Snoop Dogg collects lowriders. There were a couple parked outside the hôtel particulier in Le Marais, where Adam Kimmel staged his Spring presentation. There were also some Snoop looky-likeys leaning on them, and a whole lot more inside, lolling around the Lincoln Continental that was humpin' and bumpin' in the courtyard. They were wearing Kimmel's collection, inspired, he said, by "one of the most original artists of the last 30 years." And so Snoop Dogg joined the designer's pantheon of outlaw heroes—and fashion muses.
Kimmel tends to use his inspirations for style and attitude more than actual items of clothing, but in this case, the football jersey with its stars-and-stripes motif and the satin bomber jacket were pretty straight lifts. He'd custom-designed a bandanna print in cotton silk which he used for cuffs, collars, the lining of a chambray jean jacket, among others, and the sleeves on the latest edition of his signature jumpsuit. And Kimmel's new peak-notch lapel was just like Snoop's.
He suggested that a striped shirt paired with pleated chinos was the sort of outfit that reflected hip-hop's conservative element, but it also fitted well with Kimmel's own American working-stiff aesthetic. And it's that—rather than his muse of the moment—that drives him to master design challenges like the reversible jackets that are his new signature pieces. Here, a casual blazer flipped into a tux.
Kimmel's last presentation, with models wearing masks by the artist George Condo, generated the best press and the biggest sales of his career. It was hard to see how he could top it, and he didn't. But he insisted his latest was his favorite yet. "I'm excited about taking something 'Made in Italy' and introducing Snoop elements." That football jersey, for instance? The finest cashmere. Snoop would like that.
