How do two distinct creative forces follow up on one of their strongest clothing collaborations ever? In the case of KAWS & The North Face, it's a cleverly quiet revision of what worked so well with the first drop, reframing TNF layering pieces with a subdued KAWS canvas.
It's not unfair to consider whether KAWS is better at creating covetable clothing or actual art. His vivid, flat illustrations lend themselves perfectly to garments. The trick is in how intelligently these KAWS team-ups are planned out.
Previous partners, like sacai and UNIQLO, took great pains to flatter KAWS' creations with understated apparel that let the art do the talking.
sacai, for instance, pared back its typically adventurous ready-to-wear in favor of more approachable bomber jackets and skirts that both served as a platform for KAWS and an authentic approximation of the sacai ethos. Meanwhile, plain T-shirts were the base of UNIQLO's KAWS vehicle, accompanied by Snoopy and Sesame Street plushes that amped up the hype.
This made The North Face & KAWS' first collection especially captivating, because TNF's signature jackets, hoodies, T-shirts, and bags were only made more attractive by KAWS' colorful embellishments.
Those TNF clothes were already innately appealing, too, so it was a double whammy of desirability and sold accordingly (read: insanely fast).
Launching October 25 on TNF's web store, flagship stores, END., and more for $55 to $550 apiece, The North Face x KAWS round two plays with that established pattern.
The idea for the duo's second collection was to focus on trek-ready The North Face Expedition System items, encompassing a plethora of historic TNF staples in the process.
Meanwhile, KAWS' artistic flourishes are nearly devoid of color, the rainbow-hued palette of their first collaboration swapped for handsome tonal shades.
You've got the 1996 Nuptse Jacket, '86 Mountain Jacket, Denali fleece jacket and pants from '95, classic Base Camp Duffels and ThermoBall mule shoes, reflecting some of The North Face's most famous layering pieces in one concise capsule.
"Iconic" is a word that gets tossed around all too frequently but, in the case of these silhouettes, it's appropriate.
These are functional garments designed for journeys through harsh weather and KAWS' more muted art allows the apparel to breathe, their legacies not just intact but arguably even more visible than the subtle KAWS prints.
Rather than dominate the conversation, KAWS' designs play a part in this collaborative back-and-forth, balancing the appeal between The North Face classics and his own iconography.
"The blocking, stitching, and details on [The North Face's] coats really lent themselves to the way I structure a painting, so I treated the garments in our collaborative collection like a blank canvas," KAWS said of his first TNF collab, but it's also a worthy description of his approach to the second drop.
The "camouflage" is tonal, the "XX" embroidery subtle, the co-branding relatively minimal. Fashion meets function in a perfect storm of storm-proof clothing.
What results is arguably KAWS' most sophisticated apparel collection to date and perhaps his toughest, in terms of how it handles inclement weather.
As for The North Face, it's simply another high-water mark reflective of the perennial appeal of its stylishly sturdy clothing. Timelessness is always a good look.
