As far as muses go, Keith Richards is a seductive one. Mike Amiri zeroed in on a particular photo, taken by Harry Diltz in 1979, that captures the rocker on the tarmac at the St. Louis airport carrying a travel bag in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniels in the other. What fascinated Amiri beyond Richards’s louche appearance was the lifestyle the photo implies—and the idea that, to some degree, it is attainable for those who are not international idols. “I want people to feel like the heroes that they see,” he offered, as if to say, dress the part and the rest will follow (drinking the part is less advised).
Hence a collection that conjured an Amiri-fied jet-set archetype, with looks that reflected someone who makes regular commutes between L.A. and Europe’s fashion capitals (the brand now has a Milan studio to further develop tailoring and leather goods). The result was a slightly wilder spin on last season: some mild tinkering of proportions, some major luggage, and a few too many vintage scarf prints. Amiri boys in bouclé suits and pearls were basically the equivalent of an indie band covering The Stones; purists might question the point, but here’s betting the look will catch on. Frequent flyers have their core pieces that always do the trick no matter the trip and the sheer variety of blazers, blousons, and trenches, along with the range of footwear—from sneakers to low-heeled boots—seemed to respond to this consideration. And while not every pair of Amiri pants proved a perfect fit, the front-pleat leather trousers looked attractive across both the men’s and women’s lineups, especially in all those rich hues suited to fall.
Travel and music were most directly referenced in the bags, which at creative extreme took the form of drums, guitars, and passports (you can be an Amiri citizen if not an American), and at size extremes were large enough for a weekend in Paris. Indeed, for something or someone to be aspirational means holding it/them to a certain standard, and this comes across well in Amiri’s collections. Yet there’s something about the brand’s true identity that remains up in the air.
