Friday marks the launch of Edward, a new capsule menswear collection being sold at Odin courtesy of Duckie Brown designers Steven Cox and Daniel Silver, who paired up with Odin owners Paul Birardi and Eddy Chai. When we stopped by the Duckie Brown studio to preview the line last night, we asked the foursome of menswear-market experts if there was any validity to Miuccia Prada’s statement that menswear should be more influenced by womenswear in the future. “Womenswear has been a huge influence for me, it always has been,” Cox told us. “In Duckie Brown we can show a boat short or chiffon shirts, which is obviously from womenswear.”
As for Edward, the approach didn’t take any cues from the ladies. “It was more about thinking about a specific customer,” Chai explained. “We actually pictured this guy named Edward. And we would say, ‘Okay, what would Edward wear? What does Edward like?’ And we created this character really, and this is what Edward would wear. This is his wardrobe,” he said, pointing to a rack of military jackets, moleskin cotton peacoats, and blue button-up shirts, all priced under $500. “It wasn’t about appealing to this and that, it wasn’t trend-driven.” Meanwhile, Cox doesn’t believe there is much of a difference between menswear and womenswear at all. “Originally we had this whole conversation about using women’s fabric. I don’t really agree with that,” the designer said in reference to his Duckie Brown collection. “Because what makes a fabric women’s? You know, there is no penis or vagina in a fabric. Like, why is chiffon women’s and why is it not men’s? I don’t know.”
