We could spend hours developing the tribes and tribulations of a piece of clothing as historic as LEVI’S jeans or its always irresistible jackets. But the past is always prologued and the present belongs to the designer Alejandro Palomo, the head of one of the most important and transgressive fashion firms that can be found today. For this reason, Alejandro has been chosen to redefine one of the most iconic Levi jeans. Included in Palomo’s most recent collection, presented a few months ago at MBFWMADRID, this revival of 501 jeans and the tracked jacket are mainly characterized by having found their source of inspiration in that world of implacable men, sweat, offices located in enormous skyscrapers and effusive and millionaire money investments. And it is that Alejandro’s mind is always a hive of wonderful and glamorous ideas capable of bringing charm and freshness to everything he touches, even an ocean plagued by sharks… because yes, this is fashion and we are always thirsty for blood.
Tell me Alejandro, what role do jeans play in your life?
The role they play in every life. A garment that is necessary in the wardrobe. It forms the base of the background of your dressing room and accompanies any look or can even create one from the scratch. Jeans accompany us every day.
I would love to ask you about your first LEVI’S, do you remember the story behind them?
Perfectly! I bought them when I was 12 years old. I remember going to the Levi’s store in Córdoba, with my mother. They have been some Levi’s that have accompanied me almost until recently. All of my adolescence and much of my earliest youth. They transformed, as I did and have gone through many styles. They have been cracked, daubed, and have been shortened, erasing the traces of each style I went through until they became a short that was almost a denim pant. The real Mugler (laughs). I still keep them with great affection in a drawer at my parents’ house.
Jeans have always fit in all styles, in many urban tribes. Goths, romantics, executives… every way of dressing wields jeans among its classic garments, but I want to know, how does Alejandro Palomo define himself when it comes to his personal style?
My style is classic with a free, sensitive and glamorous touch. I always start from the classics, though. I love putting on a pinstripe jacket suit and adorning it with a Swarovski crystal necklace with a manila shawl. Or a jean with a light blue shirt and a pearl necklace, with a curious, fun shoe. A white shirt, flared trousers with darts and a huge, oversized coat. Basics with an updated twist, I guess.
This collaboration with Levi’s is part of your latest collection titled “Tiburón”, partly inspired by the classic business shark kind of men from the 90´s. What attracts you to that figure of such corporate masculinity?
I believe that the challenge of generating a new idea for today’s business man. I observe that corporate masculinity, so present in the business world, to dismantle that homogeneity. We have made our own corporate silhouette, totally new. The volumes are disproportionate, the shoulders are widened, the pants are shortened to the maximum and the idea of the new sexy executive is played with.
Would you say that in all that high-stakes business world there is very palpable homoeroticism?
The world of the uniform I think is quite homoerotic. I have always found it very attractive. From a bricklayer in overalls to a man in a suit, passing through a sportsman in a two-piece (gray) tracksuit. The idea that a man combs his hair, perfumes himself, prepares for success… that of course is absolutely desirable and erotic.
Don’t you think that these ferocious figures have been gradually diluted? The Gordon Gekko or the Patrick Bateman kind of men… are they characters from the past who only live in literature and celluloid?
I don’t think they are figures that have been diluted. Yes, it is true that a Patrick Bateman is a bit of a profile that corresponds to somewhat past histrionics, associated with a power that is less common now. But I do keep meeting very geeky boys, very focused and who also have a very curious personality They may not be as famous but they do provide the real world with memorable characters.
The Jean 501 and the Trucker Jacket that you have designed for this collaboration are garments that have already passed from generation to generation thanks to LEVI’S. Would you like your garments and your own clothing brand to be something that continues for decades and decades as has happened with other firms?
Of course, I would love for my clothes to end up becoming such an absolutely recognizable piece. For the moment, we can be optimistic knowing that there are pieces that have become capable of rising to the status of an icon in the fashion industry. They are already classics of the brand. The “ass in the air” pants is perhaps a good example. However, beyond a specific silhouette, I think that what has the potential to persist as Levi’s 501 has is the idea of a new masculinity that goes far beyond clothing. It is the idea of the empowerment of that sensitivity that exists in men as well and that has often been directly veiled or hidden. This is what gave life to our community and what I believe will be preserved over time.
Alejandro, I love that your collaboration with LEVI’S is inspired by animal print. Why this weakness for that print?
I think it has a lot of kitsch glam and the daring and fun that we like. It is appealing. With this “cracked” zebra print we wanted to emulate a little bit that busted pants that everyone has, but taking it to the extreme.
Alicia Padrón and Alejandro Palomo
In my opinion, the animal print is an invisible thread that has united memorable icons that can range from Grace Jones and even Snookie and Jwoow. Don’t you think we should claim the universality of this print?
I insist on the vindication of the animal print. Of course! It is a must. It is always transgressive.
Leopard, zebra, a cow print. We always come back to this print.
We all have LEVI’S jeans in our closet, if you could be the jean that someone wore on their brightest days and longest nights… whose would it be?
I would have liked to be button of Brad Pitt’s cowboy jeans in Thelma and Louise. There is no time when that man has been more attractive in his whole life. Also, Timothe Chalamet’s jeans. One can loose his mind over that boy.
I would like to know, what would you like someone to feel when they wear the 501 jeans that you have designed?
Whoever wears Palomo’s 501 jeans has to be willing to have fun and feel sexy. With that predisposition, the pants give you everything. It picks you up making you float in a special way.
