Days after Colm Dillane offered the Louis Vuitton’s Autumn/Winter 2023 menswear assortment he visitor designed for the model, the founding father of Brooklyn-based streetwear label KidSuper introduced the style world again collectively — and made enjoyable of it.
On Feb. 13, 2023, the designer recruited mannequin Tyra Banks, musician J Balvin and comedians Jeff Ross, Yvonne Orji, Stavros Halkias and Andrew Schulz to placed on a stand-up present, which doubled as KidSuper’s Autumn/Winter 2023 present, “Humorous Enterprise” on the On line casino de Paris. There, in entrance of an viewers of round 1,500, the entertainers — dressed within the newest KidSuper assortment — lampooned Balenciaga, trend week, and made jokes about girls, weight, variety and Parisians. Schulz’s closing set began with a bit that combined dialogue of Alexander Wang’s sexual assault accusations and outline of Dillane’s manhood. Practically everybody commented on how foolish they regarded within the garments, which included vibrant fits, jackets, tracksuits and puffers detailed with Dillane’s prints, patchwork and embroidery.
After it was over, Dillane’s first thought was ‘how do I do it once more?’
“There was this wonderful fish out of water second that everybody was a child for a bit of bit. The style world didn’t perceive the comedy world, the comedy world didn’t perceive the style world and everybody misplaced their masks or armour,” recalled Dillane. “I couldn’t imagine I created this world the place Theo Von, Tyra Banks and J Balvin are riffing jokes.”
It seems, he didn’t have to attend too lengthy. On Sunday, Dillane took to the stage once more, curating a “Humorous Enterprise: Style is a Joke” set for the “Netflix is a Joke Pageant,” a week-long comedy occasion the streamer phases yearly in Los Angeles. Comedians Joel Kim Booster, Trevor Wallace, Zainab Johnson, Mark Normand and Mark Gagnon took to the stage, naturally, carrying KidSuper head-to-toe.
The occasion didn’t draw almost as giant a crowd, however Dillane is hoping to make KidSuper comedy exhibits a yearly incidence — and leverage the second into fulfilling larger Hollywood ambitions together with a TV sequence based mostly across the KidSuper model and his story, which he’s at the moment pitching to studios.
Since his entry into trend over a decade in the past, Dillane has emerged as one of many trade’s buzziest younger abilities. Whereas his design expertise have earned him a joint-win of LVMH’s Karl Lagerfeld Prize in 2021 and a nomination for CFDA menswear designer of the yr in 2023, his world-building prowess has propelled Dillane from promoting shirts out of his NYU dorm to Louis Vuitton and past. Specifically, it helped him to ascertain the KidSuper model, which retails at Neiman Marcus, Ssense and Luisaviaroma — and has collaborated with Canada Goose, the NBA, Coca-Cola and Puma.
“Constructing your model and your story is tremendous vital. If in case you have an amazing basis you may scale it,” mentioned Dillane.
Multi-Hyphenate Model-Constructing
Dillane’s work has at all times been about extra than simply trend.
The late rapper Mac Miller was one among his earliest followers, whereas the musician Russ recorded songs for his first platinum album “There’s Actually a Wolf” in a makeshift recording studio Dillane arrange within the basement of his first design area in Brooklyn.
Within the years since, he’s continued to interact with music (Dillane simply directed a yet-to-be launched music video for rappers Quavo and Giggs, based mostly on a music made for the soundtrack of his final present), soccer (Dillane is a hardcore fan whose love of the game caused an ongoing partnership with Puma) and artwork (he simply did a present of work at Frieze), which makes it really feel genuine when he brings his model into these completely different venues.
“It’s not like, ‘I’m a clothier and I’m dipping into this different space,’ he’s in these areas,” mentioned Julie Gilhart, president of Tomorrow Tasks.
Having constructed a following in New York, his star started to rise after his first presentation on the official Paris Style Week calendar in August 2020. Unable to showcase his designs in particular person as a result of pandemic, he offered them in a stop-motion brief movie that featured tiny variations of his garments on Pelé, Salvador Dali, Elon Musk, Naomi Campbell and Stephen Hawking dolls — and a pretend Anna Wintour, Queen Elizabeth and Kim Kardashian within the viewers. For his subsequent assortment, he made a pilot episode for a would-be TV present “The MisAdventures of KidSuper,” and was later signed by expertise company William Morris Leisure.
Since then, he’s continued to push the envelope in the case of presentation, with a runway at a mock public sale — which he dubbed “Superbys” — of his personal work in 2022. He starred in a self-written and directed play about creativity known as “The right way to Discover an Thought” for his Spring/Summer season 2024 present in August. His newest runway, titled “String Concept,” featured Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho and a dramatic finale the place a sweater unravelled because the mannequin walked down the runway.
Getting tapped to design for Louis Vuitton in 2023 launched Dillane into a distinct stratosphere of consideration, and the curiosity extends off the runway, too. In September, after Travis Kelce wore his “Bed room Portray” denim set on the peak of Taylor Swift relationship intrigue, Dillane renamed it the “1989 Bed room Portray” set — which made it go viral.
“He’s only a bundle of concepts and creativity,” mentioned Gilhart. “He’s completely different when it comes to how he approaches trend and the style system.”
The connection to comedy got here naturally. Identified for its shiny colored garments that includes arty sketched characters derived from Dillane’s portray — his signature purse includes a drawing of two faces kissing — KidSuper’s model is centred round levity and creativity from the designs to Dillane’s strategies in exhibiting them. Dillane placed on a couple of native exhibits in New York in 2018. Plus, he considers himself “a humorist in his head.”
Constructing his model in adjoining areas is a enterprise transfer as nicely. Impartial designers typically have to search out methods to generate income exterior trend to outlive now — and so they more and more need to construct their very own personas to get alternatives, mentioned Dillane.
“[Collaborators] are like ‘What do you characterize that may assist the model develop? It’s a tricky time,” mentioned Dillane.
KidSuper is self-funded (save his $150,000 LVMH Prize co-winnings), and Dillane is reluctant to surrender fairness. As a substitute he depends on collaborations — KidSuper has labored with Puma since 2020, Canada Goose on a capsule in 2024, Meta, The NBA, Stuart Weitzman and even bean bag and couch-maker Lovesac, toy firm Superplastic and Starbucks in 2023 — to maintain the underside line rising whereas nonetheless having the ability to take artistic dangers.
He’s at the moment constructing out the model’s bold headquarters, a ten,000 sq. foot advanced in Williamsburg, “KidSuper World.” The storefront opened throughout New York Style Week in March, sells KidSuper items with a supermarket-style take a look at, a library and laundromat-inspired shelving, an artwork gallery, a screenprinting studio, a Jagermeister-themed non-public bar and an ultra-detailed campsite-themed studio the place comic Mark Gagnon movies his “Camp Gagnon” podcast. Nonetheless to return is a meals truck and public outside area, recording studio and a soccer discipline on the roof, mentioned Dillane.
Put altogether, it’s meant to construct the dream — and promote the garments.
“I’m biased, but when I used to be a client, I might be like ‘KidSuper is the perfect model ever,’” mentioned Dillane. “What different model is doing a comedy present? Not to mention the ten different cool issues I’m doing.”