Many fashion folks wax poetic when pressed to disclose their creative sources. Stylist turned-designer Brandon Maxwell can’t relate.
“I’m just not one of those people who’s like, ‘I was really inspired by my trip to Cuba,’” Maxwell quips, holding up an impeccably tailored black jacket. “What we start with are materials. I don’t sketch, so I have to be able to drape and cut and pin and get my hand in there. Once we have the first few pieces, we know what the season’s going to be.”
Maxwell’s ability to keep it real is a welcome respite from the pomp of fashion week in Paris, where the 31-year-old designer has converted an elegant flat near the Champs-Élysées into a temporary showroom for his debut collection.
That spring 2016 lineup was first shown at Mr Chow during New York Fashion Week in September, a runway attended by a who’s who of the downtown fashion scene, including Alexander Wang, Steven Klein and Lady Gaga — whom Maxwell has styled for three years. (The designer assisted Gaga’s previous stylist, Nicola Formichetti, for two years.)
You can credit the up-and-comer with Gaga’s new look, which has evolved from meat-dress sensational to old-Hollywood sophisticated.
“I always felt you didn’t have to do a crazy floral dress or something over-the-top,” the Texas native says of his aesthetic philosophy. “You can just give a woman something really simple.”
But Gaga isn’t the only boldface name taken with the designer’s sleek offerings.
Kate Hudson, Kristen Wiig, Uma Thurman and Iman have all been snapped on the red carpet in Brandon Maxwell designs, which this season will find a real-world home in luxury meccas like Bergdorf Goodman, Fivestory and the Line.
Every piece from Maxwell’s self-funded collection is made by hand in New York. Although it’s a costly effort to keep production stateside, the designer’s price points remain reasonable (at least for his target audience) — think $725 for body-hugging wide-leg trousers and $1,895 for a badass blazer to match.
When creating his collection, Maxwell “thought a lot about the working women in my life — I’m a big believer that a woman can go to work and still by sexy. She doesn’t have to wear an old boxy suit.”
