Basic Rights’ Menswear Essentials

A new line doing justice to T-shirts to trousers

Basics are that category of clothing oftentimes best described as “wear a few times, then use as pajamas.” The search for non-branded, tailored basics that don’t cost more than they should, are elegant enough to wear to dinner, and last a long, long while has been difficult. (There seems to be a Kickstarter for the perfect white T-shirt launching every other week, with the expectation …

Connect-the-Dots on T’aint by Ashish T-Shirts

Half-illustrated acts of love and lust make for very playful apparel

A longtime member of the VFILES community, London-based designer Ashish Gupta has made a name for himself thanks to a frequent and extravagant use of sequins within the collections of his eponymous label. A new capsule, however, plays with a different type of circle. T’aint by Ashish, a series of seven T-shirts sporting risque and sexualized designs, features half-complete illustrations of couples copulating. Gupta chose …

Closed Revives Its ’80s Denim Archives

Vintage cuts with uniquely positioned pockets and more make for unordinary jeans

Closed was originally founded by Marithé and François Girbaud (denim pioneers who have their own Urban Dictionary entry) in the ’70s. The French designer duo innovated techniques like stone-washing as well as the much more sustainable WATTWASH (treating and wearing denim with lasers instead of water), but more importantly, their cuts were born out of a desire to create an alternative to the ubiquitous five-pocket …