|Objects| Brett Johnson
|Objects| Brett Johnson wool and silk bomber jacket with side pockets; cashmere roll-neck sweater; wool joggers MODEL: RYU @ NEXT MODELS; GROOMING: FEDERICO GHEZZI @ ONE REPRESENTS; PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANTS: IRENE CANO AND ALEXA LAUR 28 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
of the neo-noir 1980 Paul Schrader film American Gigolo, it became a mainstream phenomenon, sales rocketed, and suddenly all men’s tailoring started looking softer, more Armaniesque. He has never fallen out of fashion. It’s interesting that new designers are being given access to the elite club of Italians that dominate the aesthetic. Brett Johnson is a Black American designer who grew up close to Washington, DC and launched his menswear label at the age of 24, in 2014. His mother is half Sicilian, and he has always been drawn to Italian sartorial style rather than American sportswear (although he does have a collection of hundreds of rare Nike sneakers, many of which he has customised himself). He makes the trip from his American office to his Milan base every month. “I have everything I need in both places,” he explains. “I have identical swatches and sketches in each place, but I need to be in Milan because that’s my laboratory, where we work out fabrics and fittings. We have our own in-house pattern cutter who works with all the factories we use.” Johnson sees the brand as having an Italian visual vocabulary, and he understands the nuances that allow him to share the same space as Boglioli, Canali, Cucinelli and Zegna. “First, we had to get the silhouette right,” he says, “then we made sure the materials were correct. But ultimately, it’s all about attention to detail that makes you stand out – how can you reconstruct a collar or pocket? How can we update a cuff? This is how we have made a solid position on the shop floor next to brands that have been around for over a century. I’ve been told by retailers that we are speaking to their customers in ways they hadn’t expected. It’s not necessarily made with the aristocratic Italian man in mind, it’s more the athletes, architects and finance guys.” Unlike the likes of Louis Vuitton, Johnson pointedly avoids any kind of Everyone’s talking about this quiet luxury thing as a trend, but, to me, it’s always been a way of life. It’s always been there, and it’s always resonated with my customer – Brett Johnson celebrity-chasing on social media. “I am not interested in catching a trend,” he says. “A lot of those big houses can chase the Gen Z consumer and get involved in hype, and then pivot back to being classic if it doesn’t work. I’m consistent and will always do what I do best. And that’s part of the reason why we are an Italian brand – it’s a great time to be working here because there are the centuries of heritage, but the mills have a new generation of owners and are progressing all the time, making it modern. That gives it the upper hand in terms of global fashion.” Johnson’s designs fit perfectly into the aforementioned elite club of Milanese brands – his cable knits, ivy-green suede jackets, the gilets, and the plush wool blousons in light caramel with shearling collars. They look and feel luxurious and need no branding to make them appealing. As he says: “Everyone’s talking about this quiet luxury thing as a trend, but, to me, it’s always been a way of life. It’s always been there, and it’s always resonated with my customer.” The crucial thing that makes this style key to fashion as an industry is that it’s always sold well, and sales are increasing because men are increasingly wary of that aforementioned “naïf ’s idea of glamour”. As Olie Arnold, style director at Mr Porter, says: “It sits in stark contradiction to the logo-mania trend which dominated menswear for seasons. ‘Quiet luxury’ is not a new phenomenon, it’s a constant style that has continuously evolved, and Italian brands are the experts in understated, uncompromising luxury.” CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 29
