Caulfield Preparatory: Classics With a Twist
When Vincent Flumiani describes the creation of his men’s clothing line, Caulfield Preparatory, it’s as if he is a costume designer composing the wardrobe of a character in a movie.
“I start with the story first: where he’s going, who he’s meeting hellip; the meaning of the story, and really build the collection around that,” said Los Angeles–based Flumiani, who launched the line for Autumn/Winter 2009 and has worked as a graphic designer for surf/skate companies. Flumiani’s Caulfield Preparatory narrative shadows Finnengan Nash Sinclair, a young man who rebels against his “conservative, Anglo-Saxon, yuppie and preppy” upbringing. The brand’s corporate showroom in the California Market Center houses a flotsam-and-jetsam collection of vintage knickknacks, nautical accessories and books that belong to the fictional Sinclair.
In Caulfield Preparatory, Flumiani wields his scissors to add a “little bit of a mutiny” to the “American classics,” mirroring the way the designer self-tailored his own clothes—taking in pant legs and jeans to make them skinny and severing woven shirts to three-quarter sleeves.
Spring 2010’s story picks up with Sinclair sailing on a yacht, which makes for a nautical wardrobe of striped Henley tees, rolled-up pants, peacoats and wrinkled woven shirts. Holes, grinding and surface treatments add a “washed out, very worn, blowing-in-the-wind [and] super-salty” feeling to the clothes, as if they were exposed for weeks out at sea. The second half of Spring follows Sinclair as he drops anchor on a remote island populated by a rich family. Classic suits and woven shirts styled in unconventional color combinations—such as saturated Technicolor purples, fuschias, cognac browns and greens—were inspired by “Hamptons in the summer meets Saint-Tropez.”
The faux biographies behind the clothing may not register with a regular guy picking a Caulfield Preparatory suit jacket off the rack. But Flumiani believes viewing clothing through the lens of a story can have a transformative quality for those who pay attention.
“Maybe because of the story, they’ll put it on and they’ll feel good, they’ll feel skinny, they’ll feel handsome. But maybe also they will feel courageous, maybe more risky, or maybe they’ll make a bold decision,” Flumiani said. “It’s almost like [Finnengan is] our hero and we’re living vicariously through him.”
Wholesale price points are $36 for tees, $350 for outerwear, $55 to $65 for woven shirts and $80 to $125 for trousers. Caulfield Preparatory has been sold to Ian in Seattle, Lane Crawford in Hong Kong and Kesner in New York. For more information, contact L’Atelier & Reign showroom, located in suite A593 of the California Market Center, at (213) 683-0050.—Rhea Cortado
