with street aesthetics and sports style, and much less avant-garde. Not surprisingly, Zoe and Mike attracted public attention from the first collection, and in 2012, the brand bought Opening Ceremony. The duo organized a party on this occasion in a karaoke bar in Chinatown. In addition, the Brooklyn brand is famous for its unusual presentations, during which models write posts on Twitter, and videos that designers shoot together with young artists.
Design things are not the most urgently needed purchase - it is rather a luxury. Our things for those who really feel an emotional connection with our clothes. We would like people looking at them to think: "This thing touched me, it means something to me, I want it to become a part of my life."
Where to buy things Eckhaus Latta
Brand items can be found at Opening Ceremony in New York and Los Angeles, as well as in a number of New York stores: VFILES, Maryam Nassir Zadeh and Beautiful Dreamers. In addition, the brand is represented in Tokyo, Berlin and Portland.