New kid in town
Just one year after launching his first Kool-Aid-hued collection of updated American sportswear, Chris Benz is suddenly on everyone’s radar. The New York designer is collaborating with Christian Louboutin, partying with Brett Ratner and doing the Hollywood air-kissing circuit for the first time this week, all at the tender age of 25.
“I like things to be effortless,” Benz says by phone from his Lower Manhattan studio, which has an in-house photo booth. Whether his rise was effortless or not, Benz is one of those people who is cool without really trying. “Pants don’t need to be super high or super low,” he says. “I’m straightforward.”
And fast. The Seattle native left for New York at 17 to go to Parsons school of design, graduating in 2004. An internship with Marc Jacobs schooled him in quirky minimalism, and a stint doing dresses for J. Crew gave him his gifted color sense.
Last February, Benz made his New York Fashion Week debut with a cozy, off-runway affair at the New York Yacht Club. Fashion’s inner circle has been salivating ever since.
Now, Neiman Marcus is backing the young designer, hosting trunk shows for him in Beverly Hills this week and stocking the collection for the first time this spring. “We are big fans,” says Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus, who cites Benz’s fresh, relaxed approach to sportswear as the key to his early success. His line is also carried at Nordstrom, Fred Segal and Ron Herman.
The spring collection is oddly, but effectively, inspired by the eccentric senior citizen -- an ongoing theme in Benz’s peculiar repertoire. “I like the idea of that funny old lady who throws a bunch of stuff together before she leaves the house.”
That translates into massive yellow sun hats and monochromatic magenta suits, silk jackets and pants with the ease of pajamas that would fit right in at an early-bird special. Carol Channing, Phyllis Diller and Mrs. Peacock (of Clue board game fame) are some of the muses.
But the true origin of Benz’s crazy-old-lady fixation comes from a boyhood spent with grandma, whose goat-fur coat he still wears on cold Manhattan days.
“She wasn’t really that old. Or that crazy,” he says. “So who really knows where I get it.”
An unlikely advocate for Benz’s brand of granny chic is Ratner. The flashy director became hooked after Ashley Abess, his friend (and Benz’s business partner), sent a few pieces for Ratner’s girlfriend to try. Ratner has become such a fan, he even hopes to have Benz outfit a future film project. Only if the character is, Ratner says, “chic, subtle and cool,” of course.
On Thursday, Ratner will open his home for a debutante-style Hollywood introduction. “I think he’s talented, and I believe in helping people like that,” Ratner says. “This is the kind of stuff you’re gonna hold on to. Thirty years from now, it’s still gonna look cool.”
Accessories are a strong point for Benz, who collaborated with Louboutin on neon, mesh penny loafers and worked with his friend Lisa Salzer on a line of jewelry under her Lulu Frost label. He joined Moscot in designing eyeglasses based on the vibrant colors used in his spring collection. Hats, scarves and flower lapel pins pay homage to Carrie Bradshaw and are produced in-house.
“I’m always looking to expand to new categories and get my feet wet,” he says.
Seems like they’re practically dripping.
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Chris Benz will preview his fall collection 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills. For more information: (310) 550-5900.
