5 Males on Why They Love Carrying Kiko Kostadinov’s Garments

Held final weekend in a stately library on the highest flooring of Lycée Henri-IV – a complicated secondary college in Paris – Kiko Kostadinov’s Spring/Summer season 2023 menswear present drew on the “intergenerational ache” of the Ottoman rule of the designer’s native Bulgaria. Deriving inspiration from Janissary army uniforms and the agricultural landscapes of Bulgarian painter Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Kostadinov’s males stepped by the archaic corridor in a sequence of iridescent fits and fluffy ensembles – some with deconstructed, silky and stripy pyjama-like panelling – with glitter seeping from their eyes like tears. As ordinary, the tailoring was immaculate, and the messaging behind the gathering sturdy but stunning. 

“The masculine wardrobe is deeply entrenched within the tenets of struggle, energy and business,” learn the press notes – and one may argue that Kostadinov’s garments draw from precisely the identical sartorial arenas; the uniforms of struggle, the fits of the highly effective, and the workwear crucial for business. Ever since his Central Saint Martins MA graduate assortment in 2016 – which featured morphsuits worn beneath minimalist workwear – and the now-legendary, reconstructive sequence of Stüssy collaborations he created as a scholar, Kostadinov has garnered cult standing across the globe as a meticulous, one-of-a-kind menswear designer. 

In 2017, the London-based designer was appointed artistic director of Waterproof coat’s 0001 label, debuted his first standalone assortment, and teamed up with Asics on some understated trainers; this may result in a rolling collaboration with the Japanese sportswear large on a sequence of playful, acrid-coloured trainers which can be so in style as to have grow to be virtually ubiquitous. In 2018, the model debuted a separate, idiosyncratic womenswear line helmed by Australian twin sisters Laura and Deanna Fanning, created boundary-pushing footwear collaborations with Camper, and Kostadinov launched AFFXWRKS – a extra reasonably priced, conceptual workwear label – with Taro Ray, Stephen Mann and Michael Kopelman. Regardless of having a prolific output and such a multilayered profession, the person himself is famously self-effacing – Kostadinov prefers for the garments to talk for themselves.

Right here, to coincide with the discharge of his new assortment, 5 longtime wearers of the model – stylists, designers, writers, artists and pals – communicate on Kostadinov’s difficult, considerate and timeless strategy to clothes design.

Eric N Mack, Artist

“Kiko is a buddy. We met in London, by a mutual buddy and artist, SoiL Thornton. I used to be struck by his viewpoint, which was distinctive and rigorous. We related over modern artwork in addition to currents in vogue.

“I personal loads of Kiko – he thinks by the clothes; materials selections, sensory juxtapositions. His conceptual tackle workwear is unmatched. It’s additionally simply as dynamic within the realm of streetwear and in his work with Asics. His daring use of color makes it all of the extra thrilling every season. What’s it gonna seem like? And extra importantly, what’s it gonna really feel like?

“I like the liberty and transformation that Kiko’s clothes permit. There’s all the time a number of methods to put on a jacket, snaps, tearaways and so forth. I’m within the tales he’s telling by a number of aesthetic histories. His use of the old style format is releasing to me – I see the aim and use of the gathering conference to speak and complicate.“

“I like the bravery, the unpredictability of every assortment. It’s like each side of wearable clothes are being challenged not directly” – Dozie Kanu

Dozie Kanu, Artist and Designer 

“I one way or the other stumbled throughout a picture from Kiko’s CSM graduate runway present; the mannequin within the picture was carrying this golden knit sweater with these hanging tassels, and had a blue work shirt wrapped across the neck like a shawl. And the black masks … man, that picture was my iPhone background for some months.

“I’ve too many Kiko items to rely. However the one I put on probably the most is that this navy hoodie with crimson embroidered graphics on the collarbone space. In case you see me on the airport, I’m in all probability carrying it as a result of the pockets are good for passports and boarding passes.

“I simply love Kiko’s strategy [to fashion]. I like the bravery, the unpredictability of every assortment. It’s like each side of wearable clothes are being challenged not directly, whether or not it’s by color mixtures, or cuts, or the textures. And he upholds the storytelling components of placing collectively a group, which I can actually join with as an artist.

