Brendon Babenzien's J.Crew Brought BEAMS Overseas
Everything about BEAMS x J.Crew makes so much sense. Two mass-market brands with a shared love of utilitarian staples at affordable prices, separated only by an ocean or two. It's less of a surprise that Brendon Babenzien has elected to bring the pair together and more surprising that it took this long at all.
Now, to be clear, Babenzien is specifically aligning J.Crew with BEAMS PLUS, the Japanese retailer's heritage-inspired collection that's fairly well-stocked across the globe. What's the hook? For Babenzien, it's a series of co-branded staples informed by the brands' complementary design ethos.
BEAMS is itself a massive entity, one of the big Japanese national chains alongside UNITED ARROWS, SHIPS, Baycrews, and Tomorrowland, to name a few. Under the BEAMS umbrella, you've got myriad flagship stores, mall outposts, and sub-labels, the latter including everything from the high-end import line of International Gallery BEAMS to the Japanese branch of Pilgrim Surf & Supply.
BEAMS PLUS is just one of many offerings. J.Crew, meanwhile, is J.Crew. There are a few outlet branches and the retail beast that is Madewell but you can get identical goods at J.Crew stores across the country.
What Brendon Babenzien has brought to the store since taking over its menswear line is an indefatigable sense of casual cool, an enviable sophistication manifested by tangible things like the new J.Crew concept store in New York's SoHo neighborhood and Babenzien's exclusive Tracksmith collection.
Perhaps the J.Crew of yesteryear simply wasn't cool enough for a BEAMS PLUS collaboration. Indeed, BEAMS PLUS only came onboard because of corresponding vibe appreciation.
"It all started in May 2021 when I read online that Brendon would become J. Crew Men's creative director," Hideki Mizobata, BEAMS PLUS director, told Highsnobiety. "It has been an honor and brought me so much joy to be able to work with someone I have the utmost respect for. "By working together with J. Crew, I hope to bring back and revitalize the classic 'American Casual' style that I love so much. Perhaps we, together as a team, will be able to witness the trend shift back into the classic style, or at the very least see the pieces reach many people and be loved for years to come."
It's incredibly to see the American Casual (portmanteau'd in Japanese as AmeKaji) throughline between Mizobata and Babenzien's respective work — dare to compare the versatile chore coats, camouflage chore coats, work vests, and selvedge denim jeans issued by both BEAMS PLUS and NOAH, the label that Babenzien runs when he's not working on J.Crew.
BEAMS PLUS leans a little more heavy duty ivy and NOAH a little more preppy streetwear but there's an easily perceptible common ground between the pair.
In the BEAMS PLUS x J.Crew lookbook, director Mike Mills wears the concise capsule of garments co-created by the two brands, from military-style fishtail parkas and liner jackets to gold-buttoned blazers and a striped T-shirt inexplicably printed with "Old Boy" at the chest.
BEAMS PLUS' patchwork fascination manifests as mixed-material corduroy chore coats and "crazy" striped shirts, with diamond-patterned mohair cardigans and plaid over-pant-inspired cargos encouraging J.Crew consumers to push their comfort zones.
Hopefully this opens the door for more international BEAMS action: though BEAMS PLUS is stocked internationally, it only rarely collaborates with retailers smaller than, say, J.Crew or END.
However, the recent expansion of BEAMS' ASICS and Arc'teryx collaborations offers a glimpse of hope that at least the retailer's excellent partnerships will continue making their way stateside, proxy-free.
