GET THEM WHILE THEY LAST: Dying for a pair of Levi’s Brain Dead jeans? Well, J. Crew men’s stores in lower Manhattan recently snapped up the last of Levi’s Vintage Clothing stock and are selling the jeans (and one style of sack coat) exclusively at its new shop at 484 Broadway as well as the Liquor Store unit on West Broadway. The selection — which is limited edition and re-created using the original techniques from 1873 — include the Dead Stock from 1967, the Brain Dead from 1947 and the Barren Land from 1937. They retail from $195 to $395. The Sack Coat is from the Twenties and sells for $298. Frank Muytjens, J. Crew’s vice president of men’s design, said the iconic pieces “replicate the fabric and wash” of the originals and are even “woven on the original looms.” As of Thursday, there were between 40 and 110 pieces of each style, Muytjens said, “and when they’re gone, they’re gone.”
Related Galleries
COMME DOES CONVERSE, AGAIN: After the successful launch of its shoe collaboration in Japan, Comme des Garçons and Converse are dashing into a wider market — this time with four styles (two high-top, two oxford). The shoes will be sold at the end of August in Comme des Garçons stores in New York, Paris, London, Hong Kong and Seoul, including select retailers that sell Comme des Garçons Play, and in October, distribution will grow with a second launch in the same Comme des Garçons stores as well as top Converse retailers in the U.S., Canada and China (the collaboration will be known as Comme des Garçons Play for Converse). According to a spokesperson, “Converse has a long history of being on the feet of those who have chosen to disrupt the status quo”; the collaboration was born out of Rei Kawakubo’s affection for a particular Chuck Taylor All Star model from the Converse archives that was originally produced in the Fifties for the U.S. Army. Using details from that model, Converse and Kawakubo came up with the four prototypes, which will retail for $100 each. Comme des Garçons isn’t the only high-fashion brand with which Converse is aligning itself: The company plans collaborations with Missoni and (N)umber (N)ine later this fall.