The concept behind Vetements, as the name would imply, is clothing—just clothing. Each season, gaunt-cheeked models with buzz cuts take Vetements’s runways in Paris in reworkings of wardrobe staples: floral dresses, trenchcoats, suits, and jeans. It’s a no-frills approach to high fashion, borne from the mind of a collective led by designer Demna Gvasalia, with his brother, Guram, managing the business side of things. And the brand has garnered international acclaim since its 2014 debut.

“We always want to work with existing garments, the things we love—denim pants, double-breasted men’s coats, classic evening dresses,” Demna Gvasalia told Vogue in 2015. The label’s first It item was its recut vintage jeans. With mismatched washes and jagged hems, the Frankenstein-ed denim became a street style sensation with a price tag—a cool $1,450—to match.

It was the hoodie with which the collective revitalized fashion, however. Its iconic iteration, a black oversize cut with “Vetements” written across the front in the style of Metallica’s logo, was worn by models, editors, and Rihanna alike. The brand has since made sweatshirts that read “Justin 4ever” (Bieber, presumably) or tout the 1997 release Titanic (Céline Dion herself has been seen sporting one).

In 2016, Vetements decided to turn its focus to remixing the fashion calendar, announcing it would be changing up its show schedule to present womenswear and menswear together during Paris’s couture weeks in January and July. Its first outing of this kind, for Spring 2017, was entirely comprised of collaborations with the likes of Levi’s, Dr. Martens, and Manolo Blahnik. Vetements even managed to make the much-maligned Juicy Couture velour tracksuit cool again. Quite an accomplishment.

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Vetements

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