Tag Archives: Style Visionaries

Johnson Hartig & The Invention
Of Libertine

 

Johnson Hartig in Vogue

Libertine inventor Johnson Hartig (for inventor’s the only true word to describe him) has created a world of his own, a mythical, magical world where Lord Byron references live side by side with pirate hats and Uncle Sam stovepipes. The California-based designer of menswear and womenswear — itself a distinguished feat — has been around the fashion block a time or two, having launched his eponymous line in 2000 and Libertine in 2010, but he’s marched around that block to the beat of a drummer that he alone can hear. He’s like some mad pied piper, except his emperor is most definitely wearing clothes. Wild, madcap clothes pulled from the Wonderland dress-up box, or so it seems at first glance, but if you look past Hartig’s inventive styling, you’ll find wearable statement pieces that, when mixed with your more subdued clothes, will mark you as a forward thinker who’s ready and angling to take over the world. And any world being taken over by the dames and lads who don Hartig’s clothes and the Hartigean spirit is a world I’m ready to live in.

Libertine Runway Collage #1

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And The Crown Goes To:
The Elder Statesman

Last night, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund crown went to Greg Chait’s The Elder Statesman. A wonderful article about the brand appeared in Vogue last November. Read the don’t miss article (and see the don’t miss pictures) here. What I love about The Elder Statesman is how it seems to have evolved organically (and continues to evolve organically) out of who Greg is and what interests him. It’s a lifestyle brand rather than “merely” a clothing brand. To give you a sense of what I mean, I leave you with this quote from the November 2011 Vogue piece, which I think says it all:

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You Should Know About:
Street Etiquette

I may be late to the dance. But better late than never, as the people do say. Yesterday, just yesterday, I discovered Street Etiquette, the glorious feast of a style/lifestyle blog, founded by Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbs in 2008, when they were both just 20 years old. Drawing from a robust and varied array of sartorial influences — everything from afro-dandyism to punk to urban to mod to prep and beyond — Kissi and Gumbs are publishing what their website aptly calls “a truly unique vision of fashionable menswear,” and are well on their way to building a lifestyle brand about the places where style, travel, music and more meet.

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