How to Look Perfectly Put-Together Every Day
Drake's is on a roll lately. Just last month, the London-based brand opened up shop in New York City and introduced its fall/winter 2017 collection. And now, creative director Michael Hill and his crew are launching a whole new initiative: the Easyday collection. It's everything we love about Drake's - the effortlessly put-together style, the high-end construction - boiled down to a core group of clothes and accessories that are more affordable than ever.
We sat down with Hill to talk about the decision to launch the line, the pieces he's personally wearing, and what, exactly, is the deal with that name.
On launching Easyday
The decision to launch Easyday came about as a desire to do something that was a little different, which didn’t exist in our main collection, while remaining distinctly Drake’s. We’d wanted to do suiting for while - something that we hadn’t done before - so that made sense as a starting point for the collection. We also wanted to do something that was a touch more accessible, in terms of price point, so that became a key idea for the collection. We set out to make everything to our typically high standards, while trying to keep things as affordable as we could.
On the name of the line
We wanted a word that reflected the overall tone of the collection - something that's elegant and refined, but easy-wearing, and can be seen as something of an essential. "Easyday," to us, means all of those things. It refers to a garment which can be worn day in, day out, and which always looks timeless and elegant, without having to try too hard.
On the differences between Easyday and the Drake's mainline collection
We never make compromises in terms of our production. In fact, with most things we produce, we could do so in a much cheaper way, but we always go with what we think is the highest quality available to us - what feels right. So with that in mind, it’s important to us that this ethos carries over into any other collections we do. However, we realized that by scaling back some of the handwork that goes into our items - ties, tailoring, etc. - we would be able to offer these at a slightly more affordable price for the Easyday collection.
The tailoring for the collection is made in Italy, using the highest quality cloths, but it involves more machine work than our mainline jackets, so these come in at a lower price. Equally, our Easyday ties are handmade in our East London headquarters, but are tipped in silk, rather than hand-rolled. These differences in production also gave us some room to think about differences in terms of style, too. For example, all ties in Easyday collection come in at a 7cm width, just a little narrower than our standard.
On his favorite Easyday pieces
There are too many to mention, really. But the green corduroy suit is an obvious standout. It’s fun while still being smart; I’ve been getting a lot of wear out of mine. There’s also a very fetching suit in a gray glen check wool. Then we have some great knitwear, like our shawl collar cardigan made up in a lambswool for the first time, as opposed to cashmere.
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