BLDWN, the Erstwhile Kansas City Denim Brand, Is Now a Ready-to-Wear Label Out of L.A.
BLDWN, the Erstwhile Kansas City Denim Brand, Is Now a Ready-to-Wear Label Out of L.A.
It’s a new day at Baldwin. To start, the Kansas City-based premium denim brand founded by Matt and Emily Baldwin in 2009 is no longer located in Kansas City. More importantly, it’s expanded well beyond jeans. Matt and Emily, CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalists in 2015, sit on the board of the new BLDWN—yes, the logo has been changed, too—and Johnathan Crocker, an AG alum, is the label’s new creative director. He’s established the business in L.A. and he’s repositioning it as an American ready-to-wear company for women and men, with its first-ever slot on the New York fashion calendar.
Crocker and co. will make their debut this Wednesday, September 5th, at Egg Collective on Hudson Street. The women-owned New York design agency was chosen for the way it typifies BLDWN’s redefined aesthetic. At first, the creative director says he struggled with the company’s American-ness. “Given what’s going on culturally, politically, and socially, I worried maybe now is not the time to wave our American flag,” he begins. “But then I thought, what if I challenge myself and our consumers to look one degree to the left and reconsider what it means to be American?” He started by thinking about fields he’s interested in—architecture, art, design—and came up with a long list of inspirational men and women: architectural powerhouses including Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, John Lautner, and Richard Meier; artists such as Warhol, Basquiat, Haring, Koons, O’Keeffe, and Judd; and from the world of design, the likes of Eames, Knoll, McCobb, and Nelson. “I’ve always known those names to be American, but I’ve never thought of them as collectively representing American design. If I said ‘American’ and people thought of all those people, I would want Baldwin associated with that.”
And so you may see a 1972 Florence Knoll sofa on the brand’s e-commerce site, or a Paul McCobb stool. As for the clothes themselves, function will continue to be a focus, and denim will naturally remain a significant part of the BLDWN offering. “Not all of our jeans will be 100 percent cotton and rigid, but they’re always going to feel like denim,” Crocker says. “You’re not going to feel like you’re putting leggings on.” He gives outerwear and knits shout-outs, and says wovens will be important, too (his women’s design director spent five years at Equipment).
Beyond the basic categories, each season will draw on some kind of inspiration that relates to American design in some capacity, whether that’s through architecture, art, or another field. For Spring, it’s the 1970s street photographs of Mark Cohen. “If we can play some small role in getting people to reimagine, reconsider, and say, hold on a second, there’s so many amazing things that should represent what it means to be American, to me that’s where there’s power and opportunity as a brand.”
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