AMIRI Spring Summer 2024

The AMIRI man is creative in attitude and art. Embracing the romance of being a tourist in a foreign land, he echoes the styles and sophistication of his surroundings through radical imagination and craft. Taking what he knows – subcultural Americana, particularly 50s and 90s youth culture – he creates what he sees. Balancing the casual and the classic, the borrowed and the bespoke, traditional tailoring silhouettes are relaxed and re-energized, mimicking the novelty nature of vintage garments found and reworked.

Cropped and elongated, shapes are inspired as much by LA’s subcultures as the city’s art studios and ateliers. Languid suit jackets are cut wide to slouch at an extended shoulder and voluminous trousers gently pool and flare, reminiscent of super baggy fits ubiquitous with California’s skate community. Shorts are equally elongated, crafted with an extended second lining that implies an instinctive cut. Deformalizing the classical, ties are worn as belts and shirts half-tucked over cummerbunds, encouraging aspects of self-styling that are audacious and refined.

A Californian spirit imbues heritage fabrics – bouclé, tweed, and leather – with new meaning. Suiting is faded in the West Coast heat, and belted shirt jackets soften notions of workwear. Bouclé is hand-embellished with cascading sequins, or flecked with shimmered tinsel, and wild flowers picked from the garden adorn garments as glistening decoration.

Loosely woven leather cardigans resemble home-spun crochet knits, while patterned jackets crafted from tightly-braided leather are inspired by traditional bistro chairs. Silk scarves hang loose and oversized plaid trousers could be picnic blankets found and finessed on a whim. Customising tradition, translucent tailoring reveals layering, reversible jackets can be flipped either way and colourful button embellishments create 3D mixed-media polka dots. Animated threads woven across garments imitate pinstripes, encouraging the notion of creating something exquisite from nothing – refined yet raw.

Dreaming up ideas creates an inherent sense of performance. Memories of LA become intricate Swarovski embroidery mirroring the curling surf waves of Malibu, while studio scraps are hand-sculpted into ornate leather lapel flowers. Throughout, woven hats hybridize American baseball caps with traditional berets. Everything is tactile – elegance is implied, never exclaimed.

Accessories and footwear expand the narrative. Repurposed bandanas illustrate the AMIRI logo threaded through open-weave raffia beach bags, alongside backpacks and crossbody bags in leather, bouclé and raffia. On foot, the house’s signature sneakers evolve. Basketball soles combine with a boat shoe silhouette to form a hybrid iteration, and penny loafers are reimagined with a chunky creeper design, redefining what a formal shoe can be.

This collection is dedicated to the dreamers, to those who see beauty in the mundane and make it exceptional.