Guillermo Andrade’s 424 Gets an Artful Spin
Fashion

Guillermo Andrade’s 424 Gets an Artful Spin

In 2015, Los Angeles-based Guatemalan designer Guillermo Andrade added a luxe, streetwear private-label to his five-year-old menswear concept store 424 on Fairfax. Informed by the oversized polo button-ups and Paul Smith blazers he wore as an adolescent and the workwear that surrounded him, Andrade's separates feature industrial treatments and incorporate contemporary art influences.

For his latest conceit, Andrade has collaborated with ARMES, the multi-disciplinary, underground Swiss publishing house known for its special projects in fashion, contemporary art, music, food, and more. Each piece in the capsule of hoodies, joggers, denim jackets, and jeans has been hand bleached by Swiss-born, Paris-based artist Thomas Koenig.

"I was working on a camouflage print," Andrade says. "I decided to reach out [to Koenig] to see if we could use his bleaching technique across the fabrics so we could still have that feeling of camouflage." Like the large, draped canvas works he began creating in 2012, the 35-year-old's discharge patterns call for a two-part process that obscures the garments' original colors and creates soft gradations of cobalt, black, scarlet, yellow, and taupe.

"It's all very personal and special," Andrade adds. "He [Koenig] traveled to LA to finish off the collection. It was great for us to have all the products personally approved by his eye." In keeping with the exclusivity that 424 is known for, Andrade and ARMES have kept the number pieces produced for sale to a minimum. Starting September 16, a limited-run of the capsule will be available on 424's website and at select retailers worldwide.

Photography: Julien Boudet