THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT A BODE BOY

The GRANDMA'S-TABLECLOTH-INSPIRED, small-batch, unapologetically expensive menswear brand founded by EMILY BODE AUJLA became the post-pandemic DOWNTOWN UNIFORM. Then it got bigger.

- Brock Colyar

IS THAT BODE?

A little tipsy, I asked this question of an also tipsy young man at a cocktail party in the MoMA garden earlier this summer. The crowd was a mix of well-turned-out supporters of the arts and good-looking, vaguely creative people who somehow got invited. This particular guest had a porn 'stache and was popping around the event (dress code: "festive") taking selfies in a white lace shirt unbuttoned to his navel paired with jeans and a green Bottega bag.

I was right: "It's Bode! It's real Bode! It's made from a vintage, um, a vintage table thing. A vintage tablecloth!" he screamed over the music, as if that were just the most delightful thing in the world. When he saw another guest wearing a red knit shirt with white flowers on it, also Bode (pronounced BOH-dee) and inspired by a vintage pot holder, they gave each other a high five, congratulating themselves on their shared good taste.

If you've spent much time out and about downtown in the past couple of years, or at the sorts of peacocking events that necessitate distinctive, don't-get-it-wrong outfits that might attract a BFA party photographer's eye, you will have spotted a Bode boy yourself. Although, at first, you might have thought they were wearing a lucky thrift-store find.

Bode was founded on the Lower East Side in 2016 by Emily Adams Bode Aujla, who took a vintage sensibility and upcycled it into a luxury menswear brand that women also love to wear. Some apt words I've heard used to describe the Bode aesthetic? Artisanal, grandpa chic, farm to table. Her clothes, inspired by and often made from heritage textiles like quilts, curtains, oven mitts, tea towels, tablecloths, and bedsheets, were an immediate cultish sensation.