The fashion designer Mike Amiri and contemporary artist Wes Lang chronicle their ongoing collaboration in a new behind-the-scenes book
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Photography by HART LËSHKINA/Rizzoli New York
Runway looks from the collection presentation.
“I visit Wes’ studio from time to time and we talk about life,” said Mike Amiri, the founder and creative director of his eponymous label, while describing the ongoing dialog he had with painter and sculptor Wes Lang as he prepared to open his first Los Angeles boutique in 2020. Lang’s work hangs inside the gallery-like store on Rodeo Drive and now in Amiri boutiques worldwide, from New York to Tokyo. Fast-forward through the pandemic-lengthened months, and a collaboration between the two L.A.-based creatives—whose work meets at a cross-section of rock, skate, self-expression, graffiti and gothic script—emerged. The duo joined forces on Amiri’s Fall/Winter 2022 collection, the evolution of which is documented in a new volume, Amiri Wes Lang (Rizzoli New York, $135) out this fall. The book depicts the creative partnership unfolding, from early studio sketches to the making of garments and ultimately the collection’s runway debut of ready-to-wear looks and accessories. Essays by fashion editor Dan Thawley and art critic Andrew Berardini paint a behind-the-scenes picture of the creative journey, as does photography by Hart Lëshkina, the interdisciplinary artist duo of Erik Hart and Tati Lëshkina who use white space to striking effect.
With Los Angeles as the backdrop to their lives and a crucible for shared creativity, Wes and Mike’s first dual creative act dives deep into cultural phenomena
Dan Thawley
A fitting at Amiri’s L.A. atelier.
Completed Fall 2022 collection looks.
Across canvases, paper, worktables, pants and shirts, this story of shared creativity plays out through a series of behind-the-scenes atelier and studio images. Thawley calls the collection’s progression from skull sketches to checkerboard clothing a “high-wire pirouette between concept and craft,” and the visual trail from artist’s studio to rolling rack is riveting. This is no screen-printed T-shirt endeavor—hoodies are fringed, sweaters are hand-embroidered, denim is layered and flecked with paint as an homage to Lang’s own work pants, and the artist is pictured hand-painting a black cashmere coat, the collection’s final look.
Feature image: Artist Wes Lang (left) and designer Mike Amiri look at coat samples from their Amiri Fall 2022 collaboration.
This story originally appeared in the Fall Men’s Edition 2022 issue of C Magazine.
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