A RISING DESIGNER EYES HIS LEGACY

Brett Johnson's fresh, modern menswear is an American's take on European luxury. Conforming to expectations isn't his style.

- MICHAEL SEBASTIAN

WHAT DOES A FUTURE FASHION DESIGNer study in college? To make clothes, you don't need to pass a test the way a lawyer does to practice law or a doctor must to treat patients. You could study...anything. Tom Ford got his diploma in architecture; Ralph Lauren spent a couple years studying business before enlisting in the Army; Cristóbal Balenciaga didn't go to college.

Then there's Brett Johnson, the cerebral owner and creative director of his eponymous label. He studied sociology at the University of Michigan. "People's actions and reactions to the way something is-that has always sparked my curiosity," says Johnson, 35. "I love how you watch a movie with ten people and you get ten different reactions to that one film."

To study sociology is to learn that a piece of media or an object-say, an aviator jacket made from deerskin-can transcend its objectness because everyone who sees or touches the jacket will interpret the garment in a unique way. The clothes we wear tell a story about the person wearing them. Any smart fashion person comes to understand this eventually. In that way, you might argue that studying sociology is a cheat code for a designer.

Despite that advantage, there's a good chance you haven't heard of Brett Johnson-yet. There are few places on U. S. soil where you can buy his clothes. But he couldn't be more American. Johnson spent his childhood in Washington, D. C., and Middleburg, Virginia. "Horse country," he says. He grew up playing baseball, basketball, and football. He roots for the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bulls. And from 2021 to 2023, he served as creative director for the Washington Wizards. He has a wife, three young kids, and a home outside D. C.