Complex Style got to sit down with Dao-Yi and Maxwell of Public School to chat about a couple of things. After another hot year with CFDA nominations in both menswear and womenswear and the hype on the brand for its coveted Jordan collabs—this time a X, last time a 1—Public School is the darling of New York fashion right now. So, right, why not get their thoughts on a few things?
Like, why did they choose the Jordan X? It wasn't 100% their choice:
We sort of time it out with Jordan and what they’re releasing. We work in unison with them, and the Xs were something that they were about to release. For the last two shows, we’ve debuted the Jordans on the runway in a different colorway from the release they’re doing, and then they let us customize a pair, and we’re able to get them out to our friends and family. So usually it just works on their calendar of whatever shoe they’re about to release and that they’re trying to push.
They also played coy on the release date:
Maxwell Osborne: It’s a secret!
Dao-Yi Chow: Could be this weekend, you never know! Or it could be next year.
How was the transition into womenswear? Is there a "Public School woman?"
Our main goal has been to be able to present a full, credible women’s collection—a women’s collection every season that has a unique point of view and is recognized specifically as a Public School point of view. We’re three seasons in now, and I think it’s still evolving for us. We’re finding out that she has many sides. When we first approached it, we approached one side of her. But now we’ve turned the corner, and there’s another side. And you keep turning the corner, so it’s continually evolving, but we just really want to approach it the same way we did with menswear and stick to our point of view, create our own name, and do things that hopefully people like and respect.
What about the differences between menswear and womenswear?
Textiles. There's just a wider range of things that you can do with women’s as opposed to men’s. It takes men a little bit longer to get into newer things, and I think with women are always ready and willing to experience new things. So it’s fun for us to experience that design process.
