- Kith and Giorgio Armani have teamed up to release ‘The Archetype’, a menswear capsule collection
- The collaborative collection spans four parts, each centred on a different archetype: the ‘Artist’, ‘Traveller’, ‘Entertainer’, and ‘Entrepreneur’
- The Kith & Giorgio Armani collection will be available to purchase online via the Kith webstore, from Friday September 13th onwards
Kith has teamed up with Giorgio Armani to fuse their distinct yet aligned design codes in a hotly anticipated menswear collection. While Ronnie Fieg’s New York-based lifestyle brand has teamed up with every covetable brand and its dog—New Balance, Porsche, Levi’s, Asics, Birkenstocks, TAG Heuer, and Versace among them—the decision to collaborate is a landmark one for Giorgio Armani, marking the first time the Italian designer and his eponymous brand have ever collaborated on a collection.
The resultant collection is divided into four parts, centring around a quartet of archetypes Kith and Giorgio Armani devised: the Artist, Entertainer, Traveler, and Entrepreneur. The four archetypes represent the defining characters who have been inspired and influenced by Giorgio Armani, with Kith founder Ronnie Fieg stating his intention to pay homage to the lauded designer’s career through the collection.
“I wanted to create something that honours Mr. Armani’s incredible career and the men who have been influenced by him,” noted Fieg. “The concept of the archetypes was born out of that desire to tell a story through the lens of suiting.”
Each archetype is bestowed with its own design language, comprising its own fabrics, shapes, and colour palettes, with Giorgio Armani’s savoir faire in tailoring and material innovation serving the foundation of Kith’s contemporary approach to dressing.
The Artist capsule is defined by a primarily black colour palette across apparel and accessories. The standout piece in the collection is a double-breasted suit cut from premium virgin wool, while other highlights include a bomber jacket crafted from the same material, a long trench coat, and a grey cashmere boucle sweater. Complementing the ready-to-wear is a selection of accessories including a leather document bag and a boucle beanie and scarf to match the aforementioned sweater.
The Entertainer capsule is rendered in navy and dark green, with the collection’s standout suit cut from navy velvet and featuring a crossover single-button closed jacket with generously cut double-pleated trousers. The same velvet fabric forms the basis of a rugby shirt as well as a duo of bucket hats, while elsewhere the humble tracksuit is elevated through suiting cues with a zip-up collarless jacket and pleated trousers rendered in a sleek technical material (cupro or jersey silk, perhaps?). Supplementary accessories like silk bandanas and money and tie clips are befitting of the consummate entertainer.
Designed with global citizens in mind, the Traveller capsule takes form in shades of tan and brown, which appear across virgin wool suiting, cashmere turtlenecks and cupro track jackets. An on-the-go collection of accessories include a suede duffle bag and a passport holder.
Rounding out the archetypes is the Entrepreneur. The primary hue of dark brown is complemented by navy, tan, and black, with key pieces in the capsule being a single-breasted jacket with a detachable scarf, a cashmere overcoat, and a leather-panelled football jersey, supplemented by bold jacquard ties and a woven leather backpack.
Naturally, it wouldn’t be a Kith collaboration without a hefty dose of star power, with the brand previously enlisting the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Bryan Cranston, and Ed Norton to model its collections. Giorgio Armani is also a heavy hitter in the pop culture department; both the designer and the brand count the likes of Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, and Jodie Foster as fans. With that in mind, a campaign helmed by a nameless model simply wouldn’t do.
This time, the pop culture capital comes in the form of an ensemble cast of individuals who embody each archetype. Each icons in their own right, the series of campaigns (which is being dropped in a slow drip fashion in the lead up to the collaboration’s launch) stars Martin Scorsese as the Artist, Lakeith Stanfield as the Entertainer, and Pierce Brosnan as the Traveller. The final cast member—rightfully embodying the role of the Entrepreneur—is said to be Ronnie Fieg himself, with the campaign unseen at the time of writing.
The Kith & Armani collection will be available from 11am (EST) on the 13th of September, 2024, via the Kith webstore.
Words by Henry Blake
