Luxury direct-to-consumer fashion brand Wardrobe.NYC is the brainchild of Australian expats: fashion designer Josh Goot and Christine Centenera (a former Vogue Australia editor who also serves as a consultant to Kanye West’s Yeezy womenswear line and a stylist for Virgil Abloh’s menswear line for Louis Vuitton — and is off to Paris to style the spring-summer 2020 collection showing June 20). Enough said. Centenera’s partner in life is actor/writer/producer Joel Edgerton, who turned up along with Kim Kardashian West on Tuesday at Levi’s Haus in West Hollywood at a private dinner to celebrate the launch of the label’s latest addition: a denim collaboration with Levi’s.
The Wardrobe.NYC denim capsule is offered as a $1,000 four-piece wardrobe or a $2,400 eight-piece wardrobe. Women’s styles include a trench, blazer, T-shirt, ribbed tank, denim jacket, button-front denim shirt, jeans and a denim skirt. Men’s options, priced the same, swap out the tank top for a sweater and the skirt for shorts.
Since debuting in 2017, Wardrobe.NYC has established a niche in the fashion market by supplying upscale capsule urban uniforms for men and women, offered in timeless styles and reasonably priced bundles of 4-5 or 8-10. The brand currently consists of four sub-lines: Tailored, Sport (in partnership with Adidas), Street (launched in February) and Denim (the Levi’s collab, available for pre-order and set to ship on July 10).
“Our brand was inspired by New York City, because everyone wears a uniform. New York is so fast, people are so time-poor, and the days are so demanding that you need simple, effective wardrobe solutions,” Goot told The Hollywood Reporter. “When it comes to collaborations, we’re looking for the best in class, the icon. Levi’s is obviously synonymous with denim, they’re amazing at what they do, and they are so engrained in American culture.”
The designers put their own stamp on Levi’s hero pieces, from 501 jeans to a men’s shirt reinterpreted as a women’s jacket. “It’s kind of like bringing a bottle to a party or food to a picnic; you pull out all your favorites and lay them down,” said Levi’s global head of design Jonathan Cheung. “Christine had her own 501s that she was really fond of, so we put those against ours and started making alterations to get to the Christine fit. And same with Josh. The oversized shirt-as-jacket was something that Christine had personally, so we developed that. It’s pretty much an expression of their personalities: casual-luxe or accessible high-end, which reflects their Aussie nature. They’re super down-to-earth, but obviously are working in a very chic space.”
Edgerton weighed in with THR on his girlfriend’s designs: “I’m a clothes obsessive! Christine will tell you this. I’ve got clothes in Sydney, New York, L.A. and all the places I live, and [I love] the fact that these guys are providing clothing where you can just up and leave and look classy, especially for people who travel a lot. I had a friend for years, who I referred to as Einstein, because the theory of Einstein when it came to clothing is that he wore the same thing every day. You have to research this! [THR has confirmed that Einstein repeatedly wore a gray suit.] He did that so he could just shut his mind off about what to wear every morning. And I’m super happy that they’re doing a collaboration with Levi’s because I’ve always said that black is not my color. I like blues and browns!”
Beyond his devotion to Wardrobe. NYC and Levi’s, Edgerton further confessed: “I’m a hat freak. I have about 40-plus hats including four bone-colored Stetsons, like the one I’m wearing, in various stages of disrepute. And I would never throw away a pair of boots, ever! I’m a real top-and-tail guy. Generally, if you ever see me, I’m wearing Australia on my feet (R.M. Williams or Blundstones) and hats. But what goes in between is up for grabs!”
The brand has gained a fast Hollywood following including West, Timothée Chalamet, Margot Robbie, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Nicole Kidman, and David and Victoria Beckham. Abloh, who met Centenera when they both worked at Yeezy, wore Wardrobe.NYC to the British Fashion Awards in 2017 to accept the Urban Luxe Brand award for his label Off-White. And Centenera mentions that Elizabeth Chambers is “next door” at Chateau Marmont wearing jeans and a blazer from the new collection to support her dear friend, Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki, honored with the 2019 Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award. (She showed up at the dinner later.) Hollywood stylist Karla Welch and hair stylist Jen Atkin were also at the dinner.
Beyond Hollywood association, limited quantities further fuel demand, although the lines are recut after they sell out. “We do want the clothes to be scarce, and we also want to run our business responsibly and be as efficient as possible,” said Goot. “We don’t mark down, we never go on sale, so it’s important for us to optimize the production.”
What’s next? “We’ve spoken about Beach,” says Goot, while Centenera mentions a second Levi’s collaboration in the works, hinting at more California outings to come.
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