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subscribe to style file blog via RSSten years on, united bamboo keeps mixing it up
September 6, 2008 10:50 am
It’s not surprising that the designers of a brand that sometimes presses its own CD compilations should reach for musical metaphors to describe their approach to making clothes. And so it is with United Bamboo, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this season. “It’s kind of like a DJ remixing an old song,” explains Thuy Pham of the way he and partner Miho Aoki look at their label. “We like to take old staples, things people recognize right away like a navy blazer, and reinterpret it in a new way.” More United Bamboo remixes will be on the runway today (look for flashy bright colors and, in Aoki’s phrase, “bolder silhouettes”) but the original music scoring the show has been provided by James Iha. “Last season we had Karen O do the music,” explains Aoki, “and James liked what she did and then he came to our party afterwards and offered to collaborate at some point. So we took him up on that.” As she and Pham go on to note, United Bamboo’s fetish for collaboration has helped to make the past decade a creative adventure (this season’s inspirations include Bauhaus art and the architecture of Daniel Libeskind, pictured). “We’ve never embarked on any project with an artist or a musician because we think it’s good branding,” says Pham. “No,” assents Aoki. “We do it because we like to work with people who are interesting. And I don’t think that will change.”
tags: United Bamboo
