Inside Theophilio's Latest Capsule Collection
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Theophilio designer Edvin Thompson has an immense amount of pride for his West Indian roots. The founder's runway collection for spring/summer 2022 was inspired by his first flight on Air Jamaica two decades earlier, and Rastafarian color palettes and Kingston-inspired silhouettes have remained a through line within the brand's designs. Now furthering his mission to close the gap between his home country and the rest of the world, Thompson and his team have teamed up with Luxury Stores at Amazon to give the mega retailer's shoppers the full Theophilio experience.
"I love representing the place where I am from," the Brooklyn-based creative tells BAZAAR.com. "My culture, my heritage, is always embedded in everything that I do, as it is a fundamental part of my identity. It was important to me to include Jamaica in the collection, because the Amazon customer is different from the Theophilio customer, and I wanted to take the chance to bring these new customers into the [brand's] universe. I believe the most honest thing I can do as a designer is to not only speak about where I am going, but where I am from."
The creative director and his team recently traveled to Jamaica, using the lush, tropical landscape as a backdrop for a campaign photographed by Philip-Daniel Ducasse. "The opportunity to bring Theophilio back to Jamaica and shoot the campaign there felt so personal and raw," Thompson tells us. "My team, a.k.a. my second family, was able to join me for the trip down there, and we all really lent our hearts to this project. […] Going back home to admire the place I'm continuously inspired by helped bring the storytelling full circle."
Each style in the lineup is filled with influences from the designer's home country. From a mesh beaded midi dress Thompson says is the first thing that came to mind when thinking of Jamaica to the collection's "camp-cut" shirt and long striped shorts inspired by his childhood school uniforms, the eight-piece capsule is rich with culture.
If there's anything Thompson hopes shoppers will take away from this Theophilio capsule, it's the designer's pride in his heritage and brand. "I want them to use the clothes and wear the clothes as a form of extending and celebrating Jamaica in all corners of the world," he says. "I always thought of Theophilio as building a bridge from Jamaica to the world. I want consumers to experience being a part of that bridge."
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