In Review: Objectively Good - Select Items from 18 East
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| Tsomo chore bomber |
A Fine-Tooth Comb has long had a bias towards East-West style and the blending of the two, so it's hard to claim objectivity when judging Antonio Ciongoli's clothing label 18 East, a brand that draws inspiration from style and travel around the world. That being said: it's damn good.
Halfway into 2019, 18 East has seen several drops to this point, with everything from tapestry vests and hand-blocked pajamas to terry bathrobes and five panel caps. To date, I've picked up the Tsomo chore bomber, matching Namdak work pant, Madder Landscape Sahasika shirt jacket, and most recently the red Kalamkari pajama bottoms from Unionmade (RIP). In short, I think they're extraordinary, and the collection still hits the highest highs - though overall it's harder to wear than Antonio's previous work with Eidos Napoli. Here's why:
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| Madder Landscape Sahasika shirt jacket |
Design, Materials, and Construction
One of the things Eidos showed us was that Antonio has an incredible eye for textiles, and 18 East is no different in this regard. Two of the pieces I own, the Tsomo chore bomber and Namdak work pant, are cut from the same khadi fabric, a hand-spun and hand-woven textile tracing its history back through India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. During the early 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi championed domestic khadi production as a symbol of Indian self-sufficiency. It's still produced today, and the fabric here is, as Antonio might say himself, "objectively good." Moderately heavy, yet surprisingly soft, there's a great deal of texture to the hand and eye. The fabric has an imperfect, organic feel to it, earthy, dusty blue with hints of charcoal and turquoise. In fact, the dye was specially developed in India by Bhagru Textiles using natural iron and indigo, producing a color which serves as the perfect partner for something as rustic as this. I've never felt or seen anything quite like it.
The jacket design is inspired by "frog button" (knot closure) chore coats worn by the the Vietnamese Hmong tribes, and features a slightly cropped length, point collar, two hip pockets, side tabs, and an extended two-button closure at the waist. The Namdak pants mirror with a two-button waist closure, side tabs, full cut rise, and a straight leg. On close inspection, the two front slant pockets are adorned with a reinforced arcuate stitching, and the back of the trousers have an extra panel below the waistband that lend some extra shape and visual interest. These types of details are very easy to miss, but hard to forget once you notice them.
The Madder Landscape Sahasika shirt jacket is a different beast altogether, a rough amalgamation of noragi-style shirt jacket and knit cardigan. Now produced in multiple iterations, this version is constructed from a vibrant multi-color handloom weave described as "reminiscent of Southwestern mountain ranges." That's easy to see in the peaks and valleys of the jagged weave, and up close, yarns dance and duck under each other irregularly, building up color as if in an Impressionist painting. If the placket looks a little familiar, it is - it was produced from scraps of the same indigo khadi canvas used for the chore bomber and work pant.
Construction all around is generally very good. In fact, I'd go as far to say that put up against the Eidos pieces I've managed to accumulate over the years, these easily compare quality for quality (though I should also note that 18 East doesn't do any true suiting). That's saying something, considering the almost mythical status the world has bestowed upon the "Made in Italy" label and the reputation of manufacturing houses such as those used by giants like Isaia.
Fit and Sizing
Sizing for small brands is often difficult, and though 18 East's first drop had some initial growing pains, subsequent releases have thankfully been accompanied by product-specific size charts. I've found that generally ordering your suggested size gives you the intended drape. In the current era, that fit is often oversized, or - as many might describe it - "slouchy." If you're familiar with late Ciongoli era Eidos Napoli, this is a silhouette he was also starting to explore in his later days at the helm. In addition, Antonio's clothes have always been sized large on the whole, which has in the past made it particularly hard for smaller sized men with larger sized clothing appetites.
For 18 East, an XS is a size 36, S 38, and so on. I am a western small, 37 chest, size 29 waist at 5'11" and 143 lbs. In the work pant, I went with a small, the chore bomber an extra small, a small pajama pant, and the Sahasika shirt jacket a medium. In retrospect, I would do the same in the Sahasika shirt jacket, though I could have gone down a size in the work pant and pajama pant, and up a size in the chore bomber. That being said, I think they all work.
Like most things in the collection, the chore bomber is meant to be a bit oversized. In XS (36), it fits more like a standard denim jacket, with slightly dropped shoulders and a well-fitting chest. The pants are described on the site as "cut roughly one size large" and intended to be worn at the hips but are more forgiving thanks to the side tabs adjusters. The Sahasika fits a size smaller, as noted on the sale page, so I went up one size in that to compensate. I've always found erring on the side of larger in knitwear is better than the other way around - especially with something meant to fit like a noragi. There's nothing sadder than a tight noragi, honestly. Perhaps tight suit Instagram fashion accounts. Perhaps most YouTube menswear channels.
