Kith, Armani Partner on Four-part Collection Centered Around Men’s Suits
On the surface it may appear to be a strange pairing, but to see how reverentially Ronnie Fieg speaks of Giorgio Armani, it shouldn’t come as such a surprise.
Last week, Fieg teased a collaboration between himself and the Italian designer, writing on Instagram: “To say Mr. Armani is an icon would be an understatement. As a creative and entrepreneur, he is my North Star. His perspective on fashion changed the way the world chose to dress. He founded his own brand and built it into an empire that he still retains 100 percent control of 49 years later. He set the impossibly high standard that I push myself to reach every day.”
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On Wednesday, Fieg finally released the details of the collaboration, called The Archetype, a menswear collection for the fall ’24 season that consists of four distinct capsules, each with their own fabrics, shapes and color palettes, that blend the aesthetics of both brands.
“Even from our earliest conversations, I knew I wanted this collection to revolve around suiting,” Fieg said. “To me, ‘suit,’ and ‘Giorgio Armani’ are synonymous. As I began ideating on the story to tell, I knew I wanted to pay homage and respect to Mr. Armani’s career and life by representing the men who I feel he has inspired the most. There are so many people around the world from different walks of life who have been influenced by Mr. Armani and who share the universal language of wearing a Giorgio Armani suit. This is how we came up with the concept of The Archetypes.”
The collection is broken down into four segments: the Artist, Entertainer, Traveler and Entrepreneur.
The Artist is envisioned as a creative visionary and the capsule is all black with the centerpiece being a double-breasted suit in black virgin wool. Other styles include a long trenchcoat, a marled cashmere silk turtleneck, a virgin wool bomber jacket, a quilted vest and a zip shirt with an asymmetric collar. Accessories include a co-branded Kith and Giorgio Armani monogram-debossed leather document bag, boucle and cable-knot scarves and a beanie.
The second capsule, the Entertainer, is for the man who “dresses as if he owns the venue,” the companies said. The palette here is primarily navy and dark green. The suit is navy velvet and features a crossover closure jacket with voluminous double-pleated pants. The same velvet fabric is used for a rugby shirt, drawstring-waisted pants and two bucket hats. There is also a double-breasted coat, zip shirt with an asymmetric collar, silk bandanas, a leather double-pouch holder, money and tie clips and a key ring.
The Traveler is identified as “a citizen of the world,” the companies said. The palette for this capsule is in shades of tan and brown and the statement piece includes a three-piece suit with a double-breasted jacket made from lightweight virgin wool. There is also a coat, a robe-like outerwear piece, cashmere turtlenecks and rugby shirts, a Cupro track jacket and cargo pants and an alpaca wool field coat. Accessories include a co-branded monogram-debossed suede duffel bag, a dopp kit, passport holder, a bucket hat, watchman cap, fedora, unstructured cap, suede gloves and a scarf.
The final capsule, The Entrepreneur, is defined as “someone who follows his own rules and intuition. The primary color is dark brown and other pieces are in navy, tan and black. The suit in this capsule is single-breasted with a detachable scarf and double-pleated trousers. There is also a cashmere overcoat, midi puffer jacket, double-chest-pocketed button-up shirt and a leather-paneled football jersey. Accessories in this capsule include a woven leather rucksack bag, leather card holders and gloves, a reversible belt, jacquard tie and caps.
There are three styles of shoes with the collection: a chukka boot, hiker boot and loafer. The chukka has a smooth suede upper and a co-branded logo on the heel tab and footbed. The hiker boot is “an entirely new silhouette,” Kith said, made from Italian leather and debossed with the co-branding throughout. The loafer is in leather and features the Armani braided logo with a debossed Kith logo underneath.
The collection is rounded out with graphic apparel and headwear, sweaters, T-shirts, caps and beanies.
To introduce the collaboration, the partners have lined up some bold-face names to represent each archetype. Each of the capsules will have its distinct campaign with Martin Scorsese fronting The Artist archetype. Scorsese, the acclaimed movie director, is a longtime friend of Armani who directed “Made in Milan,” a documentary about the designer’s life and the growth of his brand. Scorsese is also a native New Yorker, like Fieg.
For The Entertainer, actor and musician Lakeith Stanfield will be the face, while actor Pierce Brosnan — known or his love of suits — will be the face of The Traveler. And finally, The Entrepreneur will feature Fieg as the star.
The partners debuted the collaboration during New York Fashion Week when Armani and Kith will host a pop-up experience at a townhouse on the Upper East Side. Open to the public on Sept. 6 and 7, the space, at 170 E. 80th Street, features rooms inspired by the four archetypes. Visitors will be able to shop the collection before its official launch on Sept. 12 at Armani’s Sloane Street store in London.
On Sept. 13, the collection will be available for sale at select Giorgio Armani stores in the U.S. and Canada as well as online on both the Kith and Armani sites.
And finally, on Sept. 18, the Giorgio Armani Milan store at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II will introduce a pop-up for the collection followed by a launch at select Kith and Armani stores in Europe, Japan and Korea on Sept. 20. There will also be a special pop-up in Shanghai on Sept. 28.
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