Artist, actor and fashion designer Greg Lauren isn’t one for labels. He is known for his artisanal approach to taking, reinventing and breaking apart archetypes that have been universally adopted by fashion. In his hands, formal military field jackets, plain hoodies and army issue cargo pants take on a West Coast ease. Earlier this year, Lauren started working with the eminent Italian nautical company Paul & Shark. ‘When the introduction came I said, do they know what I do? Do they know that I’m going to take all of those amazing classics and try and destroy, and turn it into something new? Will they let me be me?’ he said.
Growing up on the Upper East Side of New York, Lauren was exposed to a very specific, very potent code for how to dress. ‘Really, it was the artificial idea of some lifestyle that isn’t even very real,’ he says. His uncle is the renowned fashion designer Ralph Lauren who has shaped what we think of as the all-American style. ‘Every time I get the chance to take something that’s so classic, so conservative, I want to redo it in a fun way.’ In his early meetings at Paul & Shark, he took apart a smart, cashmere-blend peacoat and spliced it with vintage American denim overalls. It was the meeting of two worlds – Lauren’s crafty, bohemian spontaneity and the sacrosanct Made In Italy sprezzatura.
‘I am of the generation that wants imperfection. I think that something should be perfectly imperfect’
Greg Lauren
Lauren’s tear it up, turn-it-upside-down-and-inside-out MO feels opposed to the solemnity of upper-class elegance. Yet the co-branded pieces have everything that aficionados of Italian menswear love – and more. They combine Old World style with a modern, sustainable, hi-tech sensibility.
Drawing on Paul & Shark’s seafaring heritage, a long kimono, boxy work-shirt has been mixed with hi-tech typhoon fabric, which is used as patches behind tears on denim. An archival bright yellow hi-tech sailing parka from the 1980s is cut into a more military sport kimono, with vintage denim and black fleece sleeves. Lauren even stripped the lining and made a pair of cargo pocket trousers out of it. ‘I was taught to love certain things, beautiful things, but they were appropriate for another generation,’ Lauren says. ‘I am of the generation that wants imperfection. I think that something should be perfectly imperfect and clothing should be about individuality. It should be about uniqueness. In order to find that voice, I had to destroy the old things.’
INFORMATION
-
The 24 best photographs of 2024, shot for the pages of Wallpaper*Photography editor, Sophie Gladstone, completes her year in review, with some personal highlights from Wallpaper* photographers in 2024
-
Time, beauty, history – all are written into trees in Karimoku Research Center's debut Tokyo exhibitionThe layered world of forests – and their evolving relationship with humans – is excavated and reimagined in 'The Age of Wood', a Tokyo exhibition at Karimoku Research Center
-
Tour Xi'an's remarkable new 'human-centred' shopping district with designer Thomas HeatherwickXi'an district by Heatherwick Studio, a 115,000 sq m retail development in the Chinese city, opens this winter. Thomas Heatherwick talks us through its making and ambition
-
Aaron Esh on his subversive menswear, inspired by friends‘It’s about taking something authentic, the people that I know, the clothes they wear,’ says Aaron Esh, the recent Central Saint Martins graduate making menswear inspired by his native east London
-
Sharp edge: A/W 2022 menswear, inspired by the undergroundPhotographed by George Harvey, an edit of menswear looks encapsulating this season’s nocturnal mood – from Balenciaga to Loewe
-
Dior recreates Paris bridge, Pont Alexandre III, for A/W 2022 showDior recreated Paris’ landmark bridge, Pont Alexandre III, for its A/W 2022 menswear show, which took place on 21 January 2022, the date of Christian Dior’s birthday
-
Kenzo returns to Galerie Vivienne for Nigo’s A/W 2022 show debutFor his debut, A/W 2022 Kenzo show, the brand’s new creative director Nigo chose Paris’ Galerie Vivienne, the location of founder Kenzo Takada’s first boutique
-
Milan Fashion Week men's A/W 2022: Prada to FendiA Prada catwalk peppered with Hollywood stars; menswear's new erogenous zones and a modern take on classic silhouettes: all you need to know about Milan Fashion Week men's A/W 2022
-
Men’s fashion week A/W 2022: all you need to knowThe locations, the brands, the buzz: our expert guide to men’s fashion week A/W 2022
-
Paris Fashion Week S/S 2022: all you need to knowIt's the final day of Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday 5th October, which wraps up the whirlwind S/S 2022 show season. Here we present our expert guide to every fashion city, the brands and the buzz.
-
Doug Aitken creates reflective artwork for Saint Laurent in VeniceFor the Saint Laurent S/S 2022 show, the brand’s first physical catwalk presentation since the Covid-19 pandemic began, American artist Doug Aitken created the living artwork Green Lens, on Venice's Isola della Certosa
