The hype beasts are becoming hype men at Kith. As Ronnie Fieg’s business crosses to the other side of its first decade—and Fieg marks his 40th birthday this year—the splashy graphics and over-the-top logos that once defined Kith have been traded out for something subtler. Spring 2022 takes a pastoral tack, with slate, sky, sage, and sand as its primary colors and workwear and leisurewear mashupsas its defining silhouettes.
The big story here is relaxation. Coach jackets are quilted and puffy, either dotted with small blossoms or in a gradient of neutral tones. The brand’s first stabs at traditional workwear clothing, done in that very recognizable shade of brown, are not in stiff twill but rather a washed cotton that took “over 18 months of fabric development,” per Fieg. A revitalized focus on denim led Fieg and co. to construct a straight-leg light wash jean and coordinating slim jacket—the jeans are a rebuttal to the loungewear that Kith helped popularize, but still narrow enough at the ankle to show off a pair of sneakers.
Photographed in a makeshift meadow inside a photo studio, with cloud-prints and florals evoking scenes created by another of fashion’s big dreamers, Kith’s latest follows in the footsteps of the menswear designers who have had to pivot from street to sartorial. Fieg says this collection, with all its layering and more subtle details, was designed to help his customers “become the best dressed people they know.” A step in the right direction, but maybe a little too referential of recent menswear trends.
