“I first met JJ a few years ago — we had breakfast together and hit it off. She’s all about sunshine, travel, happiness and good times.” Adam Brown, the man who founded the British resortwear label Orlebar Brown, is explaining how he got together with the Milan-based American designer JJ Martin to create a collection that is all about sunshine and good times.
The La DoubleJ x Orlebar Brown partnership gives us a selection of brightly patterned shirts, swim shorts and drawstring pants designed to take you from beach to bar to restaurant. Unusually for Orlebar Brown, it’s a collection that also features women’s pieces such as bikinis, swimsuits, sundresses, capri pants and pyjama suits. “I like the fact that we can now offer something to women,” says Brown, who describes the whole collection as essentially unisex. “Traditionally we’ve been very male, with things like our James Bond collections, so this feels like a new direction.”
You may remember Daniel Craig sporting Orlebar Brown’s Sky Setter swim shorts in Skyfall, which led to the brand producing a range of Bond-inspired pieces, including a towelling robe (as worn by Sean Connery in Dr No) and a onesie — yes really — inspired by Connery again, this time from Goldfinger. There have also been Bond-print swim shorts in the brand’s signature tailored Bulldog style, featuring poster artwork of the classic films. Brown points out that his brand, although masculine, is known for prints: “It’s a language we have been developing over a number of years with geometrics, graphic patterns, even a Pucci collaboration. But we’ve never done anything as baroque or vibrant as this before.”
The shift to exuberance has come as a result of Martin’s influence. A former journalist specialising in interiors, she started her clothing and accessories range, La DoubleJ, in 2015. It’s known for its intense colours and prints; “I’m an intense personality,” Martin admits.
The three exclusive prints in this collaboration collection are all floral-themed. They comprise Dragonflower, based on a print from a historic silk archive in Como; Morpheus, a romantic garden image dedicated to the god of dreams; and Whitsun, a wavy multicoloured repeat pattern reimagined from a 19th-century Middle Eastern textile.
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“The idea is always that however talkative and jazzy the prints are, I always like to think there is a sense of harmony to them and they are not verging off into a car crash,” Martin says. “There’s cleanliness around the lines.”
“There are way too many collaborations around,” Brown says, “and the most successful ones are where they take brands into areas they wouldn’t normally go. Taking us into that loud, more vibrant, energetic world of La DoubleJ has been a really good thing.”
“For me, Orlebar Brown has always been the coolest men’s swim and beach brand,” Martin continues. “All of my most stylish male friends were wearing it. Our customer is married to Adam’s customer, or their gay best friend is wearing it. But even my more conservative friends — the banker types — were wearing Orlebar Brown too.”
So, will those banker types slip into Brown’s favourite combination in the collection — a brightly printed Dragonflower short-sleeve and buttonless open placket shirt with matching Bulldog swim shorts? “We’ve known for years that going on holiday is the opportunity for that more conservative man to represent themselves in a slightly different way,” he says. “They can be that person for a few days.”
The La DoubleJ x Orlebar Brown capsule collection launches June 4 and will be available at ladoublej.com and orlebarbrown.com and in the La DoubleJ Milan and Taormina stores and Orlebar Brown stores worldwide
