The Brooklyn Circus Steps Into the Ring With Todd Snyder and Champion
Todd Snyder and Champion have been working together for close to a decade. Now the duo are bringing a third party into the mix, collaborating with The Brooklyn Circus, the Boerum Hill-based brand that's dressed discerning Brooklynites since it opened up shop in 2006. Snyder and Brooklyn Circus designer Ouigi Theodore have been friends for years, and the fruits of their labor—a capsule collection of relaxed, vintage-inflected designs inspired by boxing and its role in shaping the Black experience—reflect the ease of that relationship.
“Ouigi and I go way back in this industry and I’m excited to be partnering with him as a guest designer after so many years of friendship,” Snyder says, per a release sent out by the brand in anticipation of the collection. “The last year really motivated me to think about concrete ways that I could bring visibility to Black creatives. Collaborating with The Brooklyn Circus and working closely with Ouigi is a natural first step.”
The limited-edition collection—which features varsity jackets, sweaters, sweat separates, and tees produced with the help of Champion's manufacturing expertise—also prominently spotlights the iconography that's become part of The Brooklyn Circus's aesthetic vernacular. Theodore attributes part of the inspiration behind the collection to an image of Muhammad Ali at his training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, in the '70s. But other design cues hit closer to home, including graphics that reference the birth year of his grandmother (1920) and the elephants, now a hallmark of the Brooklyn Circus brand, interspersed on select pieces throughout.
The larger elephant leading the smaller one represents the emphasis The Brooklyn Circus places on mentorship, Theodore notes. Both are helping the other navigate "the concrete jungle,” a motif familiar, both aesthetically and philosophically, to longtime fans of the shop's wares.
All of which means these are *grins sheepishly* clothes worth fighting for.
The Brooklyn Circus + Champion for Todd Snyder capsule collection is available starting January 15 via toddsnyder.com, thebkcircus.com, and in Todd Snyder stores.
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