Fashionista has a running series where it profiles people in the fashion industry and how they found their way in the business. Most of them apply to womenswear, but the most recent profile is of Greg Lauren, the man whose unique take on reconstructed pieces have garnered a cult following. Let's just say that we're super jealous that Fashionista beat us to the punch on this one because Greg Lauren is, by our estimation, about to fucking pop.
Lauren is, not that surprisingly, Ralph Lauren's nephew because, of course, that's the first thing you were wondering. His most recent F/W 15 show at New York Fashion Week turned some heads with a huge collection of repaired, reconstructed, distressed and, most importantly, unique pieces. We were there. Aside from the parade of absolute smokeshow models, the clothes were wild—completely rebuilt and destroyed. Some may call it derelicte. Others may point to the craft it takes to create something so intricate.
His introduction story to fashion was more independent than the fact that Ralph is his uncle. He absorbed a lot of it through movies and after college, when he landed a few roles himself, most notably Boogie Nights where he's credited as Young Stud, uttering the the memorable line: "This is TWICE in two days that a chick has OD'd on me!" After that, he began working on a project that had him making clothes out of Japanese paper, so he learned to sew. When a sleeve didn't fit right, he ripped it off and re-attached it.
If it wasn't obvious enough, that right there is where the Greg Lauren signature aesthetic comes from. Now, the Greg Lauren brand is four years old and growing, even though he only makes roughly 2,000 pieces per season since every piece is still made completely by hand. So yeah, get your tickets for the Greg Lauren bandwagon. It's about to leave.
