A gym-class sweatshirt in the new Shipley Halmos collection is appliquéd with the words "Unknown Artist." Har, har—a very S&H joke. But Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos meant it seriously, as they explained in their Soho studio. Spring, Shipley said, is "a celebration of the aesthetic created by people contributing to a creative society." The duo listed street signs, ads, and more as inspiration points—their board is covered with pieces whose designers they can t identify. Nor do they want to. Looking good is good enough.
It s refreshingly ego-free for designers to forgo logo-dropping for the peculiar pleasures of anonymity, but it s where Shipley and Halmos have been directing their efforts over the past few years. "In the marketplace, our clothes are meant to complete a guy s look," Shipley said. There s no expectation that S&H will be the sum total of anyone s wardrobe. That being the case, there s no need to put wheel-reinventing pressure on their wares. They ve made a smart business on affordable suiting (here, with more blazer separates), jeans, five-pocket chinos, shirting, and knits. There were standouts throughout, including an indigo spray-dyed striped sweater and the new poly-satin version of their classic baseball jacket, but the whole here was greater than any individual part.