“Kiko is on some world, common kind shit to me, and that’s what units him aside as a designer. He manages to flee time durations and traits and cultures. It could sit wherever and nowhere concurrently. There’s additionally a level of issue that I actually admire. Different designers can’t copy it or they are going to look actually silly making an attempt.“

Daniel Pacitti, Design Marketing consultant and Stylist 

“I first turned conscious of Kiko’s work by his collaboration with Stüssy, the place he reworked previous items. They’re nonetheless the one Kiko items I personal, together with nearly all of his Asics footwear, and a few attire too. I wouldn’t say I put on any of it anymore although, it’s all away in storage. I largely put on Asics Lahars now, however I believe Kiko did an important job designing his Asics and I cherished the colors and silhouettes he used and modified. I’m undoubtedly going to dig them out and rock them in years to return.

“My favorite factor about Kiko’s menswear is his use of color and sample. I actually admire his consideration to element with {hardware} and referencing. I additionally like the way in which his trousers sit on sneakers, as that is one thing I’m fairly choosy about myself too, so it’s good to see another person with the identical consideration to element. These days, I desire him as a footwear designer to a clothes designer. 

“The entire London [fashion] scene appears a bit useless, however when it comes to folks from the town who put on his garments, Kiko is unquestionably a well known title. You’ll be able to’t go into London and never see somebody carrying the Asics he’s executed, so when it comes to footwear, he’s undoubtedly smashed that.“

“There’s an enormous degree of ‘fuck you, we do what we would like’ in the way in which they create and execute their imaginative and prescient” – Rei Delos-Reyes

Rei Delos-Reyes, Designer and Inventive Strategist

“I first got here throughout Kiko’s work seven years in the past whereas learning at college. On the time he was engaged on collaborations with Stüssy, and it was the primary time I’d seen a younger designer crossing over with a famend model to create artisanal one-offs. The deconstructed clothes had uncooked power and a rebellious spirit, which was very shifting for me as a scholar.

“I’ve collected a number of items over time, primarily tailoring-inspired outerwear and trousers. What I like most concerning the clothes is the extent of consolation they supply, mixed with good detailing and performance. Each merchandise I personal comes with very handy options, which to me is a vital consider deciding what to put on.

“My favorite a part of Kiko’s menswear is the themes and tales they inform. There’s a component of fantasy and journey embedded inside every assortment, each in a bodily and metaphorical sense. This manner of storytelling breathes life into the collections in a method that transcends clothes. The sensation is similar to watching a very good film; you will get misplaced in it and be left eager to be part of that world.

“No matter any scenes, the model has all the time set itself aside from others resulting from its philosophy. There’s an enormous degree of ‘fuck you, we do what we would like’ in the way in which they create and execute their imaginative and prescient. I really feel as if there aren’t as many designers these days daring sufficient to constantly take dangers in the way in which Kiko does – by back-to-back seasons of solely new silhouettes, references, materials, color, sounds, and tales. The advantages of the dangers repay evidently in how rapidly the items promote out and the way in which it’s coveted by his cult following.

“The model’s headstrong strategy to each image-making and enterprise appears like a breath of recent air in an age the place menswear has grow to be considerably of a one-dimensional subject pushed by consumerism. Kiko’s success proves that you may nonetheless play the sport, obtain numbers and keep a excessive degree of artistic integrity with out confirming to the established order.“

Jeppe Ugelvig, Curator and Author

“Kiko was launched to me by colleagues within the business, who praised his genre-defying strategy to modern menswear, and he rapidly turned my favorite younger menswear designer working as we speak. I used to be and nonetheless am fascinated by how he has mobilised so many alternative sections of the style scene and by the maturity of his output. There’s nothing foolish about Kiko’s observe. 

“I often by no means purchase new garments, so it took me some time to get into his. Some time again, I obtained to put on borrowed Kiko for a complete week – jackets, pants, shirts, full ensembles – and it opened up a brand new materials dimension of his work to me. Kiko’s garments are uncommon as a result of they problem you: the matches, cuts, and materials increase your consciousness of garments themselves, and this makes carrying them an mental expertise. 

“In an age the place impartial designers are pressured to decide on between the logic of hype or obscurity, Kiko finds a golden center floor. That is distinctive and weird, and price celebrating, I believe. Whereas many designers go for overly semantic ‘gag’ vogue for the Instagram grid, Kiko transcends the semiotic and embraces subtlety and abstraction with out ever dropping cool issue. Briefly, Kiko is an mental designer, and a uncommon one at that.

“He has, in report time, ascended London’s younger, prize-sponsored graduate scene and established the inspiration for a enterprise – spanning menswear, womenswear, equipment, and even fragrance – that might final a lifetime. This appears certainly to be the plan. Regardless of his hyper-contemporary aesthetic, Kiko’s greatest distinction is his evident longevity: within the type of giants earlier than him (like Yohji Yamamoto), his observe looks as if a multi-faceted and ever-morphing dialog with himself – one that can final a long time.“