Ah, the mysteries of social media: A garment can go unnoticed for one year and then one day it suddenly breaks the internet for no apparent reason. Ask JordanLuca’s founders Jordan Bowen and Luca Marchetto how they felt when their infamous fall 2023 opening look, now rechristened “pee stain denim” for that dark smudge on the pants, went viral earlier this year, and you will get two amused designers in return.
“Those pants were from last year, they were in all our showrooms and press offices and nobody ever gave a s–t about them and one day they exploded. We haven’t done anything. We sat back and we really enjoyed this avalanche of things that happened and that was very good from a sales perspective because the request has been incredible,” said Marchetto. “Which was why we decided not to produce them anymore, we left them like a collectible piece. If you Google them there are some crazy prices,” he added, teasing that the sample the founders own has been requested for a showcase in an art gallery in London in September.
There’s no logic behind such phenomena, but the risk now for the brand is that people won’t go beyond the viral aspect of what it has to offer, which would be a pity because JordanLuca’s language — for now edgy and at times controversial — has been evolving season after season and deserves more than an Instagram post and click-baiting headline, if only just for the different point of view it brings to Milan Fashion Week.
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The brand’s spring 2025 coed effort built on this with a punkish lineup inspired by ballet dancers. It challenged stereotypes by injecting a feminine touch into the men’s offering and imbuing a sense of rawness into the feminine one. Halter-neck tops, fluid shirts with double collars, a plethora of biking pants and skinny pants defined the extra-slender silhouettes for men, while transparencies, ruched textures and frills applied on boxy tailoring offered a dystopian take on tutus in the women’s range.
Floral prints, metallic finishes and shiny plastic coating added to the textures enriching the duo’s language, which never misses the opportunity to threw an ironic punch here and there. This season, founders winked to Rue Cambon, sending men down the runway in boxy and cropped tweed jackets with exaggerated shoulders, that went hand-in-hand with the theatrical elevated straps of a series of women’s tops and frocks.
It might be easy to question the commercial savviness of these pieces, but (online) history teaches a lot can happen in a year.
