Embroidery: The Comeback Fashion Trend For 2022 | GANT, Bode and ALD Show the Way

Varsity Style Rising

Now that hip-hop has subverted preppy into high-fashion, luxury street style, is it time to join forces with the Ivy League — in fashion and beyond?

This idea has been on my brain for months, since writing about the makeover of GANT by its owners, Geneva-based holding company Maus Frères SA

“I think prep has made a natural return,” GANT's Creative Director Christoffer Bastin explained to Vogue Scandinavia. Noting that Ivy League attire was very much a uniform, a favored look adopted by multi-hyphenate Pharrell Williams and the greater hip-hop community, Bastin concluded that “Balenciaga and Vetements came in with their streetwear influences and committed this mercy killing on prep.”

As AOC will explain in our usual deep-dive approach to the intersection of fashion, culture and politics, varsity style is on the move. GANT has long done better in Europe than in America. It’s meant little on the streets of New York, LA or Miami — or to me as a critic.

Yet, when I saw these Gant images — about 16 months after the Minneapolis murder of George Floyd — what I saw in the GANT campaign is my America. Shared three months before the devastating death of Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh from cancer, they represent Virgil’s American vision, too.

Anne of Carversville is a globalist, ‘ubuntu for all’ vision website. Today we are sticking with the fast-talkin’, big swagger, entrepreneurial heart of the USA — and all its damnable contradictions and deep problems.

Never Bet Against America

If US president Joe Biden says “folks” and “no joke” one more time, I may curse him. Yet his steely “Never bet against America” message resonates with me. It resonates with GANT, with branding leaders like Tommy Hilfiger who advanced the merger of country club style and hip-hop. It resonates with Jay-Z and Pharrell Williams.

And “Never bet against America” resonates with Bernard Arnault and the entire LVMH family. First and foremost wanting to make boatloads of money for themselves, LVMH is also trying to help America save ourselves from our worst impulses, while unleashing our strengths.

Embroidered clothing is on the move. This story has so many layers, that I just finally cut it off at the knees to end it.

In the process of laying out this post, the rise of embroidered clothing is bigger to me today than yesterday — sort of like a mega brain dump of where we are going. These bits and pieces are strewn all over AOC for almost 15 years; and they came together today.

It’s Time To Suit Up, People

GANT today sits at an intersection of ‘Gossip Girl’ meets Black Lives Matter and Yale meets Howard University. As some Americans struggle to embrace our identity as a very multicultural origins nation, fashion itself shows us what we can be.

‘Gossip Girl’ meets BLM is a tough act to pull off even with my rose-colored-glasses approach to life. But Yale meets Howard University has synergy. The Ivy League joins forces with America’s Historical Black Colleges and Universities [HBCU] has big possibilities.

Can varsity style 2022 take us at least halfway to MLK’s Promised Land? Perhaps. And it’s time American progressives of every skin color and income level get in line.

Dress Codes of the Uprising

In June 2020, Vanessa Friedman, The New York Times's fashion director and chief fashion critic, wrote a piece called Dress Codes of the Uprising. The image of activists below is from a June 2020 rally in Columbia, S.C.

From left, Sterling Jackson, Leo Jones, Aisa Blue Davis, Eddie Eads, Lyles Doughty and Tyrieck Davis-Newton at the “Million Man March” in Columbia, S.C. on June 14. Thousands marched from the Five Points district to the statehouse. Image: Sean Rayford for The New York Times

“I hope it does catch on,” said Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin of Columbia, who spoke to The Times about the activists dressing up to communicate a message. . “I think optics like this will help move the ball down the field.”

Benjamin supported Mike Bloomberg for president, as did many young Black mayors male and female, who attended his year-long project Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. Listening to them — young mayors across America who are on the front line of reality — has had great impact on my thinking.

Varsity style is deeply embedded in America’s HBCUs [Historical Black Colleges and Universities], and it honors the traditions of our great leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. They are many white people’s visionary leaders, too.

The financial realities of HBCUs are a story of broken promises and neglect. For decades there have been shining stars on the hill. America’s Vice President Kamala Harris comes out of Howard University, a prominent HBCU in Washington DC.

In 2022, a truly exciting change has left many HBCUs shell-shocked. MacKenzie Scott, the former Mrs. Jeff Bezos, is packing scads of cash, peeling off $400 million for HBCUs in one year. That’s way more than the entire federal budget for America’s Black Colleges and Universities.

The gifts come unannounced and with little fanfare, so more than one college president honestly thought Scott’s gifts were the ultimate scam.

Read from the pov of the colleges how one very wealthy white woman, American philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has already had huge impact on Black education: A Year Ago, MacKenzie Scott Gave More Than $400 Million to HBCUs. Here’s Where That Money Has Gone.

For the record, she is not alone. Melinda French Gates, the new ex-wife of Bill Gates, works closely with Scott. And Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Steve Jobs, is also a social activist barnburner.

Like I said, the Ivy League meets HBCUs is on the move, and older white women of conscience are very much a part of it, We’re not all Beckies.

Embroidered Clothing Is Our United Vision Currency

What is our common currency in this Black-talent driven, noble venture you ask? Embroidered clothing is my answer. Embroidered panels and insets. Embroidered patches. The Ivy League was formed around embroidered clothing. And not only university-related embroideries, but those silly little ducks on men’s pants.

You thought I was going to say an AMX card is our currency?? No. Although AMX is more than welcome to join the coalition. I’m done with “movements” as the word has no meaning anymore. I’m talking a coalition of like-minded people, many of them holding considerable financial power and influence.

