One Time For Eľ Bossa...Also, The Our Legacy x Emporio Armani Collaboration Is Why We Fashion
Introducing Bossa On Sundays - and dissecting what makes fashion collaborations worth their weight in fabric.
Listen: Eugene Lambert “Estate”
I listen to bossa nova on Sundays. It’s probably the most me thing that I do.
Ordinarily, I’ll settle on an album that I’ve most assuredly played an obnoxious number of times, strike up a semi-perfect cup of espresso in my caffettiera (I don’t actually call it that…relax), and without fail find some words to melt into. Words, on my best Sundays, from a book I’ve promised myself to reach its conclusion. On lesser occasions a fashion mag. Lesser only due to the way my vanity is setup, as books have always been more of an intellectual conquest.
I spend most of my waking hours quietly overthinking. So the stillness that comes from a scale-balancing cup of coffee, some good writing, and Brazilian jazz is - albeit comically basic - centering. And bossa is the main ingredient.
There are few better examples of two seeming opposites working in harmony like samba and jazz. Deemed “New Wave” nearly a century ago now, a musical genre overflowing with otherworldly talents, all the while still flush with players and performs you most certainly can’t name that would house your favorite musician, bossa nova is what I like to call a luxury music - one without the pretentious nature that tends to accompany high value things.
That’s how I like my clothes. Rich in concept, fabric, story and tailoring - not cost. But also sometimes cost (the contradictions will be fast and free, folks!).
Our Legacy (OL), the Swedish fashion label birthed by Jockum Hallin, Cristopher Nying and Richardos Klarén, in 2005, somehow clocked my sensibilities while knowing nothing of my existence. To be sure, I’m not one to claim a favorite brand. Or the type to rundown an off-the-dome top five designer list without pause. That just ain’t me. But, I have been a supporter of Our Legacy dating back to the late 2000s (I refuse to say late aughts and will ruthlessly bussdown anyone that does). And for what it’s worth, they still get me excited about clothes.
For good reason, the brand’s Work Shop collaboration with Stussy is one of the more widely known (and successful) ongoing streetwear series in all the land. The brands compliment each other like, say, a film with the perfect score; good separately but once you experience them together, you can’t quite imagine a world in which they didn’t co-exist.
Our Legacy might have pulled off a Godfather-level sequel with its latest installment alongside the storied Italian clothier, Emporio Armani, the Giorgio Armani sub-label launched in 1981.
Nying, who has roots in Italy, may have been the guiding force that helped broker this partnership back in 2023 when OL and Armani debuted this tailored affair. Their follow-up smartly expanded to offer womenswear and, even more brilliantly, did something that only the best fashion collaborators tend to do; they didn’t recycle the past. They found a way to create the future.
Here, the future of collaboration - as defined by OL and Armani - is positioned by way of budding fabric upon which their collection is built. After sifting through what I would imagine to be an endless Armani archive - one that hit its high note outfitting a pre “snow globe upside ya’ head” Richard Gere in some of the coldest suits on film in 1980’s American Giglio - the OL Work Shop team took inspiration from troves of elder garments to create striking new materials like an unbelievably sleek textural linen and a lush pink floral warp-print taffeta.
There’s a simple method to the Work Shop’s project approach. Put plainly, “work with what’s in front of you.” That, and seemingly that alone, has been the sub-label’s quaint, overarching manifesto. It’s what prompted OL to free fall deep into the world of Armani, essentially utilizing only those archives and cutting room floor fabric to effectively construct a collection that peers into something foundational.
The collection hones in on elegance and eastern influences with soft tones set across a staple kimono, a floral-filled collarless jacket and, without fail, the pleated trousers that OL is known for. All of which are sexy enough for Saturday night yet still perfect on Sunday morning as you run out for coffee or fresh flowers. I, however, will run nowhere. We have bossa at the house.
But when I think somewhat circularly about this collection, look deeply at its tailoring, and sit with the feeling I get after sifting through the looks several times over, it is, without doubt, unpretentious luxury. These clothes are comfortably elegant, seamlessly sophisticated. And yes, they draw a sharp and unsurprising parallel to the musical big homie, eľ bossa.
Now that doesn’t mean I’m at home wearing Sonny and Rico-esque Miami Vice suits like the ones Giorgio Armani himself wardrobed on the prized ‘80s television series. When home, casually sipping my first cup of joe yet already considering my second, given way to the romanticization of clothing needing to matter always, I’m likely coasting through my Sunday morning in vintage 501s and a tee shirt with more stories than I have years.
Gotta say - I always feel so at home in my world on Sunday mornings. Equally, OL Work Shop feels cozy in Armani’s design womb with their new collaboration - which is available on May 16th. The proper melding of things is where collaboration makes sense. It’s new, yet familiar all at once.
Hopefully Bossa On Sundays will start to mimic familiarity for you - and consistency for me. I’ll keep them coming each Sunday. Each entry will come with a soundtrack. It will be bossa. It will be on Sundays.
- DG