Brandon Maxwell's Not Interested in Fantasy

Ana Colón

February 14, 2024 at 9:30 PM·6 min read

If you've followed Brandon Maxwell and his namesake brand, you've seen not just him, but also the people he loves — his grandmother in a campaign, his mom on the runway, the people that work for him coming out at the end of his shows. He wears his heart on his sleeve, quite literally, designing in a way that's emotional and deeply personal, both a reflection of his inner self and a proclamation of love for the people who've helped him get to where he is now.

That's been especially true the past few seasons, which have leaned into the ease of dressing more so than occasionwear, while continuing to honor the brand's sportswear roots.

"I started this show and September['s Spring 2024 collection] in the same week," Maxwell said backstage. "It started very sort of knotted and tight and constricted — you can see those knots interpreted through the clothes here, whereas in spring they were interpreted through the accessories. It's been this exercise of trying to find the softness in the hardened."

Maxwell's collections have also gotten increasingly autobiographical, in ways that are both literal and not. "After the last show, I took a small trip to the Southwest with someone that I love, and it was a very expansive time for me — many of the prints in the collection were from photos that I took," he explained. "[That trip] shifted my mindset on a lot of things. It sounds very woo-woo, but to see and understand the grandness and the vastness... Through drought, storms, fires and rain, things live on."

Maxwell recognizes that he's not the same person he was at 30, when he launched his brand. "I'm much less interested in fantasy now," he acknowledged. "I'm much more interested in creating a space and telling a story of where I am in my life... When you look at the brand when it started, it was very black and molded and rigid. I'm older now. I have a renewed focus on growth, but I'm also really holding space for myself and for the places that are hardened, understanding and acknowledging that they have made me strong and gotten me where I am. All of those things I've gone through have paved the way for a softer version of me."

After that formative trip, he also went through and revised a few ideas he'd been working on for Fall 2024. The opening look, for instance, was originally a tight gown, but he ripped the seams at the sides to "leave the pattern piece just hanging and fluttering," creating that feeling of vacillating between good times and bad, trying to find that place of peace in between.

"Before, when things were challenging, it would read as darkness," he explained. "I'm very interested in understanding the lightness of a challenge, trying to see the beauty in it." It's a process he's working through, and will continue to work through in his collections, one that reflects his growth as an individual as it does his growth as a designer.

The collection has an ease to it, in that it feels firmly rooted in what people want to wear on any given day, not just the fancy ones. There's a lot of draping (which feels considered but not overworked, like the fabric was loosely, casually flung and just happened to land perfectly) and knitwear (soft on the skin, but thoughtfully constructed to always feel put-together). The takeaway is less, "This is what you need for Fall 2024," and more, "Pick what feels right to you."

"There are some things that will never change," Maxwell said of his namesake brand. "I'm not interested in a baggy dress, I think it's clear I'm not here for the sandal."

If you were to tease out a theme for this collection, he boiled it down to a lesson he learned early on, when he'd watch his mother and grandmother work the store they ran together back in Texas: "I've always believed in the idea that putting on clothes on your shittiest day can make you feel good. I've always loved the idea of, no matter what you're going through in life, that what you choose to wear that day is how you choose to be remembered. It supersedes what you're going through and what's happening in your life."

See the Brandon Maxwell Fall 2024 collection below.