The brand LEJ has expanded rather in the past year, adding interesting outerwear and overall designs that are a little more sophisticated, a little more refined. And as a result, perhaps more suited to the PS reader.
Luke Walker, the founder, is an experienced designer who has worked for both fashion brands (eg Lanvin) and more classic ones (eg Dunhill). That combination together with him being a real product person – obsessed with garment engineering and great materials – has always made him someone I’ve admired. He also just has great style.
However, the LEJ range hasn’t always felt like it’s for me. The aesthetic seemed more suited to André or Manish, who wrote on PS about their favourite LEJ pieces a few years ago.
In retrospect that was probably unfair, and I was being a little lazy. The LEJ products are all very well made, really good value, and I focused too much on the quick-release jackets and short trousers, at the expense of simpler chores and great blousons.
Not having a physical store didn’t help, always making me a little unsure about the slightly playful details. But I finally corrected that earlier this month, visiting Luke’s studio in Dalston and trying on everything he had. I loved the tailoring and the knits, and am happy to answer questions about either. But it was the outerwear that really got me excited.
One of the reasons I’ve always enjoyed talking to Luke is that he has a very considered view on everything he designs. It’s not just about recreating something from the past, or about what will sell the most. That might be a bit more standard at a fashion company, but classic-menswear brands, in my experience, have a tendency to:
- just reproduce an archive piece
- not see the need for any design view, or
- not have experience either way to design something well
Take the leather jacket of Luke’s shown above. The shape was inspired by old Ivy track jackets, which have a very clean front and panels that are cut on the bias, creating a very simple but functional design. The back, meanwhile, is taken from a Swiss ski jacket, which had lots of volume and a really tight cinch at the waist to keep all the heat in.
“These are very functional, mid-century designs,” says Luke, “but they create a silhouette I really love – an old Hollywood one in a way, with that big round back, nipped waist and tight booty below. Or like the dock worker’s, the Carhartt silhouette, with the roomy jacket and close-fitting jeans. Or a Wyoming cowboy in his waisted denim jacket.”
The more examples Luke gives, the more you see the links between these different references – and you see why the jacket has been built in this particular way, engineered from parts.
They also help you understand the product. You see why the back is big and the sleeves big. They’re part of a cohesive, complete design. Even the most quirky detail here – the strings that tighten the waist at the back – make more sense when you see it in the context of that Swiss jacket that needed to be tightened differently for each individual.
Interestingly, Luke always has a way he likes to wear these pieces – as you’d expect, given the design involved – but he shies away from saying how anything should be worn. “My nephew has this denim shirt I gave him and he never washes it,” he says. “He wears a T-shirt underneath and washes that instead, because he loves that sharp, flat indigo the denim starts with.
“That’s the complete opposite of me. I love clothes that are thrashed, nothing is more beautiful to me than an old piece of clothing. But it looks great on him and that’s his way.”
With the leather jacket, the corollary is perhaps someone loosening those ties on the back, so it’s not quite as cinched. “Or, the opposite – someone buying a size up and cinching it in even more, to exaggerate the effect,” says Luke.
The second reason I love talking to Luke is that we always get into materials – particularly, the best material for the look and functionality of the garment.
Luke’s biggest outerwear release this winter, for example, is a down-filled jacket with an outer shell in rip-stop nylon (above). “My default is natural fibres, and I love the old 60/40 materials the vintage down jackets were made of,” he says. “But for this jacket I wanted something big and round, puffed with down. The cotton mixes don’t expand like that.”
There’s that design intention – something shorter and rounded that most puffas, really sitting above the seat rather than halfway down it. And then there’s the functional side – “This is my cycling jacket, I take my daughter to school every day on my bike and then come into the showroom. It had to be something I could wear all through the winter doing that.”
I especially love it when Luke talks about personal references like this, because it brings the fun, fashion side of LEJ down to earth, and I immediately see myself wearing it.
The down jacket really is great – a slightly more exaggerated shape than the blouson, but in two great colours, with great details like the chevrons on the body, veg-tanned leather behind the snaps, and in both cases reversible to a darker, more under-the-radar colour.
Perhaps the most classic of the new outerwear pieces, though, is the other new release of the winter, the shearling jacket (above). This is based on the shape of a LEJ staple, the Plage Coat, which having tried on again I really must get a version of (probably black or brown) this summer.
What the shearling jacket most clearly illustrates for me is the quality of materials Luke uses – and the value for money in them. This is a lovely soft merino shearling, although the quality actually comes through most on the inside, which is unlined and just has the soft nappa leather. It’s a gorgeous piece, and from any designer brand would be much more.
“It’s a little like an Arnys garment,” says Luke. “It gives the impression of being simple and straightforward, all about the materials. But actually it’s hard being that simple – lots has to go into it. Because this doesn’t have a belt like the other Plages we brought the body in a bit, but only a touch because we still wanted the impression of a clean, straight silhouette.
“And we changed lots of things through sampling, like originally there was shearling on the inside of the collar and leather on the outside, but it looked too Tyrolean.”
Top of my hit list is the LEJ leather jacket, because it’s always been something I’ve wanted but found hard to wear. This seems like the perfect combination of quality and distinctive but subtle style. (My vintage one is these days, sadly, too small.)
But both the shearling and down jacket are probably the best examples I’ve seen, and if I don’t get either this year, I’ll certainly have them on my wish list for next. Any time I see Luke going forward, I’ll also talk to him about all the design and material decisions involved. For a product nerd like me, it really brings them alive.
Luke’s studio is open by appointment any time, by the way, and he has more public open days fairly regularly – the next one is Jan 30-31. I’d say the open days are easier, but a private appointment gives you more time. They’re also better for out-of-towners who can’t necessarily make a particular date.
Pieces shown and prices:
