Di Lascia's Bakery: Old-School Inspiration, Modern Style
Showroom owner Patrick Di Lascia found inspiration for his new men’s line, Di Lascia’s Bakery, in an unlikely place: the family business.
Inspired by the bakery founded in upstate New York by his grandfather and later run by his father, Di Lascia’s new line features a blend of vintage details updated with a modern casual look.
Di Lascia, co-owner of the Youngblood showroom in downtown Los Angeles, started with the pants, creating denim-alternative styles in three fits named for bakery employees: the “Newman” (straight-leg), the “Milton” (skinny fit) and the “Donato” (boot-cut). The 12-ounce twill button-fly pants come in three colors—toast (tan), mold (olive) and fig (a warm blue). Each features gingham trim lining the waistband and pockets.
Each style comes in one of two washes: the two-year wash and the heavily distressed five-year wash—“for the bakery worker who’s worked there behind the ovens for five years,” Di Lascia said.
“I’m really excited about the pant. There has not been a denim alternative on the market,” he said. “The line is happy and easy to wear. It reminds me of a time when things weren’t so complicated.”
The line also includes T-shirts bearing graphics inspired by the bakery’s ads from the 1940s and ’50s. The cheerful graphics bear cheeky slogans such as “Care for an Afternoon Delight?” “You’ve Got a Date for a Tasty Treat” and “Masterbaker.”
Rounding out the collection is a logo hoodie that features a hood that can be worn three ways: zipped closed over the head, worn unzipped flat down the back or snapped into a standing collar. The hoodie comes in three colors: fig (blue), jelly (red) and mold (green).
The bakery motif extends to the hangtags, which feature a vintage photo of Di Lascia’s father and uncle in front of the bakery. (The photo also appears on one of the T-shirts.) The look book images were shot in a bakery near where Di Lascia’s Bakery once stood. Tees will be shipped in a Di Lascia Bakery box, and the pants come packaged in a Di Lascia Bakery pie box. “This is what we used back in the day,” Di Lascia said, referring to the pie box. The story behind the line appears on the box under the word “ingredients,” and size, fit and wash information is listed under the words “nutritional facts.”
Di Lascia is still pricing the line but said the pants will be retail priced at about $80, hoodies will be about $55 and tees will be about $30. Everything is manufactured in India. In the coming months, there will be additional pieces, including woven shirts, polos, light-weight jackets and “tons of new pant styles—we are the anti-denim brand,” Di Lascia said. And a women’s line, Mary Baker by Di Lascia’s Bakery, named for Di Lascia’s mother, is also in the works for Fall 2010.
The Di Lascia’s Bakery collection is showing at the Youngblood booth at Premium at MAGIC in Las Vegas. Di Lascia and showroom partner Trevor Blackwood are also hosting a party on Feb. 18 at Tao at The Venetian in Las Vegas. For more information, call (518) 598-6892. —Alison A. Nieder
