EVEN KEEL

The Hot Clothing Brand Rag & Bone Rocks Steady

The beloved label is growing and doing it just right: As its New York Fashion Week show demonstrated, it has kept its edgy cool while imaginatively expanding its offerings.

How does a brand walk the line between streetwise chic and growing powerhouse lifestyle brand? Easy: It ain’t easy is the short answer.

The balance between edgy cool and expanding a brand from jeans to apparel, accessories and fragrance is not an easy one but Rag & Bone do it quite well.

The label finds a middle ground on the runway: that sweet spot between experimenting while featuring the Rag & Bone design hallmarks its fans love.

The label’s NYFW show started in a focused edit of black and white and red looks: effortlessly cool long shirts, blouson jackets, khakis, tennis sweaters, and loose fitting sweatshirts sometime shown with matching pants for both girls and guys.

Motocross-style leather jackets had a slight 80s feel with 21st century attitude. English prep school tailoring was coded discreetly on trims. Print dresses with handkerchief hems felt random and out of place (but hell, they’ll probably sell), but it was the black outerwear and tailored jackets—sometimes shown with striped pants—that were spot on, familiar but also exciting. Their take on a shirt jacket gives men the option to wear it to work or relaxed on the weekend.

This collection showed that Rag & Bone—now fronted only by Marcus Wainwright (former co-designer David Neville has stepped down)—continues to push forward at a steady pace.

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Wendell Brown

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