Antonio Ciongoli, former creative director and founder of Eidos, officially launched his new brand 18 East last week with a party at 180 The Store in Tribeca, in New York City. In a last-minute, impulse decision, I flew out for the party to support the guy (thanks to my generous brother who paid my way with airline points). Not that he needed it, particularly (the collection is off to a very strong start), but I love his approach to menswear and wanted to be there. And, as my brother put it, this was my chance to do something crazy and impulsive, because once my baby boy is born in 5 weeks, such last-second plans will be all but impossible for a time.
The clothes that make up this new brand are a far cry from the original vision for Eidos—sharp Italian tailoring has been traded for loose, pleated corduroys and printed tees. I’m still unabashedly excited about tailoring and love the way it makes me look and feel, so it might be a surprise that I’d fly all the way from Nashville to New York to be there for the launch.
I think it’s because some of the most important things that made Eidos so appealing to me are still on display in 18 East. Tailoring can be such a stuffy, rules-bound affair. With Eidos, Antonio made tailoring fun and contemporary, bringing an appreciation for the rules that worked while discarding those are were outdated—but always with consistency and integrity. What made often made his tailoring so unique but also easy to wear was his outstanding eye for fabric—textured, patina’d, interesting, but almost never flashy or gaudy (just compare any given Eidos season with Isaia and you’ll see what I mean).
But underlying the creative talent for finding or developing good textiles and the intellectual knowledge of tailored history was always a strong utilitarian bent—he made clothes to be worn in the real world by real people. “Design is how it works,” Steve Jobs famously said once. That’s a guiding light in my own design work, and I’ve sensed it in Antonio’s collections ever since I discovered his work.
Not that every collection was a slam dunk—to me, the Eidos pieces that flopped usually did so because their origins lay probably too much in the “cool/unique in their aesthetics” category, without enough emphasis on their utilitarian purpose. And some of the cloth choices have been questionable (the raw, open-weave silk he used often wore through very quickly on a pair of trousers that are part of a suit I have). But in all, the practical aspects of wearing clothing have always felt considered in Antonio’s work. The last few seasons, he switched from emphasizing his original motto (“Clothing with soul, made with integrity”) to pitching what he called “the comfort food of clothes”—that is, something you return to time and again because it’s so good.
While 18 East is decidedly more colorful and adventurous for a Midwesterner like me, I still sense that balance of interesting design with usefulness and wearability in the clothes. Some items, like the Wainscott Aran crewneck or the trekking turtleneck play it more subtly in that designer sensibility—they have an interesting story behind them, are made of a cool fabric or pay homage to a specific design tradition. Others tiptoe a bit further into designer territory, such as this belted corduroy ranch coat—it’s simply a faux-fur-lined navy corduroy coat, but its belted with a bright cord inspired by the textiles found in Nepal.
While I personally don’t see myself wearing them, even the bolder designs still strike me as wearable (in certain environments). The Khadi field jacket puts a large panel of traditional Indian textile that became a symbol of Indian independence, on the back of a field jacket—all an homage to anti-war protesters of the ’70s, “who often wore military jackets hand-embellished with calls for peace and freedom” as the product description states.
The utilitarianism doesn’t end just with the clothes, however. In an interview over at Grailed, he said they showed their collection at New York Fashion Week instead of at NFW:Men’s because they were trying to show the initial fall collection as late as possible. The reason? “There’s a lot about the traditional fashion cycle that I’ve never really understood but, most of all, it’s the hyper-early deliveries. I don’t know any guy that shops like that. When it’s raining, you buy a raincoat. I didn’t want to sell fleece vests in July. That just doesn’t make sense. ” Instead of traditional semi-annual seasons (Spring/Summer, Fall/Winter), small, mini-collections are dropping every two months. Even the pricing is aimed at being accessible—as he puts it, “they are priced accessibly and fairly so that our partners can earn a living wage and we can highlight their amazing work to a larger audience.”
At the event, my absolute favorite piece was the trekking turtleneck. I want it badly, but it’s a very heavy wool that I worry wouldn’t get much wear from me in the mild Tennessee winters. Instead I bought the hand-embroidered tee, which has small colorful embroidered blocks on the hems, calling to mind the prayer flags flying above Kathmandu. I plan to wear it mostly paired with my Eidos Agy pajama pants around the house (which Antonio gave me when I gave him grief in a blog post). My wife said she wanted to wear those Agy’s postpartum, so I bought her a pair of PJ pants of her own—the vintage Julian kalamkari print ones, to be specific. (Upon my presenting her with the gift, she excitedly asked, “Is it a Ciongoli?!”).
There are three good pieces out right now at Grailed, GQ and Die, Workwear! (and one behind the paywall at WWD) that will give you a good feel for the brand and Antonio’s vision for it. Check them out and check out the initial collection—if you’re anything like me, you’ll still be able to appreciate Antonio’s talent as a designer, and probably will find a thing or two to love.
