Ever the democrat, Derek Lam put the direction of his new 10 Crosby Denim collection to a vote. “We basically canvassed the office to determine everyone’s most favorite shapes and their favorite eras, and then gave them our own spin,” says Lam. He even named each style after a member of the team: Gia, a mid-rise cropped flare; Mila, a mid-rise slim girlfriend; Lou, a high-rise classic straight-leg. There’s also Noah, a mid-rise sexy flare, and Devi, a mid-rise authentic skinny.
A look from the new 10 Crosby denim collection.
Representative of the 10 Crosby brand as a whole, the styles are meant to fit seamlessly into any woman’s wardrobe. “It’s that thing that you always reach for,” says Lam, “which is basically the premise of the work that I do.”
And it’s work that he does well. Lam’s eponymous high-fashion line has received seemingly endless accolades. In addition to being a celebrity favorite and the recipient of no fewer than three CDFA awards, his work has been put on display at the Kennedy Center, New York’s Neue Galerie and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
The 10 Crosby line, named for his company’s original HQ on SoHo’s Crosby Street, lets Lam design for a wider audience—an everywoman he sees all around him in the brand’s namesake city: New York.
Two looks from the new 10 Crosby denim collection.
“Ten Crosby was literally me looking out the window of my office and seeing these really cool, interesting young women,” he says. “Obviously they had very creative lifestyles and jobs and spirits, and it left me kind of thinking, Why can’t I dress her as well?” He says 10 Crosby is the product of imagining “how these women live their lives, which is very intriguing to me,” and then interpreting it in a clothing collection. And rave runway reviews and critical acclaim notwithstanding, it’s the woman who gets to wear his designs that he’s here to impress.
“I spend a lot of time in the stores,” he says. “To see the work that I do with my team actually fit into someone’s life and work for her body, that’s very satisfying. It’s almost like having a kindred spirit.”
