“We’re always trying to say the same thing in the same way that you dress yourself. To me, that’s my standard answer to every season, because that’s really what it is,” Chris Leba said during a preview of his R13 pre-fall collection.
His pre-fall directly correlated to the idea, going back to the brand’s roots as the central idea of the collection — his look book even featured the IRL ready-to-wear against an AI generated runway show and backstage scene. During the preview, Leba noted his hunger for “going back to our roots with denim and how we always sought out to be the most innovative — to make denim into an art form,” he said.
As always, the line riffed on subversively modernizing and reinventing heritage codes, like the trucker jacket. One cropped style featured a blunt, removed collar and center zipper; another had an internal double layer of shearling, and an elongated version (one of Leba’s favorites) featured an exaggerated tan leather collar, sans buttons down the front placket.
A further take on his “yin and yang of the future and past meeting right here in the present” was the collection’s enveloping, black leather anorak; a traditional tweed boxy jacket in slick black leather with punky cone hardware, or classic boyfriend Oxfords with collars turned inward to show just the right amount of skin. The twists — also seen through an argyle mohair sweater vest with paint splatters — are his nods to keeping the tradition of the underground’s “turning the establishment upside down” ethos.
Alongside a smattering of stellar new chunky mid-length boots (redesigned takes on construction workboots), neutral-toned grungy floral and overdyed plaid layers (also signatures), Leba brought back many of his signature text and graffiti-inspired graphics. Whether needle-punched or individually stamped and screen-printed onto chunky knits and grungy Ts, the assortment showcased R13’s angsty core.
