Jon Strassburg, cofounder of Meta Campania Collective, is building the coed brand on the belief that artists are the best-dressed people around because their clothes reflect personal style rather than exalting a particular label, trend or fashion tribe.
No wonder he selected Paris-based composer and musical artist Sabisha Friedberg to incarnate Meta Campania’s first “high summer” capsule collection being unveiled at a Left Bank gallery this week. (The main spring 2025 collection was already unveiled during men’s fashion week in Paris last June.)
“There’s a certain confidence that you immediately see in her eyes, which I love, and you can also see it in the way she holds herself,” Strassburg said of Friedberg, who paints and draws in addition to her sound art installations, performances and recordings.
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Known for looking as impeccable alone at work in her studio as on the concert stage, Friedberg was captured on the streets of Paris by photographer Olivier Kervern, with styling by Anastasia Barbieri.
The creative trio summoned a mysterious mood as Friedberg “runs her day’s errands and loses herself in thoughts here and there,” according to the collection notes.
“I wanted to explore the high-summer, feminine side of the brand,” Strassburg said in an interview. “I really homed in on the fluidity that I already presented in the first part of the [spring 2025] collection.”
Lightweight suede trenchcoats, silk knits and breezy cottons underpin the collection’s subliminal sensuality, which Friedberg anchors with her commanding presence.
“It’s always been my vision and my dream to create something where I can connect with people that I find inspiring, and that find what I do inspiring,” said Strassburg, who features artists of various stripes on Meta Campania’s website under the banner “Lives and Works In.” “I really enjoy providing them the opportunity to showcase their abilities to different audiences.”
Initially menswear-focused and inspired by the workaday wardrobes of Pablo Picasso, Wolfgang Tillmans and their ilk, Meta Compagnia still riffs on items like workwear jackets and roomy drawstring pants for him and her.
But the women’s portion of the business might soon slightly eclipse menswear, Strassburg said.
The brand is carried by about 40 specialty doors including Dover Street Market in Paris and London, Trois Pommes in Zurich, Bungalow in Stuttgart, Biotop in Tokyo and 10 Corso Como in Milan, plus online platforms such as Ssense and The Webster.
A 20-year veteran of the fashion industry with a merchandising background, Strassburg launched Meta Campania Collective at the height of the pandemic with his business partner Heiko Keinath, who runs the creative agency Buero.