Our shared fashion is embroidered clothing but with an urban twist design and message. And since Black culture is driving everyone’s urban identity including my own— we are going upscale in this united effort. Think Princeton’s Dinky Bar & Kitchen or Howard University’s Columbia Room in Blagden Alley.

Why are we channeling varsity style, with its high-class vibe and embroidered messages galore?

Our Shared Humanity Renaissance

Because it signals the pursuit of excellence in education, in the workplace, in creativity and innovation, in social justice activism and — most important — in our humanity with each other.

Especially because it’s been adopted by Black colleges and universities, varsity style symbolizes our collective renaissance as evolutionary humans.

America is full-up with white people who want to evolve beyond America’s original sin. Even I will wear pants with little ducks, if it works to end deplorable racial inequality in America.

This idea of our shared humanity is a concept Pharrell Williams has explored for years. This true genius’s brand is called Humanrace and he does a sneaker with an empathy tag.

AOC goes deep on Pharrell Williams.

Are You Certain That Embroidered Clothing Is a Trend, Anne?

Readers Voice Concerns

Alright, Anne, we all know you’re a bleeding-heart liberal, but are you sure that embroidered clothing is a trend? You’re not exactly being objective here, weaving a pragmatic fashion trend question into saving America from its worst impulses. And for the record, you really have a French obsession. Just because the French sided with America against the British during the Revolutonary War, don’t hold a grudge.

Hold it! Hold it!

We see that 2021 article on your laptop: Radical stitches: Embroidery gives voice to Latin American activists. Skip it, Anne. Zippo on Latin American activists. Give us something concrete and commercial.

Here you go, girl. We feel better already seeing the Rivet from Sourcing Journal tab. What’s up with them on trends?

Anne Responds

Fine, guys. I’ll be boringly factual.

Embroidery

Rivet, a magazine that is part of Sourcing Journal, owned by the same group that owns WWD, is behind embroidered clothing big-time. Noting that embroidery had a strong run in the early 2010s, it died when the Harlem-based, Dapper Dan-driven rise of luxury-logo clothing and knockoffs became dominant in the culture,

We are now in a different time, as I’ve explained, and Rivet writes that everything can change in 2022. A wave of trends inspired by values-driven design with its roots in patchwork, crochet and mending are now in the DNA of “high-quality, heirloom-worthy pieces”. Rivet specifically references Bode, as a new brand that has heavily influenced design, with embroidery motifs bearing personal, storytelling elements.

Translated, what Bode is to fashion, Anne of Carversville is to fashion blogging. I like it!

Meet Emily Bode, The Designer Loved By Harry Styles, Emma Corrin And Jay-Z

I can’t help that Jay-Z, who is 50-50 partners with LVMH in his Ace of Spades [aka Armand de Brignac] champagne brand loves Bode.

These uber-creative Black dudes pop up under every rock today. They are everywhere, and it only cements my analysis that something big is brewing, and it’s not beer.

Here you go, take a break from me and Grazia Daily will fill your fine mind with plenty of information about Bode and embroidered clothing.

I note that the recycled, upcycled, remade and reworked aspect of Bode’s collections is a bullseye for a rapidly increasing consciousness around old-school, varsity dressing. Rivet calls it: “Old-meets-new merchandising”, and their example is Madewell’s turn in your old jeans program. H&M is also promoting dropping off your old clothes. We talk frequently about this activists-driven change of how we treat old apparel and also favorite fashion needing repair.

Many young entrepreneurs are trying to create new lifestyles out of the embroidered clothing trend. It’s difficult to embroider an old shirt if you’re a successful young company like Ryan McCarthy at Imouri in New York City.

Ryan’s design focus is Anime Clothing, but modern Anime began in 1956, so even here, he can tap the old-school trend with his graphics. I just Googled Japan’s commitment to climate change and conservation, looking for a bridge angle in anime and the environment. Believing Japan’s better than the US in environmental activism, facts confirm that it’s about the same — always balancing economic development with conservation.

It’s not realistic to think that we can stop using new clothing for our personalized, niche designs. At least embroidered clothing can communicate awareness with its message. There’s no doubt that The most ardent environmentalists would cancel me for writing these words, but I am trying to be realistic here.

LVMH Lightening Strikes Again

Researching this article, I ran into another LVMH story — one that fits right into our embroidered clothing story. LVMH has taken a minority position in a Queen’s based embroidered clothing business called Aimé Leon Dore. I love it — a great French brand in the making, born in Queens, New York.

It’s more — well Woolrich — according to the INPUT write-up. The good news is that AOC has Woolrich to offer up, too. It’s from 2018-2019, but boy does it fit into this story.

Aimé Leon Dore, one of the hottest brands, bridging menswear and streetwear and, takes a much simpler approach in many respects, and this feature from InputMag does a great job of explaining ALD.

Do note that varsity jackets are front and center in the ALD shopping site. images. But much of the product is super simple. The graphics and embroideries are easy to execute, once you have a concept. And I’m not suggesting that $85 tees are mainstream price. I see clearly, though, the appeal of the brand vibe and design elements.

The Wisdom of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill ends this post with her Woolrich campaign ad from late 2018. It grabbed me by my Scandinavian heritage throat when I first wrote it, and it grabs me by the throat in this moment.

Hill is wearing the mother of all embroidered jackets, and her video cuts deep into what are now America’s open wounds. There is no closure . . . and therefore I will leave this post open wide.

Stay tuned for more Anne reflections on the NYT phrase that has also grabbed me by the throat today: Dress Codes of the Uprising ~ Anne