Kazuo: Japanese Fashion, L.A. Style
Joel Knoernschild sweats the small stuff. From tiny knife pleats in a shirt that are individually ironed to French darts on T-shirts and back pockets on jeans specially designed to keep wallets safe during bike rides, globetrotting or what have you, Knoernschild’s brand, Kazuo, is packed with stylish details reminiscent of high-end fashion and Japanese street style.
Launching for Spring 2008, the Los Angeles–based youngmen’s lifestyle brand is the result of Knoernschild’s collaboration with Osaka, Japan–based designer Nozawa. Kazuo, Knoernschild’s middle name, means “peaceful man” in Japanese. A child of Southern California’s surf industry (his father, Joe Knoernschild, was co-founder of surf giants Billabong USA and Hurley), Knoernschild, who works under the moniker Joel K., said his heart is in underground Japanese street fashion. Knoernschild, whose mother is Japanese, has lived and worked in Japan and fell in love with the detailed, understated style.
“The problem is, as cool as it is and as much as I like it, it’s made to fit the Japanese body, not mine,” he said. “There’s a saying: ’Here we’re corn-fed; there they’re rice-fed.’ It’s a different body type. I’m making rice-fed fashion for corn-fed bodies.” For Kazuo, that means a tight collection of 31 pieces packed with fashion-forward details, an understated color palette and minimalist design.
Kazuo, which targets guys ages 18 to 35 with a taste for global style and cult fashion, is manufactured in Hong Kong with the help of the same team that helps produce Paul Smith and the French brand A.P.C. “I call it my dream team. They can make anything I want happen,” Knoernschild said.
For Spring, Knoernschild found inspiration in military design. Woven shirts have removable epaulettes, Henleys have wide slanted cuffs that extend to the knuckles, and military-inspired jackets in suiting fabric feature extendable sleeves, an iPod pocket and a hood that can be rolled into the collar. Most of its long-sleeved shirts feature engineered sleeves with slanting seams to accommodate the arm’s movement. Pants, including straight-leg jeans and army-style pants in pin-striped suiting fabrics, feature the same engineered fit.
Kazuo’s T-shirts best illustrate the brand’s Japanese style–by-way-of–Los Angeles vibe. Made of organic cotton, Kazuo’s T-shirts feature French darts for a slim fit and cool, artinspired graphics. The “LA Police Club” T-shirt in heathered pink features a vintage mug shot from the Los Angeles police archives.
For Fall 2008, Kazuo will collaborate with Los Angeles–based designer Brett Westfall of quirky-cool brand Unholy Matrimony on an upscale three-piece capsule collection. Retail prices for Kazuo range from $55 for T-shirts to $130 to $160 for woven shirts and $279 for outerwear. Kazuo will debut at the upcoming Project Global Trade Show in Las Vegas. For more information, call (213) 621-0401. —Erin Barajas
