Los Angeles designer Mike Amiri has relaunched his women’s collection for spring 2022, starting with a clean, casual slate.
Departing from its previous rocker identity, Amiri’s new stand-alone vision for women’s pushes luxe sportswear in neutral hues the Left Coast way.
“I wanted to focus on what we do well in L.A.,” he said of aiming to perfect versatile pieces, a la Hedi Slimane at Celine, perhaps. “I wanted the collection to not be stuck up like traditional luxury and not to be derivative of the men’s but complementary to it.”
Naturally, denim played a starring role, and it looked rich. The perfect T-shirt, another foundation of many a California brand, was rendered in lightweight leather with the drape of jersey, and hand-pleating instead of knit rib at the collar.
“There’s a lot of focus on technique,” Amiri said. “The brown jean, that started out as indigo blue and I reverse washed it to maintain all the vintage lines from the original blue wash, then took the whole jean apart and reassembled the top block in a beautiful plongé leather to give it that luxurious twist and craft.”
Coming out of the pandemic, creating an everyday uniform that is comfortable but refined was top of mind for the designer. An oversize dark denim work shirt and matching flared jean with gold topstitching that brought to mind Brooke Shields in her Calvins could easily be that, or a dropped shoulder, oversize plaid shirt with creased trousers, for example.
Double-breasted blazers with wide-leg pants pooled over sneakers also had a minimalist appeal. And hybrid cream boucle and leather flared trousers, worn with a sharp white trench, brought slouch to the boucle suit vocabulary. Belt loop hardware and distressed knit sweaters added hints of rebelliousness and oomph.
But there will need to be a few more distinctive design elements to make the brand stand out as it grows.
