This article was published on February 23, 2023 and updated on April 27
Aimé Leon Dore: is it a fashion brand that sells New Balances or a New Balance brand that sells fashion? ALD's Spring/Summer 2023 collection lookbook is a sort of indirect response to that exact query, as it's almost entirely devoid of obvious streetwear fare.
In fairness, Aimé Leon Dore has long strived to distinguish itself beyond surface-level "streetwear" descriptors.
Its inimitable social media presentation is predicated on broadly appealing stylization, aspirationally depicting the Aimé Leon Dore lifestyle as one epitomized by mid-century modern furniture, balmy Polaroids of seaside towns, inclusive hangouts of downtown-cool types and Italiano-style sprezzatura.
Hence why Aimé Leon Dore's SS23 collection hardly includes any terribly obvious street staples in either ALD SS23 drop one, which released in February 2023, or ALD SS23 drop two, live on May 27, via Aimé Leon Dore's website and stores.
There are graphic T-shirts, quarter-snap fleece pullovers, and mesh football-style jerseys, yeah, but they're styled with collared batik-patterned shirts, braided belts, and intarsia-striped cardigans straight out of a Wes Anderson movie.
That ALD has relegated its fan-favorite branded caps and graphic hoodies to its Uniform collections, rather than seasonal lookbooks, signifies to a casual observer like moi that ALD is willfully separating its "mainline" fare from the stuff that makes the most moolah.
And not that Aimé Leon Dore doesn't move product either way (I'm sure it does).
It's simply aiming to give its "mainline" clothes more weight in a standalone presentation before reintroducing the stuff that gets the kids lining up on Mulberry Street, perhaps tempting them with wallpaper-patterned pants or a ripstop shirt in the process.
The takeaway: Aimé Leon Dore wants you to see its stuff as more than mere fodder that fills time in between New Balance collaborations.
So why do New Balance 860s appear in Aimé Leon Dore's new lookbook? Well, the idea is, presumably, "These are props that complement the clothes, not the other way around."
Mind you, both ALD's NB 860s and 1906 sneakers were the subjects of splashy release date reveals, so it's not like these drops are meaningless.
In fact, the New Balance partnerships are core to ALD's crossover success. You think a brand's hashtag gets 90 million views on TikTok without a hit sneaker? The IG-friendly café helps, too.
Even when the New Balance collabs aren't obvious smashes, they keep the blogs buzzing, the queues long, and ALD's investors happy.
Still, you can tell that Aimé Leon Dore wants its brand to stand strong with high-effort styling and imminently wearable garments steeped in menswear heritage (Patagonia-inspired fleece here, a sweater in the vein of OG J.Crew there) rather than providing window dressing to hyped kicks.
Hard to say whether or not the legions of youngs who thrill to line up outside of ALD's NYC store to buy T-shirts and New Balances will take notice but you can't knock ALD for trying.
"I don't look to ALD for purchases," as one TikToker put it. "I look to ALD for outfit inspo. Do you need to pay their prices to get their shit? No."
