Baldwin, the all-American denim fashion house, switched things up with a serious re-vamp this past January. The 2015 CFDA fashion fund finalists, Matt and Emily Baldwin, created the brand in 2009 based out of Kansas City. At the start of the new year, the couple made room for Johnathan Crocker, the label’s new creative director and president.
Johnathan has rebranded the premium denim company by updating the brand mark to BLDWN, relocating headquarters to Los Angeles, and launching a full men and women’s ready-to-wear system. The debut of their first RTW collection took place yesterday at the Egg Collective in the heart of Tribeca. We stopped by the showroom to discuss repositioning, Americana, and denim legacy, with their new creative head:
**In repositioning the brand, you moved the headquarters to LA, changed up the logo, and launched a ready-to-wear system for both men and women. With all these changes, how do you envision the evolution of the company?**
I think the huge focus in position has been building this modern American fashion house. A lot of times what we think about is American fashion, and it’s strong association and precepts with the ideas and pillars of classic heritage Americana. The concept of modernity juxtaposed with American fashion seems like a non sequitur; it doesn’t make sense. So that’s been the key focus for us in everything we do whether it’s updating the brand mark, trip package, or hardware. Ultimately, it’s how it’s articulated in the collection and finding that modern expression of American fashion.
**As an American ready-to-wear brand, how does BLDWN embody American culture?**
In everything that we do moving forward, it’s about celebrating American design. So, there’ll be times where it’s literal, and the concept or inspiration for a collection draws from an aspect of American design whether it’s an individual or a movement that might be to kind of simulate consequential things. For example, when we do a photo shoot and we’re using a sofa it’s not just a generic sofa, we always use an American designer. For our holiday shoot that’s up right now, it’s a 1972 Florence Knoll sling back sofa. We’re not tagging it or telling people what it is, but there’s intent that everything we do ties back into it. The reason why we’re here today instead of a penthouse of a hotel or studio is that this is a beautiful showroom that is owned by three American women designers \[Egg Collective\] and every single piece of furniture you see here they designed. That’s our kind of slight nod to telling the story of American design and how it extends well beyond fashion, art, architecture, and interior.
**What inspirations drive the theme of this collection?**
Mark Cohen is someone that we looked at from the 70’s. It was more for styling references and the way that he photographed his subjects based on that period. Everything had this kind of timeless feel to it; You wouldn’t know if it was shot in the 70s or if it was shot today on film, so I think that played a definite role in terms of how we styled the collection and drew inspiration from that. In general, it was modernity in American fashion and looking at aspects of art, architecture, design and different references from that. Case study homes and that whole movement was the idea behind building affordable housing with the use of new materials and new techniques so even finding elements in that way and applying it to design. I’ll think of new materials we can use, and new approaches we can take for a women’s shirt or sweater in that same way, so again, there will be times that it’s literal and times where it’s just kind of on the periphery of inspiration.
**You previously worked with AG, so one can assume you’re a denim expert. What will the future of BLDWN’s denim legacy look like?**
The brand is rooted in denim. That’s how the brand was founded, and despite the shift moving towards ready-to-wear for both men and women, jeans will always be a huge focus and the primary offering of the brand. To answer your question, what is our interpretation of denim moving forward, it’s going to be much more sophisticated and elevated point of view. Everything for me begins with the fabric so that will always be substantial. By that I mean, you’ll never pick up a pair of our denim and feel a gummy legging fabric. There’s a ton of brands that do that and do it incredibly well, but we’re just not going to be one of them. For women over the last two years, we’ve seen a trend moving away from that super legging stretchy fit and replacing it with something more substantial. That’s why we’re seeing brands like Re/Done with the classic one-fiber fit that everyone is trying to replicate. That authenticity to denim is something we’ll incorporate. In terms of washes, it’s always going to be a sophisticated and elevated point of view; everything should look expensive and high quality. All of the denim and washes you see, whether it’s a skirt or a jacket, is going to have a beautiful and clean point of view. Not to say that we won’t explore other washes, it just won’t be what you expect or what you associate with premium denim.
**Describe your creative process for this collection.**
Fabric, color, silhouette, and always referencing back to some concept or inspiration. Ultimately, ruining it through the brand filters which are: American, modern, confident, and aware. We want to make sure that we continue to make a definitive point of view that’s consistent. I think with the whole rebrand, we can’t be all things, all people, so we’re focused on who we are and making sure that each collection feels consistent and true to that brand position.
To see more by BLDWN click [here](https://www.baldwin.co/).
* * *
Interview conducted and written by: Morgan Vickery
.jpg)
