Life and Death Joins Blue Holdings
When Philippe Naouri and Alexandre Caugant, designers of Antik Denim (a division of Blue Holdings), launched a line of knits earlier this year, they said the venture would be completely independent of the publicly traded company.
But now Life and Death, the line of artdriven tops and dresses they created in collaboration with graphic designer Cynthia Tello, will join the ranks of premium-denim and tops lines at Blue Holdings. Veteran jeans maker Paul Guez, whose operations are based in Commerce, Calif., heads Blue Holdings.
On Sept. 11, Caugant and Naouri signed a partnership contract with Blue Holdings, giving the denim maker 50 percent of Life and Death. The designers each retain 25 percent ownership of the brand. As part of the partnership agreement, Blue Holdings is matching the fledgling brand’s funding, which had until last week come from the designers themselves.
Naouri said that Tello, whose hand-drawn art depicting bones and flora sets the tone for the line, would remain with the company as an employee.
The injection of fresh funds is helping the line grow. For winter, buyers can expect to see cashmere tops, pants, jackets, bags and headwear from Life and Death.
As the line grows, Naouri insists that it will remain aesthetically and conceptually independent of Antik. “It is very different, more high-end,” he said.
Production of the line will remain independent of Blue Holdings’ other offerings, which include Antik Vintage, a line of knit tops. Blue Holdings is a licensee of three other blue jeans brands: Yanuk,Uand Taverniti So.
“We have totally different production, and we will always be made in the U.S.A.,” Naouri said. Life and Death will not join Blue Holdings’ showroom in The New Mart, but the plan is for the brand to occupy a neighboring showroom, Naouri said.
Life and Death, which has a design studio in downtown Los Angeles, will soon move into a new one in Hollywood. Naouri and Caugant will continue to design Antik but will move the denim brand’s design operation out of Commerce to join Life and Death in Hollywood. “We want to design both under the same roof so we can dedicate ourselves to both,” Naouri said. —Erin Barajas
