Alessandro Sartori is redefining ZEGNA, and as it embarks on its new era with help from the likes of Mr. Bailey, it has now welcomed The Elder Statesman into its atelier to create its latest collaboration.
Secretly debuted during ZEGNA’s Winter 2023 runway show “The Oasi of Cashmere,” Sartori and Greg Chait delivered a capsule that brought the duo’s respective worlds together. Masculine luxury and timeless class is intersected with Californian ease, and the results are finally ours to dissect in the collaboration’s lookbook.
With craftsmanship as the core of this capsule, ZEGNA and The Elder Statesman craft everything from cashmere — one of, if not the, finest material to work with and wear in the world. By doing so, the House strengthens its promise to dress its men in clothes that are made to last and desire to be lived in, transcending trends with garments that are as soft on the eye as they are to the touch.
Throughout the collection, you will find plaid — a reference to California’s surf and skate culture and their shared love for sun-bleached flannels. ZEGNA takes this notion and applies it to everything, wrapping up in dressing gown coats, workwear-inspired overshirts, board shorts, scarves, and more traditional drop-shoulder button-down shirts. Colors are quintessential of The Elder Statesman, burning bright in orange, green, yellow and blue, just like an L.A. sunset.
Worn-in corduroys are crafted in cashmere, subverting another tastemaking part of the Californian lifestyle with luxury at the fore. Lilac, bacca red, green, aurora yellow, green, and vicuna are used as the palette here, saturated at times and muted in others to balance the collection that’s destined for indoor, outdoor, lounge, or sophisticated use — see the bright orange suit that’s cut relaxed for the best example of this hybrid approach to dressing.
Completing ZEGNA and The Elder Statesman’s world of ease are bucket hats and fitted baseball caps made from felted cashmere, brushed cashmere slip-ons, and the star of the show, a zip-up cardigan blocked in various prints and motifs akin to The Elder Statesman’s signature aesthetic.
Speaking of the collaboration, ZEGNA Artistic Director Alessandro Sartori said: “Dialogues like this allow us to add new layers to our world, finding other expressions to Oasi Cashmere. We worked on this collection completely together, merging our shapes with The Elder Statesman’s distinctive colors and all-pervading spontaneity. It’s the very idea of cross-pollination, which is what happens in Oasi Zegna as a natural organism and can be turned into a business and creative model which allows us to reach out a new audience.”
Chait added, “We are honored to be working with, what we believe, is one of the best brands and manufacturers in the world. At the origin of this partnership are two companies that value the way things are made. In reality, we sometimes feel like ZEGNA’s eccentric cousins who set up shop in Los Angeles, bringing a centuries-old craft to the new world. This partnership feels like a homecoming, and after two and a half years of deep and meaningful discussions with ZEGNA, our co-designed collection is a symptom of something much larger: a recognition of quality, craft, and a deep mutual respect. 6,000 miles away from Oasi Zegna (in Piedmont Italy) is our factory in downtown Los Angeles, an Oasi of our own making.”
ZEGNA and The Elder Statesman’s collection can be seen in the lookbook above, and will be available in ZEGNA’s key boutiques, via The Elder Statesman retail channels, and in selected wholesale partners commencing September 2023.
In other news, Saint Laurent has perfected its study in silhouettes for Winter 2023.
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