Suitwear for the Morning After
When designers try to mix avant-garde with day-to-day comfort, the results can clash like sea otters and oil spills. It’s the rare talent who can make garments that snap, crackle and pop on the proving ground of real-world wear. But Grant Krajecki has been doing just that with his Echo Park-based Grey Ant label since 1998, making a specialty of playful postmodern interpretations on classic styles.
Mind you, “classic” in this instance means sportswear staples such as hoodies and tank tops as well as suits and tuxedo shirts. At Grey Ant, timeless menswear pieces get shapelier, more fitted contours, fresh, unexpected materials and decorative flourishes such as spray paint, writing, weatherizing or faux finishing techniques.
“For guys, I like things to be pretty classic and then I like things that are really way out there, like Ziggy Stardust/David Bowie-type things,” says Krajecki, 35. “Normal mainstream clothes with something small that makes it a little different.” The Chicago native began designing clothes for himself after growing 6 inches one summer during high school. Soon he was designing costumes for a Chicago nightclub. He moved to L.A. in 1989 and worked in costume houses designing apparel for film, television, Vegas showgirls, the Ice Capades and, in one instance, a motorcycle jacket for an elephant, before starting the Grey Ant line, which includes women’s wear and a lower-priced line labeled Grey Antics.
Collections have included the “satin necktiesleeve,” a neckwear item that includes a tie plus a single sleeve of a roller derby jacket; a windbreaker with suit lapels; and a bomber jacket with lapels treated so as to appear to be covered in dirt. “They’re things you could throw in the corner of your room or sleep in and wear the next day and look good,” says Krajecki.
Drawing inspiration from the cover art in his extensive collection of LPs, particularly ‘70s glam rock albums, Krajecki’s Spring 2003 men’s pieces are priced at $50 to $750 and include seersucker low-rise pants with a dual diagonal button fly, a low-waisted black seersucker suit with a hand-dyed lame waistband, a nylon tank top and a short-sleeved tuxedo shirt with an integrated tie. “I saw that as a morning-after shirt. It’s not really meant to be tied. It’s when the party’s over and you’re all loosened up. We wrinkle it on purpose,” Krajecki says.
A machine-washable gray cotton suit with horizontal jacket pockets, low-rise pants and that dual button fly is the ultimate in utilitarian fashion. “Guys want to throw everything in the washing machine and the dryer, so I wanted to make a suit jacket you could do that to,” Krajecki says.
It’s mainstream. It’s edgy. It’s washable. At Grey Ant, the operative credo goes like this: “Try to go as crazy as you can and keep it masculine. You’ve gotta be inventive but not scare them away.”
Grey Ant menswear is available at Aero & Co., 8403 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles; (323) 653-4651.