Styling
If I had to level a criticism of 18 East, it would be that it isn't as easy to wear as Eidos was, at least for the common man. Part of what made Eidos Napoli so pivotal of a moment in menswear was that Antonio took a traditional Italian classic tailoring house and introduced casual wear to a classic menswear crowd in such a way that still felt approachable, or at most, within short reach from a traditionally rigid dress code. You could wear much of it just as easily with a pair of jeans as with a suit. In that sense, it helped men used to casual wear to dress up, and it helped classically tailored guys to loosen up a little. With 18 East, the needle moves several stops further left into the heart of casual and streetwear.
The pieces I own are definitely those influenced more by Eastern aesthetic, but incorporate enough familiar western design to not look out of place. I mean, how far really is a cardigan from a Sahasika shirt jacket? If the chore jacket had a button closure, wouldn't it then just be a jacket (albeit a cool one)? The Namdak work pants are slung low, wide and cropped, but function like a pair of jeans or, most similarly, to a vintage pair of faded blue chore pants I have. I just got my pajamas a week ago, but they've been seeing considerable house time since. I know you could technically wear those out as well, but that's a stretch personally.
I'll wear the chore bomber anytime a light denim jacket would do, and the Sahasika in place of a light cardigan or jacket. That's probably the hardest to wear out of everything on account of its bright color, but sometimes something is so good you make room for it in your life. There's validity in the value of versatility, but sometimes you just have to wear the Sahasika. Just wear the Sahasika, man.
Summary and Conclusions
If you look at Etsy, where smaller shops around the world sell their products, you'll find no shortage of handmade clothing from India etc. in khadi and other traditional fabrics at a fraction of the price. The problem is that it takes a different eye and an attention to detail to create something extraordinary. One might say the same about fashion in general. There's a very fine line between daring and disaster, but often that's what it takes to make something truly special. Mr. Ciongoli is exceptionally gifted in this regard.
I won't claim to like all of 18 East's clothing though, probably because parts of Ciongoli's life experiences - such as skateboarding - which resonate deeply with him, don't mean the same to me. I also think there are a lot of old Eidos fans who may feel some disconnect with 18 East being a lot more skater and much less tailored. Truth be told, on the whole I still prefer the balance of design late Eidos design had, though I also feel like it's a bit unfair to keep bringing up his old work as a comparison. However, 18 East is clearly a more natural fit and truer reflection of the designer as he is today. In the later innings of his Eidos Napoli days, you could sometimes feel the creative strain against some of the more restrictive aspects of parent company Isaia and the process therein. Antonio's work and personal style are in a different place now, contrasting with some of his comments from a Blamo! 2016 interview with Jeremy Kirkland:
"I've always been the kinda guy that hates logos, I've always hated logos. I don't want anybody's name on me... I'm not a streetwear guy. I'm never gonna be.
I'll see guys that were wearing a certain thing a few years ago and I look at what they're wearing now. And I'd just be so bummed on myself. Everything I've put on myself, I've thought about before I did it. Like is this me? Does it feel like my personality?"
Two and a half years later, Antonio's IG is chock full of logo tees and scruffy streetwear fits - and 18 East follows in kind. That's not a knock on him as much as it's more of an observation about how much we all change. With very few exceptions, I'd wager most men's closets are filled with a certain percentage of much-loved clothing they've moved on from because they don't match their particular styles any longer. So I think the latter part of those thoughts above is most telling. It was truly Antonio in Eidos, and now him again with 18 East - equally authentic, at different points of a continuum.
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| Hand-blocked and freehand-painted pajama pants |
While Eidos Napoli under Antonio's direction struck a perfect balance between tailoring and casualwear, 18 East treads a different line - how to translate and adapt the style of other cultures without crossing into the ugly side of cultural appropriation. 18 East creates something new from its inspiration, and does it in a manner that keeps the people and culture at the center of it. There's simply no sense of "I like this style, I'm going to just take it." At the core of 18 East is an unmistakable respect and reverence for the craftsmen/women at the source, and those people and their stories are treated with the same respect as the clothing itself. Antonio spoke about this as well on Blamo!: "There was a minute...where I think people at least seemed to care about kinda where stuff comes from, and how things are made, where things are made, and that's always been a big part of what I wanna do." A large section of the community may have moved on to the next thing with the weird ironic sneakers and fanny packs we're now calling "cross body bags," but it still matters to me, as I'm sure it does to others. This is woven into 18 East's DNA.
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| Reversible Sahasika and pants for drop 6 |
I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on the brand as well, so please drop me a line or comment below.
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