You've never heard of Lucien Pellat-Finet. Maybe if you're of a certain age, I suppose, but even then it's not really an age thing. Pellat-Finet's eponymous label was so exclusive, so expensive, so stylistically married to a moment in time that even at its peak, it was pure insider fashion.

In light of its underreported comeback, however, it's a good time to be acquainted with the so-called "King of Cashmere," if only because this guy was to high-end knitwear as Chrome Hearts is to biker jewelry.

Lucien Pellat-Finet was a French model-turned-designer whose signature cashmere sweaters were defined by indulgence. And I mean indulgence. On one hand, these opulent sweaters were intarsia-knitted from custom-sourced and ultra-thick four-ply cashmere with patterns woven right into the fabric itself. Because of the production process' patient nature, only a limited number could be made each season.

On the other hand, these were some of the most ignorant sweaters ever fabricated.

Pellat-Finet, who sold his label to Zadig & Voltaire founder Thierry Gillier in 2019, came to be recognized for absurdist full-volume sweaters that wore his skull logo, a pot leaf, or lurid candy colors — sometimes simultaneously — whose intensity was matched only by their price tag.

Lucien Pellat-Finet sweaters commonly started at $1,500 even back when he launched his label in 1994. In recent years, his items might begin around $2,000.

Here's where he diverges from other gods of gauche, like similarly skull-obsessed Phillip Plein. Whereas those designers built fortunes upon obnoxious visions of pure excess, Pellat-Finet grew into that mentality later in life. His sweaters actually were quite beautiful (at their core), with exquisite cashmere and precise cuts that cleverly fit snug but not too tight, sort of like a go-to T-shirt. That's a pretty utilitarian comparison for four-figure knitwear but Pellat-Finet, who passed away in 2024, was always craft-first. Think of his work like wearable Judith Leiber handbags. Tasteful? No, but artful.

Pellat-Finet got away with the knowingly "trashy" Y2K vibe because that's the era in which his vision crystalized. His take on it was authentic, with the combo of high craft and low-brow aesthetic making his company a peer to labels like Chrome Hearts, Hysteric Glamour, and Jacob & Co., the latter of whom collaborated with Pellat-Finet on several extremely expensive diamond watches. Pellat-Finet was also an early advocate of Takashi Murakami, tapping the artist for upscale merch even prior to Murakami partnering with Louis Vuitton.

With a true insider's aura, Pellat-Finet's line remained a go-to for monied celebs like Tom Cruise and Jada Pinkett Smith seeking something classically sumptuous. His tamer statement pieces remain a flex for those in the know.

All the while, Pellat-Finet was doing big business in Japan.

In fact, over two decades after it was licensed to Japan's Coronet Corporation in 2002, itself later absorbed into the vast Itochu Corporation, Lucien Pellat-Finet Japan is still turning out product. Just this past week, it dropped a Rolling Stones collab complete with a ¥550,000 (about $3,450) leather jacket. However, the veracity of this LPF imprint is up for debate — there isn't a single cashmere sweater in the entire seasonal lineup.

Perhaps, the new Lucien Pellat-Finet will be truer to the source material. Zadig & Voltaire is on the cusp of relaunching the luxury line as a standalone imprint, which stylistically makes sense. Timingwise, the perpetual heat around everything Y2K also feels right. But is this really the right moment to sell expensive sweaters?

Trick question. As Pellat-Finet himself was well aware, there is no right moment to sell expensive sweaters save for the one you make yourself.

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