Julius Falls to Trends at Paris Fashion Week
If you don't know about Julius, you should know that they follow a dark aesthetic prided on construction, fit, and material. Basically it is a more tailored, militaristic version of Rick Owens, but different enough to have a strong brand identity as well as cult following. Two days ago, Julius presented its FW 17' collection at Paris fashion week. I was mortified upon reviewing their FW 17' presentation for many reasons.
To start, it simply did not look like Julius. If you didn't have your invitation that said Julius on it, you would of thought you attended the wrong show.
Secondly, it is VERY clear that the Julius design team has Instagram. What do I mean by this? Well, if you look at the show images below you can see glimpses of other brands that are popular among Instagram fuccbois. Really Julius?!? You put 1984 on a fucking sweatshirt?! Have you guys heard of Gosha Rubchinskiy? Apparently you have. Not only does Julius "reference" Gosha, but tons of other brands as well.
Julius imitating Vetements
Julius imitating Alyx Studios
Julius imitating Off-White
Julius imitating Gosha Rubchinskiy
Photos via Pause.co.uk
I saw a lot of garbage shows that had similar imitations to popular trends in menswear, but Julius was the last straw for me. To see a brand that has such a rich history of technical design and brand identity washed away by hype and trend is horrifying. Which leads me to discuss where the industry is at as a whole. The fashion industry is dominated by its consumer. The men's fashion industry is still fairly new, and dudes are just starting to get into the whole fashion scene, which leads them to follow trends pretty hard. This is why brands result in making certain items based on what people are consuming. We are at a strange place in fashion where everyone wants to dress the same based on what they see getting Instagram likes (ex: Fear of God Jeans, Yeezys, Vetements). So I don't blame Julius entirely, because it is a business when it comes down to it, and they are trying to sell clothing. However, I am truly disappointed in Julius because they caved into popular trends and lost their identity instead of making something new. This collection did not look like Julius whatsoever. I am all for changing it up and bringing new designs to the table, but this was not what happened here. This was a desperate attempt to follow trends in order to sell clothing. I am sure their are some nice pieces in the collection, but as a whole I am truly disappointed. I think it hurts the most because a brand I love was toppled by fucking Vetements. Those longed sleeved fucking monsters.
This is Julius, all that other shit you can keep.
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