As softly spoken as Mike Amiri, the man, can be, Amiri the brand has never really come off as sensitive. While Mike posts handwritten inspirational quotes on his personal Instagram, Amiri’s brand account features slick glamour shots of boys smoking ciggies at the Chateau Marmont. But as it does for all who settle in Los Angeles, wellness eventually came for Amiri.
His spring 2022 menswear collection is a paean to feeling good and escaping the modern world. Serenity is telegraphed not only through Amiri’s ever-loosening silhouettes and many ivory lace and silk separates, but through the spa-like setting of a film and a soundtrack by Black Coffee with the cooing refrain, “wish you were here.” Reached over Zoom, the designer riffed, “What does calm look like? What does health look like? How do you make the clothes feel like an exhale?”
That will sound especially woo-woo from a guy who started his brand by making tees for Axl Rose and shooting holes through cashmere sweaters with a shotgun. It is also pretty on-the-nose for how one imagines the Amiri customer is feeling right about now. On television, The White Lotus and Nine Perfect Strangers paint distressing pictures of how the well-off search for wellness. The characters’ wardrobes tend to match the state of mind they want to acquire (through whatever means necessary): airy colors, sensual fabrics, louche trousers with a sort of always-on-vacation spirit. Amiri did speak of capturing a certain escapism with this collection, but rather than get as carried away as The White Lotus’s Jennifer Coolidge in a caftan, he knew to pull back on the fantasy and inject a sensitive new reality into his designs.
Texture is the big story, and it comes in beautiful and luxurious new ways. The sorbet bouclés will catch your attention first, giving the longline double breasted suiting Amiri has experimented with for a couple seasons a chubby, sweet weight while making a Baja pullover and track pants feel especially luxe. There is whipstitching and fringed hems on camp shirts and leather hoodies—it’s easy to picture Amiri’s athletes coveting these pieces—and a pair of chocolate ice-dyed jeans that took the Amiri team three days to perfect. The best ideas of the collection come together in its final look: A knit tank with hand-embroidered bandana stripes and buttery patchwork leather pants. The Amiri dude used to have a bull in a china shop brazenness to him; now he’s ready to emote a homespun tenderness—and he’s got a great bag, too.
