The Limited-Edition Collection Revisits J.Crew’s Archives Through Mike Eckhaus And Zoe Latta’s Downtown New York Perspective
J.Crew is expanding its collaboration with Eckhaus Latta into a full limited-edition collection, bringing Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta’s experimental approach to a selection of the American retailer’s most recognizable styles.
Launching September 15 online and at select J.Crew stores, the collection spans knitwear, outerwear, shirting, denim, bottoms and accessories, along with a children’s version of the Rollneck sweater.
The partnership follows Eckhaus Latta’s interpretation of J.Crew’s signature Rollneck for the retailer’s Rollneck Remix project earlier this year. The response to that single piece led the brands to develop the idea into a broader collection built around J.Crew’s archives.
Eckhaus and Latta began by going through decades of J.Crew catalogs, concentrating particularly on the 1990s. Familiar pieces including the Barn Jacket, Rollneck, rugby shirt, chino, pleated skirt, twinset and duffle coat became the foundation for the collection, with the designers altering proportions, textures and construction.
“The inspiration for us was really J.Crew. It is an iconic American brand with a rich heritage. We rummaged through a lot of its catalogs from the ’90s as points of reference. That period was our childhood, so our aesthetics and tastes will always be shaped by it,” said Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta.
The approach makes the collaboration less about placing Eckhaus Latta signatures onto J.Crew products than finding areas where the two brands’ identities already overlap. J.Crew’s 1990s catalogs provide the recognizable American sportswear vocabulary, while Eckhaus Latta introduces the more unconventional proportions and material treatments associated with its own collections.
“We wanted to preserve the experimentation, individuality and sense of community that make Eckhaus Latta so distinctive, along with the unpretentious New York energy they bring to clothes designed for how people actually live. The catalogs became a major source of inspiration, revealing an era of the brand that already possessed a little downtown tension. Mike and Zoe pulled that spirit forward through their own perspective, creating a collection that feels unmistakably J.Crew, but unexpected enough to make you look twice,” said Olympia Gayot, Creative Director of Women’s and Kids at J.Crew.
The collaboration arrives as J.Crew continues to revisit elements of its own history while positioning them within a more contemporary fashion conversation. Eckhaus Latta, founded by Eckhaus and Latta in 2011, brings a distinctly New York counterpoint to the retailer’s traditional vocabulary of chinos, rugby shirts, knits and outerwear.
That meeting of communities also shapes the accompanying campaign, photographed by Luna Conte with motion directed by Brett Milspaw. Rather than constructing a traditional fashion narrative, the campaign is set at a house party populated by artists, athletes, musicians, academics and other members of the communities surrounding the two brands.
“This collaboration is a celebration of the expansiveness of American style and the many ways it can be interpreted. Great collaborations create new entry points into each brand, and the campaign brings that idea to life through a house party where the J.Crew and Eckhaus Latta communities come together. Everyone is invited to enter the world of the collection, wear it and make it entirely their own,” said Julia Collier, Chief Marketing Officer of J.Crew.
For J.Crew, the collaboration turns the familiarity of its archive into a creative advantage. Rather than simply reproducing the ’90s pieces that have become newly relevant, Eckhaus Latta distorts and reconsiders them, finding something less nostalgic in the process.
