Straightforwardness is one of the qualities that gives Luke Meier—and the clothes he designs—a quiet popularity that can’t be ignored. To his credit, he’s done it without logos or loudness. Now, not only does he have a solid base, he has the attention of a well-informed new generation.
Meier opened his OAMC show with a snippet of a now-famous 2005 graduation address given by the late David Foster Wallace. It’s a fish story, a parable in which an older fish asks a younger fish how the water is—to which the reply is, “What the hell is water?” If you’re immersed in a certain reality, the path of least resistance is to just keep swimming. Meier, however, has a habit of deep diving. He’s a thinker. He’s rooted in the present, with two big jobs to juggle (with his wife Lucie, he shares creative director duties at Jil Sander). And has no time (and ostensibly no desire) to spin fanciful tales.
When asked what he’s been thinking about lately, the designer replied, “I think it’s always in the context of living life and being around ‘today.’ It’s important that you feel strength and feel protected at the same time.” Those twin notions have been invoked a lot this week. But Meier brought to them an uncommon grace, making a case for dressing with the ease of pajamas, perhaps in quilted cotton and silk, but without forsaking sharp tailoring, for example in high-shine coated cottons, Japanese wools, and felted wool coating. One quilted ensemble brought to mind Mondrian—white, black piping, a shot of orange—while other experiments in quilting were softer, rounder, more cocoon-like. Underneath sharp, military-inflected coats, trousers tended to be generous, with legs often tucked into striped Type O-8 rubber boots, one of three new shoes in the brand’s ongoing collaboration with Adidas. The overall impression was fashion-forward but hardly outlandish.
Meier said that he’s been paying close attention to further honing sourcing and ethical production. Building a brand that’s solid front-to-back is the goal. “It’s not the easiest transition, but it’s the only one that matters at this point,” he said.
