Luke Meier Explains His Design Inspirations & Why OAMC Isn't "Luxury Streetwear"

Often heralded for bridging the gap between streetwear and high-fashion, OAMC, created by former Supreme designer Luke Meier and Carhartt’s creative director Arnaud Faeh, recently showcased an impressive 2017 fall/winter collection at Paris Fashion Week. In just a few short years, the brand has found itself adjacent to prestigious labels like Lanvin and Thom Browne, accredited to innovation and high-quality materials. In an interview with SSENSE, Meier discusses his personal connection to the brand and the importance of authenticity. While other high-end designers, which share the same manufacturers as OAMC have cut corners, Meier insists that they don’t. He also explains his hesitation to be labeled as “streetwear” or “luxury streetwear” from an aesthetic standpoint because of the connotation of the term these days. Read some of the excerpts below and read the full piece here, featuring photos taken by Angelo Baque.

Do you have a specific muse that you keep in mind during the design process?

Sort of. The brand is very autobiographical, with Arnaud and I talking extensively about what we like to wear and what we are into. Therefore, the designs always return to a very personal place. I admire a lot of my friends for their style or taste, and oftentimes I’ll think about whether or not they’d be into a specific design. I never look to a hypothetical person or a celebrity, though.

Prior to starting OAMC you were the creative director at Supreme. What is the biggest lesson you’ve taken away from that experience?

A lot of people ask me about Supreme and how it worked. The main thing I learned there was to do what you think is cool and not to give a shit about trends or anything the market tries to dictate. When you’re working on something that you actually like, you convey a sort of authenticity that’s impossible to replicate. When I worked there, we only cared about the opinions of an immediate group of people. We never thought, “Oh, maybe this will be cool in Tokyo or Paris, so let’s do it.” We never strayed from our inner circle.

You produce each design in the same manufacturing centers as Valentino and Tom Ford, and you’ve mentioned how you feel the brand is really closing a gap between streetwear and established houses.

We don’t cut any corners. Everything we do is on par with any of the brands mentioned. From an aesthetic point of view, I am hesitant to label our brand as streetwear because that has become such a loaded word these days. People like to throw around the phrase “luxury streetwear” with us, and I think it’s a bit dismissive. Maybe if you go back to streetwear’s beginnings, with someone like Shawn Stussy, then I would get it. He is probably more cultured and cleverer than any high end brand’s creative director, and his taste level is right up there. I hope people look at us as doing something new. We aren’t releasing straight graphics or nylon jackets, but at the same time we aren’t creating something that’s too stuffy.