AZ Factory with Lutz Huelle, behind the seams, The collection was imagined like an alphabet, encompassing everything… from A to Z; and the result is a wardrobe of pieces that work with each other, and for everyone. Though he had met Alber only once and wishes he’d gotten to know him better, Lutz recognizes in their shared DNA a common wish to make people feel comfortable, at ease. As such, the clothes are versatile, at once tailored and laidback, masculine and feminine, intended to be styled in lots of different waysby lots of different people… and shared with friends, of course.
Speaking of the design process itself, he describes a sort of collective amplification. “The only way positive things can happen is when people feel good working together”, he says. “This notion that you should suffer at work is so outdated. I myself do my best work when I feel good and am surrounded with people I enjoy being around. Collaborating with AZ Factory didn’t feel like work at all.” The feeling was mutual. “Working with Lutz in the studio was fun”, says Norman René Devera, AZ Factory’s design director. “We all riffed off each other, and laughed all day. I didn’t know Lutz when we began. Now we get to walk away as friends.”
The collection is set to be presented at the Fondation Cartier on October 3rd as part of the Paris Fashion Week schedule. With Lutz’s life-long interest in fashion as a broader artform, it felt especially meaningful to present our product story in a venue which carries such sentimental significance, as our brand’s own home. The intimate presentation will be unprecedented, the Fondation having not hosted an event of this kind in the last 2 decades.
Freedom & Possibility
Named “F is for Friendship”, Lutz Huelle’s product story is a riff on AZ Factory’s alphabet, and an ode to the brand’s protagonists, our very own Amigos. This theme of friendship is the core of Alber’s vision for smart fashion that cares, and has permeated Lutz’s work over the last 3 decades. This is especially anchored in a 1992 shoot, commissioned by Edward Enninful for ID Magazine: the project, which began as a traditional fashion editorial, took on emotional significance for Lutz, who worked alongside dear friends and fellow creatives Wolfgang Tillmans and Alexandra Bircken, turning the story into an expression of friendship and closeness which found resounding success because of the authentic nature it conveyed.
Designing for friends
This vision is precisely what Alber held so dear, and is the root of our family of Amigos today. This view also informs how Lutz works, still today. “No one knew it would resonate with people so much” he says. “It touched people because it was about freedom, about possibility.” It is this sentiment, this feeling, that Lutz harnessed at the inception of this newest project.
At the root of his work has always been one central question: “What is it that my friends want to wear?” The answer is a simple one: practical, functional clothes that also spark joy. Lutz doesn’t like labels or categories, and his is a unique blend of influences he describes as a multi-cultural fashion language, in which he likes to remove things from their original context to suggest new use for them.
F is for Friendship
The collection comprises shirting, dresses, outerwear, denim, sequins, cotton poplin and jerseys, with pairings of neutrals with pops of bold, happy colors. Though there is usually a dichotomy between style and practicality, Lutz worked to combine both. Here, denim and tailoring, formalwear and leisurewear are seamlessly integrated.
• A trench coat in bright floral print taffetas
• A classic white cotton t-shirt features an oversized, couture-worthy ruffle
• Cargo pants are cut in fluid floral crepe
• An oversized men’s shirt has a billowing back that is reminiscent of a parachute
• A bathing suit has a giant ruffle attached to its hem turning it into an evening dress
• A couture tulip skirt is cut in raw denim
• A simple belt with an attached ruffle turns the easiest of outfits into a dramatic silhouette
• Couture puffs are fixed onto gloves to turn a simple tee into an evening look
The soft color palette features a floral print so abstract it stands out as one rainbow-colored hue, rather than individual shades, acting like a neutral that works seamlessly with everything. The collaboration is full of surprises and unexpected details, yet approachable, with every piece easily paired together in an elevated and fun mix & match.
COLLECTION TECHNICAL DETAILS
Colors & prints :
Black
White
Light blue
Green
Mustard
Beige
Abstract multi-colored floral prints
Fabrics & details
Taffetas
Crepe
Summer wool
Plissé
Silk twill
Denim
Cotton poplin
Sequins
Ruffles
COLLECTION LEXICON
F is for… Friendship, Functionality, Freedom, Fluidity, Fun
About AZ Factory
Launched in 2021 by the late Alber Elbaz, AZ Factory believes in smart fashion that cares. Today, the label has evolved this belief into a collaborative ecosystem, a laboratory where people meet to try new things, where creativity is nurtured, and emotion and experimentation are encouraged. Earlier this year, we opened a new chapter, a natural evolution holding Alber’s values at its core. Now, we invite our Amigos – talents, partners, collaborators – to join us in growing his original vision and spirit, to design beautiful, fun and solutions-driven fashion alongside our design studio and in-house teams. We provide them with a collaborative space and platform to develop and share their visions of what fashion means to them, by appropriating and reinterpreting the codes that have made AZ Factory unique from day one, as well as the distribution to share those visions with a global customer base.
These talented creatives, who come from a broad range of backgrounds and disciplines, also share with us the core values laid out by Alber as the foundations of AZ Factory and together, we come up with out-of-the-box projects that go beyond the traditional boundaries of fashion. Following this year’s previous collaborations with Thebe Magugu, Cyril Bourez and Ester Manas, we are thrilled to welcome Lutz Huelle into the Factory for our next collaborative product story.
All images by AZ Factory / Lutz Huelle
PR Agency Lucien Pages Communication
Tag: AZFactory LutzHuelle SS23 Spring Summer 2023 SS2023 READY-TO-WEAR Paris fashion Week jtdapperfashionweek