Two years ago, after cornering the millennial/Gen-Z market with too-cool-for-school shoes, Eytys launched its first denim-led ready-to-wear collection. The brand’s clubby, youthful vibe carried over to clothes which were designed, explains brand founder Max Schiller, with his young alter ego in mind. It was an approach, he says, that allowed him to “stick in an age where I don’t belong anymore.”
The pandemic allowed Schiller time for sole/soul searching, and he sees the new lineup as a kind of reset that brings the brand to a more personal place relating to his real life. “I’d rather be having a glass of wine with my wife at home, than going out clubbing,” he says, adding that he wants the brand to grow with him.
Old is a relative concept. Schiller is a child of the 1980s (Eytys, get it?), who says that he’s driven by nostalgia for the days of his young adulthood, which coincide with the late 1990s and aughts, the latter being fashion’s current infatuation. Nods to the decade are most evident in the sheer bedazzled, lace-trimmed womenswear; more sophisticated and interesting was a cut-out ribbed knit dress.
Schiller’s reset is as much, or more, about approach as it is about aesthetics. Going forward, he wants to refine and evolve core looks rather than try to reinvent the wheel every six months, which might explain why the collection is so focused on denim, the brand’s first fashion category. Fall’s marble tie-dye jeans are eye-catching, as are a pair that feature twinkling ombré studding. The designer says that he’s also embraced a “clashing contrasts” process when designing, imagining a young David Beckham in one of Fran Lebowitz’s blazers, for example.
In the end, the “rebranding” Schiller speaks of is more conceptual/internal than outward facing. The Eytys’ existing customer base won’t feel betrayed; wearing a blazer doesn’t mean you won’t get carded. In fact, there’s a bit of a Delia’s catalog vibe to the styling of the collection, but no grandpa clothes are in evidence.
The designer says look three is representative of the season, in its bringing together of two worlds; one “harder, tougher,” represented by the camo pants, and thick sandals with angled heels; and the other preppy 2.0, represented by the blazer and an Oxford shirt, with stripes that fade to white at the hem, the “twist” that Schiller is after. This collection might not deliver the kick one gets from spirits or champagne, but like a glass of your favorite wine, it’s familiar and goes down easily.
