Vogue’s menswear editor Michael Philouze has teamed up with the German jeans company Closed, on a capsule titled Style Beyond Gender. What might look like a stylist/corporate mash-up on paper is, in fact, a coming together of friends. Philouze and Sophia Lewis, senior designer and co-head of womenswear at Closed, met 24 years ago when they were both starting out in the industry. “We have a special bond because we got to [know each other from] working in very intense contexts, like prepping fashion shows,” says Philouze on a call. Those are either bonding or fighting moments for people; we decided to bond and not fight.”
The impetus for working together at this moment was what the pair see as a confluence of values across time and generations. “We realized that there was a duality between the late ’90s and now,” explains Lewis in an email exchange. “The emotion and the expression that teenagers want to voice through fashion is as strong as when Michael and I first got to know each other. Gender freedom, racial and sexual equality, and a world without hate…all dreams that never die.”
It will take time and work to achieve such a utopia; the Closed capsule offers options for the journey in the form of hoodies, military jackets, jeans, and, of course, a slip dress. The cut is generous so as to be inclusive. “The idea was to update some staples from the company, so it was a mix of archival research…and then we went thrift store shopping in Berlin, and a little American college influence coming from me,” explains Philouze, a proud Marymount Manhattan College alum.
The overall vibe of the collection is easy, yet this is a purposeful project both on the concept and material level (eco denim, viscose, and natural dyes were used for some of the pieces.) “We wanted to have a dialogue around it so the pieces would connect to you on a deeper level,” Philouze says. “I see capsule collections as messages to help kids enjoy being who they are, who they want to become, and feeling free with the interaction between their bodies and identities, because for me one of the strengths of fashion is to be able to give people the lift or the motivation to become a better version of themselves.”
