INTO The BLUE

While in Tokyo to preview the new Blue Tab collection from Levi's, BAZAAR talks exclusively to the brand's design director Paul O'Neill about inspiration, craftsmanship, and scouring Tokyo's vintage stores.

- BY ABDUL AZIZ DRAIM

Share with us the design philosophy behind this new collection. What is the inspiration?

The inspiration is looking at utility wear, looking at Americana. Looking really at the Levi's archive because there are all these beautiful, practical garments—looking at how we can take influence from this military jacket or this fishtail parka—then creating this really rich fabric that we're working with denim mills here in Japan. We can combine that modern beautiful fabric with this classic practical garment and create something that not only is inspired by the past but also something that can feel more "luxury", feel more elevated, and bring all of these shades of blue together. Which I feel is important.

Are there pieces with completely new silhouettes? Or is everything within the heritage space?

There's definitely a lot of pieces that are new silhouettes. If we look at some of the women's pieces, you'll see that we've got this beautiful cocoon-like shape. Of course, I can't say it's completely not inspired by our history, but it's a very refined approach to our history. We've never done anything like this [points to the Type I-inspired Trucker Jacket]. To keep to our DNA, we look at a beautiful Levi's jacket but now it's got no waistband, and no cuffs. It's got beautiful shaping and detailing in it. So you can see that it has a Levi's DNA, but it really feels modern and fresh.

And then looking at pieces like this jacket that I'm wearing today. Levi's traditionally never made, you know, formal wear. But then you start to think about Levi's making the chore coats and the sack coats. And what I like about this is it's unstructured—it doesn't have the shoulder pads. It can be worn in a formal way, but it still has a relaxed atmosphere, right? So it's trying to bring that.